is a

Northern Sámi Northern or North Sámi ( ; se, davvisámegiella ; fi, pohjoissaame ; no, nordsamisk; sv, nordsamiska; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sámi languages. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the ...

religious publication based in Norway. It has published continuously since 1898, making it the longest running Sámi publication still being published.

History

(modern Northern Sámi spelling ), which means "The Eastern Star," was founded by “sled preacher” Gustav Lund, a travelling pastor of the

Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, or the Free Church as it is commonly known ( no, Den Evangelisk Lutherske Frikirke, shortened ''Frikirken''), is a nationwide Lutheran church in Norway, consisting of 83 congregations and 21,817 baptised memb ...

who sought to evangelize Sámi in part by using their native tongue. In 1898, he founded in Finnmark, and the paper soon began publishing news articles and letters from readers alongside its religious content. The reporters and correspondents balanced the publisher's desire for religious content with readers' desire to receive news in their native language. The first issue of was printed by Lund using a portable printing press. As the paper grew, it established formal offices in

Sigerfjord Sigerfjord is a village in Sortland Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the island of Hinnøya by the entrance to the Sigerfjorden. The village of Strand and the Sortland Bridge are located about to the north. ...

. Over the years it moved several times before setting up its first permanent printing press was in Gáivuotna. The press alternated between Gáivuotna and

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

for several years before setting up offices in Vuonnabahta in 1960. In 1992, the paper's headquarters moved to Kárášjohka. For much of its history, including during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, published twice a month; it currently publishes 11 issues each year. It has subscribers in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

Editors

*1898–1912: Gustav Lund *1912–1916: Ole A. Andersen *1916–1948: Henrik Olsen Heika *1948–1960: Anders Guttormsen *1960–1992: John Ole Nilsen *1992–2003: Ann Solveig Nystad *2003–2013: Olaug Balto Larsson *2013–2016: Liv Tone Boine *2016–: Ann Solveig Nystad

Cultural impact

For much of the 20th century, was the only newspaper publishing in Northern Sámi. Therefore the paper played a major role in supporting Sámi literacy, along with Sámi language and culture. For most of its publication history, has used the J.A. Friis orthography, which is the same writing system used for the Sámi Bible. From 1948 to 1958, the paper used the Bergsland–Ruong orthography, which was the standard for writing Northern Sámi in Norway and Sweden (but not Finland), before reverting to the J.A. Friis orthography. Since 2004, has used the pan-Scandinavian 1979 orthography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuorttanaste Northern Sámi-language mass media Sámi church life Sámi in Norway Sámi publications Publications established in 1898 Sámi newspapers Northern Sámi-language newspapers Christian newspapers published in Norway