Lars Hætta (; 21 January 1834 – 17 February 1896) was a Norwegian

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...

reindeer herder, prisoner, wood carver and Bible translator. Following the Sami revolt in Guovdageaidnu in 1852 he received a death sentence, which was commuted to life imprisonment.

Personal life

Hætta was born in

Kautokeino Municipality Kautokeino (; ; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Kautokeino (village), village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other villag ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

, the son of Jacob Mathisen Hætta and Berit Aslaksdatter Sara. He was the brother of Aslak Hætta, and married Berit Hansdatter Gaup in 1868.

Guovdageaidnu revolt

the preaching of

Lars Levi Læstadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami writer, ecologist, mythologist, and ethnographer as well as a pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadia ...

had attracted many supporters to his

religious movement Various sociological classifications of religious movements have been proposed by scholars. In the sociology of religion, the most widely used classification is the church-sect typology. The typology is differently construed by different socio ...

. These were in opposition to the established society. In 1852 a major conflict took place: a group of about 30 men and women marched to the centre of Guovdageaidnu to seek revenge for previous harassment. The sheriff, Lars Johan Bucht, and local tradesman Carl Johan Ruth were both killed; while the priest (later bishop)

Waldemar Hvoslef Waldemar Hvoslef (17 March 1825 – 5 May 1906) was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop. Fredrik Waldemar Hvoslef was born in Christiania (now Oslo) and grew up in Holmestrand in Jarlsberg og Laurvig county. He was the son of Jens Hvoslef (1783–1830 ...

, along with his family and household, were whipped by the mob. A rescue party eventually arrived and a fierce fight followed, during which the Læstadian community was overpowered and two of the sect members died. Five of the rebels were later sentenced to death, including Lars Hætta. Two of these, Lars' brother Aslak and Mons Somby, were beheaded in November 1854. Lars Hætta was reprieved by

King Oscar I Oscar I (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; 4 July 1799 – 8 July 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte. The only child of King Charles XIV John, Oscar ...

because of his young age. Ellen Skum and her brother Henrik were also reprieved.

Later life

While imprisoned at the

Akershus Prison Akershus Fortress (, ) or Akershus Castle ( ) is a medieval castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), mi ...

, Hætta started translating the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

into the

Northern Sami language Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

, in cooperation with professor Jens Andreas Friis. After his release from prison in 1867, he joined Friis and Ludvig Kristensen Daa on a scientific excursion, married in 1868, settled in Guovdageaidnu, and continued his translation work. The translated ''

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

'' was finished in 1869 and published in 1874. The translated complete Bible was printed in 1895. Hætta also contributed to the dictionary ', and translated other books into Sami language. Several of his wood sculptures from Sami tradition are now located at the

Norsk Folkemuseum Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History), at Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway, is a museum of cultural history with extensive collections of artifacts from all social groups and all regions of the country. It also incorporates a large open- ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haetta, Lars 1834 births 1896 deaths Norwegian Sámi people Norwegian Sámi-language writers Norwegian prisoners sentenced to death Norwegian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Norway Prisoners sentenced to death by Norway People from Kautokeino 19th-century Norwegian translators Translators of the Bible into Sámi Sámi rebels Kautokeino rebellion 19th-century Norwegian writers 19th-century Norwegian sculptors 19th-century Sámi people Reindeer herders