On 6 February 1917, the first Sami national meeting was held in Tråante / Trondheim. The freedom fighter and feminist Elsa Laula Renberg from Tärnaby was one of the initiators of the meeting. For the first time, the National Assembly gathered hundreds of Sami from north to south across national borders to discuss and shed light on common issues.
At the Sámi Council’s 15th conference in Helsinki in 1992, it was decided that the celebration of the Sámi National Day will take place on 6 February to honor the memory of the first national meeting. The first celebration took place in connection with the start of the UN’s International Indigenous Year in Jokkmokk 1993.
The sámi flag is the flag for Sápmi. It was approved on 15 August 1986 by the Sámi Council’s 13th conference in Åre. The flag is designed by Astrid Båhl from Skibotn in Troms in Norway. The circle is a symbol of both the sun and the moon. The sun ring is red and the moon ring is blue. The colors of the flag, red, blue, green and yellow come from the traditional sámi costume.
Sámi soga lávlla was adopted at the same time as the official Sámi national anthem. The text is written in 1906 by sailor Isak Saba (1875-1921) who was born in northern Norway Nesseby. Isak Saba was the first sámi to be elected to the Norwegian Parliament. The melody is composed by Arne Sörlie. The text reflects the time in which it came into being, a time that was strongly marked by national romanticism.