Gakti

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Gakti

Gakti or gákti, as it is written in Northern Sámi

Northern Sami

Northern or North Sami is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The speaking area of Northern Sami covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland as well as northwestern parts of Russia....
, is a piece of traditional clothing

Clothing

A feature of all human societies, except perhaps the most primitive, is the wearing of clothing or clothes, especially in public. The primary purpose of clothing is functional, as a protection from the weather....
worn by the Sámi

Sami people

The S?mi people, are the indigenous people Indigenous peoples of Europe inhabiting S?pmi , which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia....
in northern areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The gákti is worn both in ceremonial

Ceremony

A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual significance, performed on a special occasion....
contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, widespread and numerous across the northern Holarctic....
.

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Gakti or gákti, as it is written in Northern Sámi

Northern Sami

Clothing

Sami people

Ceremony

A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual significance, performed on a special occasion....
contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, widespread and numerous across the northern Holarctic....
. The traditional Sami costume is characterized by a dominant color adorned with contrast colored bands, plait

Plait

A plait may mean either:* A braid-like knot* A pleat* Plait , a fold in the columella of a gastropod mollusc* an opensource shell based playlist generator and command line jukebox...
s, pewter

Pewter

Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally between 85 and 99 percent tin, with the remainder commonly consisting of copper, antimony and lead....
embroidery, tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. Tin is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, where it occurs as an oxide, SnO2....
art, and often a high collar

Collar (clothing)

In clothing, a collar is the part of a shirt, dress, coat or blouse that fastens around or frames the neck. A collar may also be a separate or detachable accessory worn around the neck....
. In the Norwegian language it is called 'kofte'.

The colours, patterns and the jewellery of the clothing can tell if a person is single or married and where the person is from. There are different gákti for women and men; men's gákti have a shorter "skirt" than women's.

Traditionally the gákti was made from reindeer leather, but nowadays it's more common to use wool, cotton or silk.

The gákti can be used with a belt (pleated, quilted or with silver buttons), silver jewellery, traditional leather footwear and a silk scarf. It is also a tradition that if your buttons on the belt are square, it shows that you are married. If they are round, you are single/not married yet.

If a married couple divorce, and the ex-husband continue to use the Sami costume made by his ex-wife, he signals that he still wants her.