Riddu Riđđu: In Union About Our Painful Pasts

I recently attended my first ever festival, and the experience was unique, I got to mingle with so many people and for the first time, got to see artists perform on stage. I've never been to a concert (local artists performing at my high school does not count). So this experience, almost a week of just being away and being surrounded by people from literally all over the world was one for the blog.

So, how did I afford a festival pass? I didn't. I don't think I can afford a festival pass or any tickets to some concert for the next five years, but boy am I looking forward to seeing some of my favorite bands play! I had so much fun and I only knew one of the artists. I can only imagine how much fun it is being at a concert where you know most of the artists and the songs! I'm excited, definitely on my bucketlist!

But now back to the festival, before I dive into the exhilarating details of what it is and the incredible fun I had, I feel compelled to share how I found myself there in the first place. It’s the blissful summer holidays, and the weather has been nothing short of spectacular—absolutely love it! At the very start of the holidays, I eagerly applied for a summer job alongside my regular work, captivated by how relevant it was to my studies.

So, when I'm not delighting guests with rich BBQ sauce or tossing leftover spareribs into a takeaway bag for myself, I'm immersed in the office, passionately reading about marine pollution or setting sail to a nearby town, ready to empower kids through beach cleaning. Yesterday marked our first day, and my colleague and I arrived with a treasure trove of equipment and vibrant clothes for the kids. It was thrilling to finally dive into this meaningful experience!

I work for a non-governmental organisation that works with marine pollution in parts of northern Norway, especially in the regions of Troms and Finnmark. Our main focus is plastics in the ocean and on the beaches, but also just ocean pollution in general. This summer we have a total of 26 teenagers cleaning the beach in their areas as a summer job and I'm glad they applied in the first place, not only because they get paid, but because its a really important first job to have!

And that's how I ended up at this festival, with work (volunteering) and I really count myself lucky. Riddu Riđđu is an indigenous people's festival for the Sámi people in Norway, but its international too and this year we had the Lakota people from the United States and the Inuit people. The music of course was traditional music from these peoples and especially the Sámi with their traditional joik. The festival annually takes place in the  Gáivuotna Municipality (Kåfjord, Manndalen) in northern Norway.

The music at this festival was not mainstream pop or amapiano as some of my friends back home noticed, in response to a primary school friend who DMed me saying I had really become white. Because of the music I had shared on my story. I didn't bother to respond, what do you even say to that?

There was traditional food from these tribes and the setup, the clothes and just the whole atmosphere was very indigenous and a place I had never even dreamed about before. I loved seeing Sámi in their gakti and the vibrant dance rituals performed by the Lakota.

It was a weirdly familiar feeling listening to the Sámi talk about how speaking their language was forbidden, how many of them where sent to boarding schools were they were taught to speak only Norwegian and adapt to the Norwegian way of life (to assimilate to Norwegian society).

It was familiar in a sense that back home in Namibia even my parents' generation was forbidden from speaking their native languages and they had to speak Afrikaans as the boers wanted them to. Similarly, the Sámi were forced to give up their language and culture because it was seen as backward? There is so much we have in common. And not just with the Sámi, but with many other oppressed indigenous groups around the world.

As I mentioned earlier, I met a lot of people from all over the world.

I can't think of any other way to say it and I'm not going to spend time looking for euphemisms to put it any other way. We had some tough and uncomfortable conversations, everyone understood what was at hand and that we could not blame each other.

I personally felt like the one thing we had in common apart from that disturbing past was the removing the shame and guilt from our identities. I'm guessing for some it was easier, it is easier and for others it's one of the hardest things to do. For me I kept trading places, like I was feeling for them from a distance and then remembering but hey! this is exactly what happened back home and somehow not being surprised that it had happened in the first place.

Similarly, it was refreshing seeing and feeling how much pride each person carried with them as they walked around in their traditional clothing and I could relate so much. Because people always find the good in anything, people always emerge stronger together, and especially the younger generation who are reclaiming their cultures, languages and showing that there is beauty in being unique. In being different that's it. To be Sami. To be Lakota. To be indigenous. To be us. It was a beautiful feeling.

I must admit that it was hard to not take the focus away from what was being celebrated because my mind kept thinking about how it was back home just 33 years ago. And I felt bad for that, but at the same time it was really refreshing to be a part of something like that and learn that we have so much in common, and that really brings us closer.

And this post should have been published July 2023 :)

Until next time!