Kote (Lapland)
The term Kote is used in the German-speaking area as a collective term for all traditional dwellings of the northern European ethnic group of the Sami - both for the stationary huts and for mobile tents.
etymology
Kote is derived from the Swedish word kåta (pronounced "kohta"), which is used in a similar way. The similarity of the words Swedish kåta , Norwegian kåte, kote , German Kotten, Kote, Kate , English cot , Dutch kot , French cote , lulesam. nom. kåhte and Finnish kota are explained by Grimm with the use of an old Indo-European loan word in the Finnish languages . The origin of the word could, however, also lie in the time before the differentiation of the Uralic and Indo-European languages and thus remains uncertain.
In the seeds, the term goahti ( North Sami ) goahte ( Lule ) gåhte ( pitesamisch ) gåhtie ( umesamisch ) or gåetie ( South Sami used) in the nominative. (In the North Germanic and Sami languages, the letter å as spoken a long o.) The simplest form of the mobile seeds tent is in the Sami languages , however, notwithstanding Lavvu while the German also Kote is called. In Norwegian, the common term for stationary Koten is gamme . There are also koie ( Trøndelag ) and kote ( Helgeland ) as local names . The term Kohte for a group tent of the German youth movement was derived from the Sami Kote .
Types
Conical, pyramidal or dome-shaped dwellings of various types are referred to as kote, which are either covered with sod (the term “peat kote” is not quite correctly used), with boards or tents. Depending on the type of construction, four basic types of kote are distinguished: the simple conical tent kote, the traditional arched pole kote (both with a round or oval base), as well as the wooden and rafter kote (both with a rectangular base).
Apart from the larger rafter kotes, kotes have a diameter of up to five meters, which means a floor space of up to 20 square meters. The interior of these feces is not further subdivided. All types originally had an open fireplace in the middle, which was mostly made of stones, and a smoke hole in the middle. In the 19th century, a brick or iron stove became more and more popular among the stationary Koten. The ground consisted of tamped earth, which was covered with regularly replaced birch veins . Then they put reindeer skins as sitting and sleeping pad. Chests served as furniture. Otherwise the household items were hung from the ceiling.
Lávvu - conical tent kote
In the German language and the conical tent the seed is (North Sami: Lavvu , Lule: lavvo or tsággegoahti , Inari Sami : Laavu , skoltsamisch : kååvas ) referred to as Kote. Shape, construction and types of cover essentially correspond to the tipis of the North American prairie Indians or the tents of the North Russian and Siberian peoples . The area of up to 17 square meters of these mobile koten is round, with a fireplace in the middle of the room. The frame consists of three spruce or pine poles tied together at the top , to which another 15–20 poles of four to five meters in length are attached. The bark is usually not removed. In historical records, hides and bark are mentioned as covering material. Due to the early contact of the Sami with their Germanic neighbors, however, textile tarpaulins came into use as early as the Middle Ages. Originally it was mainly the heavy Vadmal rolled pulp, which for a long time was the most important commodity in Sápmi . Cotton cloth has been used primarily since the 19th century, and simple plastic tarpaulins were also used in the 20th century. In contrast to the slim tipi with long protruding ridge poles, the Sami tent kote is usually wider and has shorter pole ends.
The Lávvu is the original form of the Sami dwelling, which was widely used as a transportable dwelling from the Iron Age to semi-settling in the 17th century. As a rule, only the tent cloth was transported, the poles remained standing or were folded up at the installation site after use. Some of the reindeer-breeding seeds still use the tent kote as a mobile home in summer. It was also inhabited in winter until the 1940s, using the woolen carpets of the coastal seeds (Rátnu) to insulate the tent walls. In many of Lapland's seed settlements, the Lávvu can be seen today as a multi-purpose building for storage, drying, smoking , a bakery and the like. This dwelling was also a model for the black tents of the German youth movement .
Bealljegoahti - bow pole kote (as tent or peat kote)
The traditional design for tent kots and stationary kots in the fell areas is the arch pole construction, which takes advantage of the often crooked growth of the mountain birch ( Betula pubescens ssp. Czerepanowii ), although e.g. Some pine trees are also used. The base is round or oval. The supporting structure, which is embedded in the ground, consists of two connected pairs of bark-shaped, arched, strong trunks that stand directly on the ground. These arched poles are connected halfway up with a crossbar and at the highest point with the so-called "smoke pole". 12-18 poles of four to six meters in length are leaned against this basic structure to support the cover. The resulting dome-shaped room is up to 20 square meters in size. A specialty in some areas of the Swedish fells are the Kyrkkåtor ( Kirch-Koten ), which are basically of the same design, but can be up to 50 square meters in size. Usually there is a separate bell tower next to the Kirch-Kote. A well-known example is the Kyrkkåta of Staloluokta (see picture there).
Like the Lávvu, the arch pole construction was previously used as a frame for a tent kote . In contrast to the Lávvu, the scaffolding of the Bealljegoahti was taken along when moving, as the arched poles were more difficult to obtain than straight poles. The erection or dismantling of such a kote took about half an hour.
Today's dome-shaped round peat kote is based on the same design . Before stoves were used, the shape was more conical than a tent, as there was a large opening above for the smoke. The poles for a peat droppings are placed close to each other on the arch pole structure. The shell is then made rainproof with a layer of birch bark. Plastic sheeting has been widely used for sealing since the 1960s. However, when you noticed that this film would become brittle and leaky after a while, you partially returned to the traditional birch bark. (In today's Koten, nails, roofing felt, sheet metal, plastic tarpaulins and similar modern building materials are often used.) Finally, soil (grass and peat) is layered along the scaffolding up to the center of the roof. Since the sods are completely overgrown with grasses and herbs after a few years, the excrement can often hardly be seen from a distance. In the case of peat droppings, components that have aged 30 years at the latest must be replaced.
Stationary Koten are generally built on slightly elevated, dry terrain, in locations that are free of snow as early as possible. In the past there were kotes that were inhabited all year round as well as those that were only used in summer or winter. Structurally, this was reflected in the thickness of the soil layer.
Humans and dogs used to live together in the round huts, which consisted of a single room. In some cases, separate excrements for pets such as B. Goats built. There are various regional variants of the feces, which are mainly expressed in the external form. As with the tent kote, similar peat huts are found among many circumpolar peoples.
In the narrower sense, these stationary sod huts in the German-speaking world are known today as Koten, which the Sami reindeer herders in the Norwegian and Swedish mountain regions have been using since the 13th century. In 1860, 60% of the Sami in Finnmark still lived in peat pits; In 1888 it was 44%. In the 1920s, most Sami moved to wooden houses or erected buildings that combined elements of the kote and the house. Occasionally, however, peat pits served as exclusive dwellings in remote areas until the 1950s. Since then, they have only been used temporarily as transitional accommodation for young couples, as hunting, fishing, tourist or reindeer herder huts. The original use as a temporary residence in the summer pasture areas of the reindeer-breeding seeds continues to decline, however, as more and more seeds are flying in the building material for a house by helicopter. The advantage of traditional kote has always been the use of building materials from the local area, which do not require any financial means. In addition, it is completed relatively quickly.
Modern peat pits usually have a glass window, a wooden floor and interior fittings that are more reminiscent of a log house.
Sparrogoahti - rafter kote of the coastal areas
Among the seeds of the Norwegian coast, so-called “ chevron kots ” (Norwegian: sperregamme , stavgamme or fellesgamme ) were widespread, especially in the 19th century , which were much larger than the round kots. At this kote, beams formed the walls and rafters were joined to form a hipped roof . The rafter kote was larger than the arch pole kote (but the door was still lower than a person), the base was square and the interior was often divided into several rooms. In addition, the construction stood on a stone foundation wall. The inner walls were made of boards instead of branches. However, like all peat dung, these dwellings were covered with soil. Rafter kots were often used as a stable house for humans and cattle. Their designs and possible uses were particularly varied due to their size. They were u. a. also used as a haystack, goat barn or blacksmith shop.
Rafter kotes have been documented for Norway since the 5th century at the latest. However, they were not originally used by the Sami, but by the Northern Germans. Therefore, they are also known as "Normannen-Koten" (Norwegian: normanngammer ). A few rafters kots can be found in the Sami settlement area as early as the late Middle Ages. But it was not until the end of the 18th century that the arched pole construction was more and more replaced by the rafter construction from the seeds of the coastal region . However, after 1900, this kotenform was hardly used.
Dimbargåhte - Holzkote
The completely wooden droppings of the forest seeds in Swedish, Finnish and Russian Lapland are also known as droppings. The construction of the scaffolding is done with straight tree trunks. Their shape is characteristically similar to a flattened pyramid with four, (rarely six) or eight corners. In the past, pine or spruce tree trunks were used, today boards for covering.
In some areas of Sweden it was forbidden for the Sami to build rectangular wooden houses in the 19th and early 20th centuries, because according to the Darwinian way of thinking of the time, as an allegedly underdeveloped people, they were not allowed to copy the construction of the Swedish "master people". This is where the polygonal wood feces come from. Wooden droppings were used regularly until the 1940s. Today they usually only serve as museum buildings.
There are various transition forms between all kot forms and the wooden block house .
Koten rules
Traditional rules of how to behave in a kote still apply today. They come from pre-Christian times. Without such rules, life in an extended family with many members in such a small area could not work. Each person as well as each thing has its specific place in the feces. In the middle is the fireplace that gives off warmth and light. Opposite the entrance is the kitchen. This place was previously considered sacred and you were not allowed to step over it. One of the goddesses of the Kote lives under the kitchen area. When a guest came in, they should sit next to the entrance to the dogs and the firewood until they were invited in. Even if the old belief has long been suppressed, some seeds still feel resentment when someone violates one of the Koten rules. In addition, it happens again and again that tourists enter a Kote unsolicited and thus disrespectful.
In pre-Christian times the kote was structured as follows: In the middle of the circular room was the fireplace (árran), which was associated with the sun. Two rows of stones (or two sticks) extended from the main entrance to the fireplace. On the opposite side, two rows of stones or two sticks also extended to the rear opening. In Finnmark and the Kola Peninsula, this division can be traced back to the turn of the century. The space between the fireplace and the rear opening (boaššu) was sacred. The drum and hunting weapons were kept here. They had to be carried in through this rear opening together with the slaughtered game. Only men were allowed to use the opening and enter the Boaššu room. Dairy products and products from domestic animals can only be carried in through the front entrance and are not allowed to come into contact with the Boaššu room. If only one family used the room, the housewife and landlord had their sleeping place to the right and left of the fireplace. Further towards the entrance the children, then the guests and then the servants had their seats. Three goddesses resided under the floor: Sáráhkka under the fireplace, Uksáhkká under the front entrance and Juksáhkká in the back under the Boaššu room.
Reconstruction of a traditional bow pole kote
The construction of a bow pole kote (norw. Gamme , see pictures) begins with the four load-bearing outer posts or outer rafters, for which trees that have grown as arched as possible are selected and peeled, which as a pair form a kind of gate. At the ridge , the beams are pierced once and held by a thinner tree inserted through them. This construction alone makes the basic construction extremely stable. No further support measures are necessary. All other loads later lie more or less completely on this construction. Only if the purlins were chosen a little too thin for their length on the sides are additional support beams necessary to prevent the side walls from sagging.
This central "ridge bar" is then supplemented by further horizontally running foot, middle and ridge purlins , which are not held by nails, but exclusively by forked branches below and later by the weight of the thick peat layer or turf layer.
On these horizontal purlins, thinner and equally peeled birch trees are placed close together, and then the first layer of peeled birch bark is placed as a roof tile overlapping in several layers in front of this thinner tiller and fixes it in this way. The next row of overlapping birch bark is again held directly by the next layer of sod. The tiller then lies flatter in the upper area until it collides with the opposite side on top of the roof.
The bottom of a gamme can be designed variably. The floor is often laid out with flat stones, but birch sticks inlaid in thick layers with fur on top is also conceivable. The gamme in the pictures was filled with gravel , also to compensate for the unevenness of the ground. The fireplace itself is built as an open fireplace from thick field stones. There are no closed firing systems such as a stove or a fireplace ; a gamme does not represent a very advanced type of dwelling, it is rather primitive. The advantage, however, is that the building material is very easily available. No high technology is required for construction, in principle a flint ax would be sufficient, even if a chainsaw and sharp draw knives , steel axes and an ax are very helpful.
The construction time for the gamme shown in the pictures can be estimated at around three to four weeks with continuous construction and one person, as long as the construction material is directly available in the area. Help is, however, particularly useful when peeling the birch trunks and tiller, transporting the peat layers and making the pieces of birch bark. The ideal construction time is spring, when the birch trees are fresh in the sap and peeling is very easy.
See also
literature
- Sunna Kuoljok, John-Erling Utsi: The Sami - people of the sun and the wind . Ajtte - Svenskt Fjäll- och Samemuseum, Luleå 1995, ISBN 91-87636-10-7 .
- Rolf Kjellström: Samernas liv . Carlsson Bokförlag, Kristianstad 2003, ISBN 91-7203-562-5 (Swedish).
- Ingrid Sommerseth: Villeinfangst og Tamreindrift i indre Troms: Belyst ved samiske boplasser mellom 650 and 1923 . Institutt for arkeologi og sosialantropologi (IAS), Faculty for humaniora, samfunnsvitenskap og lærerutdanning (HSL fak.), Universitetet i Tromsø, 2009 ( ub.uit.no [PDF] Avhandling til graden philosophiae doctor Ph.d).
- Sámediggi - Sametinget: "Vern og forvaltning av samiske byggverk", Hovedrapport . Karasjok 2003 ( sierrabibliotehka.no ).
Web links
- Construction stage photos of the construction of a bow pole kote
- Varjjat Sami Museum (Norway)
- Website with detailed photo documentation of the structure of a range
Individual evidence
- ↑ KOT, KOTE . In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm : German Dictionary . Hirzel, Leipzig 1854–1961 ( woerterbuchnetz.de , University of Trier).
- ↑ Gamme in Norsk Landbruksordbok ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hus med på særpreg artsrik cultural mark. Fylkesmannens landbruksavdeling, Vadsø 2002 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Construction drawing from the Norsk historisk leksikon
- ^ G. Ränk: Grundprinciper för disponeringen av utrymmet i de Lapska kåtorna och gammerna. In: Folkliv , Vol. 12-13. Reproduced in: Lars Ivar Hansen: Samenes historie fram til 1750. Oslo 2007, pp. 97–99.
