THE RIVER THAT NEVER FREEZES

Not far from my hometown there is a small river,  a stream that comes from the mountain and runs down to form a big pound.
This river and pound don´t freeze in wintertime. Many people find this strange, because everything freezes here during the winter. Tempearatures can get down to -50 celsius and it´s cold. So why doesnt it freeze?
The legend says that uldá/gufihtar (undergound people) live under this river, and thats why it never freezes. During the spring, when all the snow melts, sometimes the water is not so good in the tap and we have to go and get water from nearby springs. This river is one of them, so the water is supposed to be extra clean and good. Magic water if you ask me!

Can you find any other good reason then that the underground people are the reason this? 😉
Hihi, not me! 😀

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEFORE AND NOW

There is no doubt there is a huge difference on the situation with the sami people now and how it was let´s say in the 70ties or 40ies.  This is a really common question I get asked all the time:

HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED FOR SAMI PEOPLE?

Sami culture is not prohibited anymore like it used to be. 
For a long time nothing Sami was tolerated. To simplyfy what happened: the government wanted us to become good Norwegian citizens, we where not allowed to be Sami. We had to change our names, burn the gákti (sami clothing) and drums, and stop joiking and talking sami. Chlidren in shcools would get punished if they where to talk sami or use sami clothes.

Colonisation happened, and it´s still going on, it has for at least 100 years - BUT....

Now we have opportunities - we had no voice before. 
Because there has been shown interest in reconciliation between the Norwegian government (I know best of the situation in Norway, but there are sami people in Sweden, Finland and Russia as well) and Sami´s the latest years this is an excellent chance for us to show the world who we are. On our terms. We don´t have to let anyone from outside the Sami culture define who we are, but we can choose for ourselves to show what our values are, our lifestyle and world view, our culture and what we have to offer to the world.
We are allowed to learn how to be good Sami people. We have the opportunity to define ourselves - let the world know who we are from our own perspective.

What would you say has changed for the Sami people? Do you have any thoughs about it?