Noaydde

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The Nordic countries' Sami shaman is named noaydde . Most noaydde practices died out during the 17th century, most likely because the Shamans resisted the crown; their actions were referred to in courts as"magic" or "sorcery" (cf. witchcraft.) The noaydde might engage in any kind of affair that demanded wisdom; it is said they took payments for their services. Their activities included healing people, helping children, making decisions and protecting reindeer, which represented the Sámis' most important source of food and were also used as tributal payment.

The sources from which we learn about noayddes are court protocols, tales, excavated tools (such as belts), and missionary reports. The image rendered by missionaries should in most cases be considered mere fable. That noayddes were punished and in some cases sentenced to death for their "sorcery" should perhaps rather be interpreted as an attempt to obliterate opposition to the crown.

A topic of research has been whether or not the (Sami) concept noaydde was derived from the (Finnish) noita or vice versa. Perhaps the (Finnish) word for witch noita originally meant "the wise one". However, noayddes has only been traced in the Sami culture and not Finnish. It is probable that the word has come down to both Sami and Baltic-Finnic languages from the ancient Proto-Finno-Ugric language, as there is a cognate word also in the distant Finno-Ugric language Mansi.

The Evenks refer to their traditional healing figure as saman, meaning "wise".