Native Sun

Native Sun

by Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw

The Indigenous peoples of South America from the Navajo and Apache to the Nenets and the Sámi, the ancestral inhabitants of Sápmi in the far north, share striking connections in culture, tradition, and history. Although separated by continents and opposite climates, they each developed a profound spiritual relationship with nature, a cyclical understanding of time, and communal structures that reflect a worldview rooted in balance and reciprocity.

Spirituality lies at the core of both. For Andean peoples, Pachamama is mother and origin; for Amazonian communities, the rainforest is alive and inhabited by guardian spirits; for the Sámi, every mountain, river, and wind carries a sacred energy called saivo. In both regions, the shaman—whether known as yachak, payé, machi, or noaidi—serves as a mediator between worlds, a healer, and a guardian of knowledge.

Their concepts of time also converge. In much of South America, the past remains alive through ancestors and the land itself; in Sápmi, the world of the ancient ones coexists with the present. These circular visions of time prevent rupture and allow cultural memory to be transmitted without being lost.

The art of both peoples reveals remarkable parallels. South American textiles and traditional Sámi clothing, the gákti, use geometric patterns that represent constellations, territories, and lineages. Sámi spiritual singing, the joik, bears a striking closeness to Amazonian and Andean invocation chants, where singing is not about describing something, but about making it spiritually present.

The relationship with the land is another shared foundation. Ancient Andean agriculture, sustainable Amazonian practices, and the nomadic reindeer herding of Sápmi follow the same philosophy: taking no more than what is necessary, moving in harmony with nature’s rhythms, and maintaining a reciprocal bond with the environment.

Both peoples have endured centuries of colonization, territorial loss, language prohibitions, and cultural pressure. Yet they have resisted. Today, they are experiencing a renaissance: the revitalization of languages such as Quechua, Aymara, Mapudungun, and Guaraní, as well as Northern Sámi, Lule Sámi, and Skolt Sámi; the return of ancestral ceremonies; the recovery of sustainable technologies; and the renewed valuing of identity.

Despite the geographical distance, the Indigenous peoples of South America and the Sámi reflect the same deep root: a sacred relationship with the land, an unbroken memory, and a spirituality that flows across generations. They are peoples united by the same ancestral sun, a Native Sun that continues to illuminate their path.

Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw
31 January 2026, Saint Germain Des Pres