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<P align="justify"> Phenomena that r … <P align="justify"> Phenomena that require behaviour that deviates from the normal conduct of our life, and which are distinguished from the mundane by ritual prescriptions, or taboos, can be defined as sacred ; that is, they can be claimed to possess a supernatural character. In the minds of the hunting peoples of the north, however, the sacred and the profane, this life and the hereafter, do not seem to be as sharply distinguished as the sacred is from other aspects of life in Western Christian thought. </P>
<P align="justify"> In discussing primitive peoples, it is necessary to be careful in using terms like sacred and profane. Such peoples do not necessarily have words in their own languages to distinguish these concepts, but that does not mean that the concepts themselves do not exist. The fact that the peoples have needed shamans ([[Shamanism|shamanism]]) indicates that the ordinary person has not been able to have direct dealings with all the dimensions and forces of the world that surrounds them. Beings that are mostly invisible to ordinary eyes ([[Pre-Christian gods|Pre-Christian gods]], [[The nature spirits|spirits]], [[The underground beings|gnomes]]) have nevertheless been only more or less sacred or supernatural ; they have not been totally other. With respect to man they have been superior, indeed supreme, beings, and they have possessed varying degrees of power that is potentially beneficial or harmful to man. There were gradations within the sacred and the supernatural, constituting a continuum rather than a sharp dichotomy with the profane and the mundane.</P>
<P align="justify"> In the minds of primitive peoples, the sacred and the profane, this life and the hereafter, are like imaginary two focal points in the elliptical field of human life. The two realities intersect with one another, and both dimensions are present in all matters. Ritual prescriptions for living and dealing with the supernatural differ according to how close they are to the profane and distant from the sacred, and vice versa.</P>
<P align="justify"> For many modern Western people, nature has become natural, and man has made himself the lord of nature. For the Saami, on the other hand, nature has represented a kind of super nature because man has never be able to master it completely, peopled as it is with uncontrollable forces and creatures which seem to have a will of their own. The Saami have nevertheless been full-scale active participants in the events of this world, and therefore they not been totally at the mercy of nature any more than they have been its masters. </P>
<P align="justify"> The Saami names for the sacred are [[Áiligas (engl. ver.)|<i>áiligas</i>]] and <i> [[Bassi (engl. ver.)|bassi]]</i>. Also [[Sáiva (engl. ver.)|sáiva]], <i> [[Sieidi (engl. ver.)|sieidi]]</i>, divinities, etc. </P>i]]</i>, divinities, etc. </P> +
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