Mythologies of the Kven Tribe

Kvens (Kven: kvääni; Finnish: kveeni; Norwegian: kvener; Swedish: kväner; Northern Sami: kveanat) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic group in Northern Norway. In 1996, Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language was recognized as a minority language in Norway. The ethnonym Cwenas is mentioned in the Old English Orosius from the 9th century, and the Old Norse forms kvenir and kvænir occur in some Icelandic sagas, such as the Orkneyinga saga and Egil's Saga. From the 16th century onward, a small number of Kvens appear in tax records from northern Norway under the names Quæn or Qvæn. The number of Kvens increased with migration from northern parts of Sweden and Finland between the 17th and 19th centuries. Due to the Norwegianization policy that began in the late 19th century, the term Kven became to perceived as derogatory and the stigma led many to deny or conceal their identity as Kven.^[7] With the revitalization of the Kven culture in the 1970s, the term was readopted. However, even in the 1990s there was a debate whether the Norwegian terms finne, finsk, or finskætted (respectively a Finnish person, Finnish, and of Finnish origin) should be used instead. Today, the term Kven is used as an official designation, and also within the group itself. However, there are people with Kven heritage who prefer to be called Norwegian Finns or use the name kainulaiset instead. In 2001, the number of Kvens was estimated to be about 10,000 to 15,000 in a parliamentary inquiry on national minorities in Norway. However, estimating the number of Kvens is difficult since there is no official definition of a Kven. Kven organizations have estimated the number to be 30,000–50,000. Some studies have estimated the number of Kvens to be about 50,000–60,000, based on the criteria that at least one grandparent spoke Kven. Many Kvens identify as Norwegian, Sami, or a combination of both, in addition to their Kven identity. Depending on the criteria used, the number of people who speak Kven today is between 2,000 and 8,000.

Kvens (Kven/Finnish: kveeni, Norwegian: kvener, Northern Sami: kveanat) are a Finnic ethnic minority in Norway who are descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries. The name “Kven” is used as early as about 890 AD, as Ottar (Othere) from Hålogaland (Norway) visited the court of King Alfred (871–99) of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. He called the land to the north of Sweden “Cwena land”. The name Kvenaland is also used in Snorre Sturlason’s sagas of the kings. The first Kvens to settle in Norway came to make a living as farmers and fishermen. In 1845 there were as many as 2700 kvens who had settled in Norway (Troms and Finnmark counties). In the early 1800’s the influx of Kvens increased as the Kåfjord mining company needed workers.

Local communities in Troms and Finnmark are home to one of Norway’s minorities, the Kven – a Balto-Finnish people. Visit the Kven capital of Vadsø to learn more about when, how and why they came to this area and how they have lived since the 18th century until today. The new Ruija Kven museum is the best place to learn more about this people. Ruija – or Land by the Ocean – was where Finnish-speaking people from Finland and Sweden went when hunger gnawed at them, when unemployment threatened their lives and when new opportunities were needed. They were often well-received, because they were good workers, but they were also met with suspicion. Vadsø Museum – Ruija Kven museum is a rich exhibit on the Kven people. Their main exhibit is called Kohtamiinen Jäämeren kans – Encountering the Arctic Ocean – alongside the old NRK studio and a fun history of Vadsø in the foyer. Come in and explore! Kven is recognized as a minority language in Norway. In the western areas, they speak a langauge that the Finnish-speaking people of today find old-fashioned, with incomprehensible loand words from Norwegian. Even so, Kven is mutually intelligible with Finnish, for the most part. The language in Eastern Finnmark is much closer to modern Finnish, and conversations flow much easier. This is because they are able to get Finnish radio and television, and there is much more frequent contact across the border. Modern Kven is a standardized written language, a true language in its own right. Some still call it Finnish, because they like to point out the obvious kinship. Try your hand at Kven in the museum’s monitors, and maybe learn a little bit of the language. Some of the first Kven who came to Eastern Finnmark from Finland, came here a seasonal workers in the fisheries. The Varanger Fjord is rich in fish, and more hands were needed. Soon, the Kven learned both how to fish and how to build boats. Vadsø was a major exporter of fish, to both Western Europe and areas in Northwestern Russia. The Pomor trade between Northwestern Russia and Northern Norway dates back to the 18th century and lasted until the Russian Revolution. In Vadsø, fishing eventually took on a more industrial scale, with Svend Foyn’s whale oil, cod liver oil and later herring oil factories in the latter half of the 20th century.

Kvens (; fi|kveeni; no|kvener; sv|kväner; se|kveanat) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic group indigenous to the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia. In 1996, Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language was recognized as a minority language in Norway. There is a theory among some academic groups that due to the discrimination and suppression by the Norwegian authorities the term Kven became derogatory in the late 19th century. Therefore, many Kvens preferred to be called kainulaiset. But with the revitalization of the Kven culture in the 1970s, Kvens themselves started using the term. However, even in the 1990s there was a debate whether the Norwegian terms Norwegian: finne, Norwegian: finsk, or Norwegian: finskætted (respectively a Finnish person, Finnish, and of Finnish origin) should be used instead. However, today the term Kven is accepted and used, for example, in the name of the Kven organization in Norway, Norske Kveners Forbund. In the 1990s there was a debate among Kvens whether they should be considered as an ethnic group of their own, or whether they were Finnish Norwegians. As well, during the process of legal recognition of the Kven language, there was a debate as to whether it should be considered an actual language or merely a dialect of Finnish, and whether the Kven language or Kven dialect of Finnish should be taught in schools. Kven and Sami people share a common history of Norwegianization. However, post-Norwegianization policies have treated them differently. Sami people have been recognized as the indigenous people in Northern Norway. They have their own schools and parliament, and they elect three of the six members for the board of Finnmark Estate (the organization owning about 95% of the land in the county of Finnmark). Some Kvens believe the distribution of rights and public funds has favored the Sami people too much, whereas on the Sami side there are people who think the Norwegian minority politics and public funding should focus mostly on the Sami people. Lately, the Norwegian Kven Organization has attempted to get the Kvens recognized, similarly to the Sami people, as an indigenous people in Norway. This has made it important for some Kvens to show that their history stretches further back in time than commonly believed. There has been some recent unofficial adoption of the word "Kainu" as the new name for "Kven", in accordance with the hypotheses put forward by Finnish historians Jouko Vahtola and Kyösti Julku. Vahtola has hypothesized that words "Kven" and "Kainu(u)" are interchangeable. In 2018, The Storting commissioned The Truth and Reconciliation Commission to lay the foundation for recognition of the experiences of the Kven subject to Norwegianization and the subsequent consequences.