Samuel Rheen (c. 1615 – 1680) was a Swedish priest, known for the work En kortt Relation om Lapparnes Lefwarne och Sedher, wijdskiepellsser, sampt i många Stycken Grofwe wildfarellsser [A brief treatise of the life and culture of the Sami, and their superstitions] (1671), being one of the earliest descriptions of Sami mythology and Sami noaidi.[1][2][3]
He grew up in Böle in Piteå and worked as a minister in Jokkmokk 1664/6-1671 and then in Råneå in Luleå until 1680.
His treatise was commissioned by the government as a part of a larger work describing the life and faith of the Sami. Together with other, similar "clergy correspondences", it served as a source for Johannes Schefferus and his book Lapponia in 1673. His treatise contained a drawing of a sami drum, with explanations of the symbols on the membrane.[4] Rheen was also one of the sources to professor K.B. Wiklund's assumption that Swedish reindeer herding Sami had used Norwegian islands during summer.[5]
^Berättelser om samerna i 1600-talets Sverige. Kungl. Skytteanska samfundets handlingar; 27 (in Swedish) (Faksimileutgåva av prästrelationerna först publicerade av K.B. Wiklund 1897-1909 /med företal av Phebe Fjellström och efterskrift av Israel Ruong ed.). Umeå: Skytteanska samf. 1983 [1897]. ISBN91-86438-01-8. ISSN0560-2416.
^Noaidier, historier om samiske sjamaner. Edited with an introduction by Brita Pollan [no]. XXXIX, 268 s. Oslo: Bokklubben, 2002. (Verdens Hellige Skrifter; 14). ISBN82-525-5185-8
