Reindeer Herding SÁMI in the SÁPMI

There are very few places on earth where people still live in a manner that closely resembles the lives of their ancestors from ancient, prehistoric times. You have to find pockets of physical isolation like deep in the Amazon Jungles, the Australian Outback or, in this case, the Arctic North, to find peoples that time has passed by.

The Sámi  are an indigenous people group in the  Sápmi region; the north cape of the Fennoscandian Peninsula* in modern day Norway, Sweden, Finland & Russia, speaking traditional  Sámi languages, ( a branch of the Uralic family.)

Up until the 18th century reindeer herding Mountain Sámi lived as nomads; migrating annually with their herds across the arctic🔍  tundra, like their people have for thousands of years, undisturbed by their Scandinavian neighbors.

Despite an initial intense push to force the Sámi into the 'modern' Victorian Era in the 19th century, this small population has managed to maintain a strong connection to it's ancient culture. Even today, a significant portion live a life that their forefathers would generally recognize (apart from the incorporated modern tech, like cell phones, 🤣)

I was lucky enough to spend some time with a Sámi reindeer herder, and learn a bit about their history, while staying at an Igloo Ice Hotel in the Sápmi. I even got to ride in a reindeer sleigh!

Sápmi actually refers to both the Sámi land and the Sámi people.

The literally meaning of Sámi, could thus be translated simply as people of the land; an apt name for a nomadic people group that live off the land.

The first historical mention of what were probably the ancient Sámi, was by the Roman historian Tacitus, c98 AD. He calls them Fenni - likely from Old Norse finna, and proto-Germanic finþanan (finthan) = to find, a reference to the Sámi as hunter-gatherers; finding their food, as compared to the proto-Germanic farming tribes.

Old Norse speakers also used variants like Finn, and even skridfinn = skiing Finn to refer to the Sámi in the Icelandic Eddas and Norse sagas (11th - 14th centuries.)

When Old Norse developed into the Scandinavian🔍 languages the Swedes ironically adopted Finn to refer to the Norse farming communities settling in, and giving their name to, present day Finland, (though Finn still retains it's original Sámi connection in many modern day toponyms like Finnmark, Finnfjord & Finnøy eg.)  across Lapland and the Sápmi.

Sámi land is often misleadingly referred to simply as Lapland,

(as it includes the provinces of Lappland | Sweden & Lapland | Finland.)

Lapland was in fact named for the Sámi; Lapp  being an  exonym  for the people in the middle-ages** and they were called Laplanders or the Lappish race throughout much of Europe.

 [The etymology of Lapp,  now common in place names,  is unknown; one speculation relates it to wilderness  while another believes it to be cognate with Middle German lappe = simpleton.]

Along with Finn, however, the terms are now regarded as inappropriate for use to describe the people and their land. Speakers of Northern Sámi (accounting for about 75% of all Sámi speakers) refer to themselves as Sámit (the Sámis) or Sápmelaš (of Sámi kin) and the region as Sápmi, which actually extends far past Lapland.†

The Sápmi, with it's capitol in Karasjok in Finnmark | Norway near the Swedish boarder, is broadly dived into Eastern Sápmi; on the Kolas Peninsula in Russia, Central Sápmi, in northern Lapland of the Scandinavian Peninsula and Southern Sápmi, lower down the Scandinavian Peninsula, (compromising most of the Sea Sámi; who were historically fishing, trapping, small scale farming and cattle/ sheep herding clans)^

With a total population of only ~70k, Sámi have never been a united community in a single region of the Sápmi, nor a unified political entity. Even the individual language groups are not geographically confined, and are spoken in regions across several countries; as the linguistic borders of a nomadic peoples can't be expected to correspond to national borders.

* Scandinavian Peninsula of Norway, Finland & Sweden + Russian Kola peninsula (east of Finland and north of mainland Russia)

** The first written use of Lapp is in the Gesta Danorum by 12c Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, who referrs to 'two Lappias', though he also referred to the Sámi as (Skrid-)Finns and never explicitly connects the Sámi with the "two Lappias" - so they may have originally been a different people group later conflated with the Sámi.

† There are no official geographic boundaries of Sápmi but it's generally considered to encompass Troms, Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland & Finnmark county in Norway, Jämtland , Norrbotten & Västerbotten county in Sweden, the Lapland region of Finland and Murmansk oblast in Russia

^ There were also Forest Sámi who combined fishing in inland rivers & lakes with small-scale reindeer-herding, and City Sámi, now probably the largest group of Sámi.

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...To See if REINDEERs Really Know How to Fly

"Reindeers are better than people Sven, don't you think that's true?"

- "Kristoff" | FROZEN 🎶, Lyric by Robert & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

The Sámi are best known as reindeer herders.* Reindeer must migrate to find enough food to survive in the harsh, barren winters, and the herders protect them from predators like lynx, and even eagles. They graze on high, inland, subarctic steppe plateaus, where there's little snowfall and no ground ice, making it possible to dig for lichen. In the spring they migrate back to coast to eat coastal grasses. Often the herders drive the reindeer at night, when night frost forms a light crust that is easier to walk on than the slushier snow of the afternoon.

Today a full 10% of all Sámi are directly connected to reindeer husbandry, w/ ~2,800 full time Sámi herders in Norway (and herds are distinguished by specific marks cut into the reindeers ears.)

It was an advertised Reindeer Sleigh Ride, chasing the Northern Lights, that first peaked my interest in participating in a Sámi experience when visiting Norway. I had ridden a dogsled** before, but there is something so nostalgic about a reindeer sleigh, conjuring images of long ago Christmas' and childhood dreams of dashing through the snow, and in my case, classic Americana paintings of Winter Wonderlands with bundled lovers on sleighs pulled by horse or caribou (as American reindeer are called,) printed on jigsaw puzzles, worked on in front of a fire.

So I couldn't resist the reindeer ride, and my Sámi guide, Nils, did not disappoint!

Nils arrived at my hotel in traditional gákti, royal blue with multi-colored embroidered trim. Anyone who's seen Disney's FROZEN would recognize gákti; the character Kristoff, with his pet reindeer, wears a costume based on this traditional Sámi clothing. (Though Kristoff is not a traditional Sámi name.) Gákti is actually the Sámi word for cotton which then colloquially also became a term for the Sámi traditional dress.

Deep blues, reds, greens and whites are common and the dominant color of a gákti will indicate the region the wearer is from. The patterns and appliqués on hats, sleeves, collars and tunic hems can reflect clans and occupational affiliations,  if the wearer is married or single and like a noble crest, will sometimes even specify a particular family. Some regions use ribbon-work, others metallic tin embroidery, and many Eastern Sámi use beading. North Sami gákti, like Nils' is characterized by bright colors and complex patterns, while South Sami gákti features simpler designs and darker shades.

Worn both ceremonially and as everyday herding clothing, gákti was first made from reindeer hides & sinew - just like gápmagat & nutukas (reindeer leather & fur boots) with their curled, pointed toes,^ that fit neatly into the straps of traditional Sámi skis. (As is common with any people group that must sustain itself in a barren land, no part of the reindeer goes to waste, with even the blood^^ used for food.) But these days, the colorful tunics are just as likely to be wool, cotton or silk.

They are frequently decorated with nature motifs like reindeer antlers, in honor of their connection to their herd, celestial star patterns to reflect the night sky used to navigate, and arctic plants that sustain them, or like Nils, geometric patterns.

Men's and women's gákti are fairly similar, the only significant difference being a man's tunic (a sort of jacket/ shirt) is shorter than a woman's equivalent dress. Both include a fuller, gathered peplum skirt of sorts, on either the hem or the portion below the waist, and, both are worn over reindeer fur leggings in the winter.

The gákti can be topped with a fur coat, called a bellingar or sometime just beaska (which is the word for reindeer leather) or with a luhkka (a reindeer skin poncho/ cape,) or even a hooded jumper (малиц - made from reindeer skins lined with wool) in East Sápmi. Wool, leather or fur huvvu (traditional hats) vary by sex, as well as season, and region.

Fringed shawls are common in the east🔍, and woman's shawls are fastened with multiple silver brooches. Other accessories like beaded leather pouches, antler needle cases, tools for a fire or amulets, are hung off a belt, which might be leather or band-woven, and often decorated with antler or silver concho buttons, brass or copper rings and tassels.)

Reindeer hide is surprisingly warm, lightweight, and flexible - an ideal material for clothing and footwear. It's unique thermal properties are what enable the animals, not to mention people, withstand temperatures well below freezing for extended periods of time. Nils explained that reindeer outer hairs are actually hollow, making them natural insulators (and allowing them to float in water.) He claimed it was the warmest natural clothing material known on earth, and it's what has made Sámi survival possible, living outdoors in the arctic circle for thousands of years.

Before venturing out into the frozen night, Nils had the small group going on the ride put on reindeer fur lined 'jumpsuits' & Lávvugat (reindeer skin mittens,) and I was grateful for the protection as our sled sped through the woods behind a very excited reindeer. Reindeer can run up to 50 mph (80 kph)! They typically maintain a pace of ~ 25 - 35 mph when running free and can draw a sledge @ 12 - 15 mph, and I swear our reindeer were getting close to that at times, 🤣.

(There were a few sleds and reindeer out for our night-ride. I was in the first sleigh with our guide, who was training a younger buck to lead. The sleigh behind was pulled by an old pro though, who didn't like the role of follower and was constantly trying to over take us, inspiring a bit of race between the two for the lead role!)

"Reindeer are flight & motion & magic in moonlight, beyond all recalling, made of Christmas dreams,

spun from a place beyond all fearing."

- Anonymous

I asked Nils what our reindeer were named, but was told due to the size of the herds (his herd numbered in the hundreds) and the fact that they are also used for meat etc, the Sámi do not traditionally name the animals. Regardless, I was charmed by our anonymous competitive young bucks.

Reindeer are the only deer species where females also have antlers. Males shed their antlers after autumn's mating season (November–December) though, so our boys were bare that night.

* The only other large scale reindeer herders are the Evenki, an Indigenous people in Russia, as well as parts of China & Mongolia, though there are various smaller groups of Russian, Siberian, Finnish, Greenlandic, Scottish, Eskimo, Canadian, Turkic & other Uralic peoples that also herd.

** Reindeer sleds are not as old as dog sleds ,but they made areas of the arctic tundra and mountains accessible that, even today, can only be reach otherwise by helicopter.

^ Eastern Sámi boots have round toes and are beaded.

^^ In Russia reindeer blood is believed to have youth-enhancing elements, and you can bathe in it.

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ANCIENT ARCTIC ROOTS

According to Sámi tradition, the Sámi have always lived in the Sámpi, (and did not arrive there from anywhere else.) Genetic and archeological evidence however points to people groups first migrating to the Sápmi ~ 8000 to 6000 BC.

Once thought to be related to ethnic Finns, due in part to the similarities between Sámi & Finnish languages, it is now believe the original Sámi were a distinct ethnic people group* and a unique genetic population, that may be linked to the asbestos-ceramic culture (existing ~3900 - 1300 BC in Finland.)

Europe, in general, was populated in waves of prehistoric migration. In the early waves proto-Germanic hunter-gatherer tribes, surviving in the south/ Mediterranean region during the Ice-Age,** made their way north to Scandinavia ~13,000 years ago. (Genetic traces of these peoples appear in Nordic populations today, and is particularly strong in the Sámi population.)

A separate proto-Nordic wave, that took refuge in present day Russia in the Ice Age, moved into the Baltics & Scandinavia from the east ~10,000 years ago, mingling with the first group from the south. (Sámi also show strong genetic links, not common in other European populations, to this second people group^)

While humans had moved into regions of the far north of the Fennoscandian Peninsula by the 7th– 5th millennium BC, most of that Sápmi territory remained uninhabited until the 3rd millennium BC, when around ~ 3500 - 4,000 years ago^^ a wave from Siberia, brought a new people group to the peninsula, some of whom moved up into the northern cape; likely hunters following reindeer moving north. (This Siberian group is still heavily genetically represented in modern Finland, especially in Sámi populations.)

Many believe the Sámi culture formed, out of the combination of these people groups in the north, among semi-nomadic tribes practicing reindeer husbandry, (which began ~ 2,500 years ago.)†

The climate conditions in the non-arable inland regions of northern Fennoscandia eventually became so harsh, that by the 1st millennium AD essentially only the herding Sámi people remained in the Sápmi, and they developed in semi isolation for centuries. (Today, temperatures are as low as -22ºF (-30º Ce) even in the 'mild' regions were reindeer migrate in winter.)

Norse tribes, living on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula and in future Denmark, essentially ignored the Sámi as the Norse gradually colonized the Norwegian coast, and then much of Northern Europe during the Viking Age.

The two populations didn't interact with any frequency (apart from the payment of border taxes by the nomadic herdsman when crossing between countries) until the the 18th and 19th centuries, when Scandinavians governments started to assert sovereignty more aggressively in the north.

While some where fascinated by the indigenous people, they were considered backwards and primitive, and much of their culture was lost in a push for assimilation.††

* Some researchers, noting differences between northern and southern populations, believe the Sámi are actually two ethnic people groups united by a shared culture; the northern people originating from the Norwegian coast, transversing the mountains to Lapland as elk hunters from ~4000 BC on and a Finno-Ugric people group from the east that met & merged with them ~2000 BC

** Known as overwintering, or refugia

^ Interestingly, the only other modern ethnic groups that share a genetic link to these people are peoples in Northern Asia, a few Southern European groups and the Berbers in North Africa

^^ In the Stone Age, farmers from the Middle East also moved into Europe and Indo-European herders from the Eurasian Steppe arrived at the dawn of the Bronze Age, but neither had a strong genetic impact on the Sámi.

† There is also a theory that they are descended from an unrelated, isolated people group, possibly related to the Fosna culture or the similar Kosma culture that some believe populated Sweden from the NORTH after the Ice-Age.

They suggest a peoples overwintered in a pocket of the Norwegian Arctic that remained ice-free in the Ice Age, and some of these became the Sámi. (Others argue the evidence is better explained as the Norwegian coast just being settled up from the SOUTH very early on after the Ice age and those people later moved south again creating the appearance of a migration from the north.)

†† The Sámi were treated essentially as animal; scientifically studied by force and through grave robbing and sometimes put on display in side shows (similar to the treatment of Native Americans paraded in Europe after the discovery of the New World.) Much of there culture, pagan religious objects and even languages where made illegal.

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JOIKing by the Fire

Back on my Arctic Reindeer Adventure our little Sámi clan had reached it's destination, a clearing in the forrest where Nils had a Lavvu tent prepared for us.

I would call the tents "traditional," and they are, but that seems to carry a connotation of no longer being in everyday use, and that isn't accurate in this instance. Lavvu are still regularly used by modern Sámi. Even those who also have contemporary housing in town will still build and use lavvu, if they are herders, while out with the animals during migration season.

The tents are light weight, so as to be mobile, and can be set up to camp in less than an hours time.

Historically, Sámi lived in communal groups or clans called a siidat consisting of multiple cooperating families of herders living in lavvu tents, and their reindeer who grazed & migrated together.

When the people became less nomadic theses siidi evolved into a pastoralist organization and many of these groups settled into permanent villages [called sameby in Sweden, reinbeitedistrikt in Norway ( a reindeer pasture district) or paliskunta (reindeer herding district) in Finland*]

However, during the years of forced assimilation, the traditional nomadic siidi, far from the cities, in regions where reindeer herding was still an important livelihood, were among the few places where the Sámi culture & language managed to survive.**

Inside the lavvu, Nils had a small fire in a stone ring hearth already going, and he prepared tea in copper kettle over the open flame. Lit by the wood fire and candelabras it was actually quite warm, and we sat comfortably upon cushions on the ground, spread with furs, while he told us about his family history and Sámi traditions. It was the perfect atmosphere for folk tales!

In Sámi folklore there is a giant like creature called the Stállo (or Staaloe, Stalo & Northern Sami Stállu,) clumsy and dumb, similar to a Norwegian Trolls, who eats people, and often finds itself outwitted by humans in the tales.

There are many natural and artificial sites in Sápmi you can visit attributed to Stállo, like the remains of an ancient, large building foundations in the Vindelfjällen Nature Reserve said to be the remains of Stallo dwellings. Or the huge stone placed near Lake Giengeljaure named stalostenen, (Stallo stone) that legend says a Stallo placed to prove his strength.†

As a nomadic people, traditional Sámi hand-crafts, or duodji, are first and foremost practical, rather than decorative, (as no one wants to carry around a bunch of chotski's traipsing across an icy tundra.) In addition to the gákti women weave birch & spruce root baskets and men specialized in wood and bone carving, making scrimshawed antler-handled knifes, as well as guksi wooden cups and milking bowls to milk the reindeer.

Reindeer is not surprisingly the most common source of food. Bidos, a peppery reindeer stew is common, served with a sweet flatbread láibi, but I learned that, in addition to reindeer meat and milk, regional Sápmi cuisine includes local staples like fish, and other game like moose or sheep, plus berries, which are particularly important because other kinds of fruits & vegetables are not available during the long arctic winters. For the same reason, spices other than salt are rare. (In modern dishes, berries, the most valued of which is the cloudberry,^ are often featured in delicate sauces and desserts.)

Smoking and drying have historically been the most common cooking preparations, as preserving meat and fish to last through the migration was imperative. (I have actually had reindeer jerky before when I visited Svalbard, and had tried cloudberries for the first time earlier that night, both were delicious!)

The highlight of the night was when Nils sang a Joik for us; a traditional Sámi song, and invited us to join in. Originally based on syllablic improvisation,^^ joiks can be dedicated to animals and birds, special people or special occasions, and they can be joyous or melancholic.

The more haunting joiks are sung slowly, and deep in the throat. In some instances, they might mimic sounds from nature, other times they utilizes overtone singing and bel canto, both of which create an otherworldly sounds, perfect to express themes of sorrow or anger.

While they are most commonly sung a cappella, the Sámi also play reed flutes called Fando, made from a celery-like stalk, and both hand/ frame and bowl style oval drums, made of stretched reindeer hide. (Sacred symbols are painted on the ceremonial drums and these went by many names including goavddis or gobdis in the north)

Interestingly, unlike many Indigenous peoples, dance is not as significant a part of the culture, but the joik was part of everyday life and, along with the ceremonial drum was integral to the ancient Sámi religion.

* In Sweden & Norway there are Siida Member requirements, similar to Native American Tribal laws, regulating community membership, but in Finland & Russia non-ethnic Sámi also herd reindeer and can be part of the siida, though in Russia the Sami villages have been forcibly moved to specific districts.

** There are 10 traditional  Sámi languages, linguistically related to the other Uralic languages of Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian. All of the Sámi languages are to some degree endangered, ranging from what UNESCO defines as "definitely endangered" to "extinct" due in part to historic laws prohibiting their use in schools in Sweden and Norway. [Sámi languages, and Sámi song-chants, were actually illegal in Norway from 1773 until 1958.]

† There are also archaeological 'stallo sites: ' round or oval temporary dwellings, with diameters of four - six meters, arranged linearly in groups usually two to eight but up to fifteen) along what is now the Norway-Sweden border, found above the tree line, at heights between 550 and 850 meters c. 800–1050 AD during the Viking Age. probably used warmer months associated with hunting or herding reindeer. (though there is debate over whether the inhabitants were ethnically Norse or Sámi, the layouts do corresponds to later Sámi dwellings)

^ A Cloudberry is a tart, almost spicy, wild orange berry, that looks like golden raspberries, and only grows in the Nordic tundra

^^ A spontaneous creation of melodies and rhythms using syllables, often without specific words, like scat singing in jazz. It allows singers to use their voice as an instrument, focusing on pitch and rhythm rather than lyrics.

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SACRED STONES & Flight of the FREE SOUL 

Most modern Sámi, if they practice a religion, are christian (Lutheran, Russian & Eastern Orthodox are common) but the Indigenous Sámi religion was polytheistic, (with wide diversity between tribes across the Sápmi) animistic; believing natural objects (animals, plants & rocks, eg.) possess / are animated by a soul, and heavily shamanistic.

Many clans venerated the dead, regarding the living and the dead as two halves of the same family. And some worshipped animals, particularly bears.

As the people of the land it's no surprise there was an emphasis on a personal, spiritual connection to the natural land and the supernatural world, believed to be closely linked. Sacred sites called Sieidis were important as places where this link was strongest.

These sites were sometime located at man made petroglyphs (images carved in natural rock) and labyrinths, or at natural landscapes with unusual & striking land features, thought to have spiritual significance; like large, strangely shaped alter-like rocks. Every clan/ family had its own siedi location for sacrifices.  

Siedi stones or Storjunkare are sometimes described as having likeness' to a man or an animal. [Southern Sami called these viero-gierkie (sacrifice stones), viero-moere (sacrificial wood), soul-gierkie (goose-goat) and soul-nut (goose-tree.)]  

They were set up on a mountain tops, in caves, or near rivers and lakes, with fresh twigs spread under them in winter, and leaves or grass in summer to honor them. They were believed to have power over all animals, fish, and birds, and were able to bestow luck to those that hunted or fished for them. Offerings of meat, fish, bone, coins, metal objects, jewelry, cheese, and glass were promised to, and left to restore health, or before a hunt or fishing expedition to ensure a successful outcome.

Sámi cosmology divided the universe into three worlds. The upper world was the dwelling of the gods and was associated with the south; warmth, life, and the color white. The lower world was the underworld inhabited by otters, loons, seals and mythical animals. It was associated with the color black, the north & the cold. In between was the middle world, where humans live, associated with the color red, similar to the Norse Midgard, (Middle Earth, a term later borrowed by Tolkien for THE HOBBIT & LORD OF THE RINGS.)

Sámi tradition shares other elements with Norse mythology, as well, like the use of a world tree symbol, possibly from early contacts with trading Vikings. Practiced up until the 18th century the Sámi were actually the last worshippers of Thor (assuming you don't count Marvel's Chris Hemsworth worshipers); the Sámi thunder god was named Horagalles - which has been translated as Thor-man).

Additional deities included the Áhkká - a group of fertility goddesses; Maderakka, (Mother Akka who lives in the earth) and her daughters Sarakka Juksakka and Uksakka all associated with child birth. Beaivi- goddess of the sun, and her husband Bieggagallis were the father & mother of human beings. There was also a wind god, a goddess of healing, a goddess of the dead, a god of the hunt, god of the moon, god of waters and a goddess of spring, and interestingly a creator god, (creating the world & human souls) said to be sleeping & passive now, often not included in religious practice.*

Sámi shamans, called Noadi, where healers and protectors of both the people and the reindeer. They made ritual communication between the natural and supernatural possible, singing joik to evoke the assistance of benevolent spirits. Some, particularly in the east, wore shamanic headgear with animal hides, plaits, and feathers.

They would use the hypnotic chanting and drumming to induce trance states & out-of-body experiences they called "free soul" travel to the spirit world** where they obtained knowledge of the future, (as opposed to non-Noadi who only had a "body soul" trapped in the material world.) (Themes borrowed by George R.R. Martin for GAME OF THRONES.)

The sacred drums could also be used directly for divination. A brass or horn vuorbi ( meaning 'index' or 'pointer') - a kind of die - would be placed on the drum face and move with the vibrations of the drum as it was struck with a drum hammer. Future events would then be predicted according to the symbols upon which the vuorbi stopped on the membrane.

The knowledge of these traditions was nearly lost with the Christianization of the Sámi; ritualistic practices were made illegal and clans ceremonial drums sometimes seized.

There isn't a large push for the re-adoption of the ancient religion among the Sámi, but these Shamanic traditions are still remembered and celebrated at the Isogaisa Festival in Norway these days and there are several general Sámi cultural festivals as well, the best known being the Norwegian Riddu Riđđu, and  Ijahis Idja  in Finland. .

The Sámi celebrate a new year called Ođđajagemánnu, and an Easter festival, that is a Christianization of a springtime festival held at the start of the annual reindeer migration to the coast. Modern festivities even incorporate things like snowmobile races!

* Fragments of Lappish Mythology, by Joseph Paul Gaimard,  is great source for Sámi mythology covering Theory of Gods, Theory of Sacrifice, Theory of Prophecy, or short reports about rumorous Sami magic and Sami sagas. In addition to norse, the mythology also has common elements with other Indigenous religions such as those of Indigenous peoples in Siberia and North America.

** Possibly also assisted by the use of fly agaric - the hallucinatory Amanita Muscaria mushroom

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SÁMI in the MODERN World

While treatment of the Sámi has improved drastically since the Victorian era, their relationship with Scandinavian governments is still complex. And a controversy over construction of a hydro-electric power station in Sápmi of Alta | Norway in the late 20th century, brought Sámi rights into the limelight and a movement to reclaim the indigenous culture was ignited. 

Sámi parliaments where created in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The Norwegian parliament even gave the Sámi parliament & Finnmark Provincial council administration over the lands historically inhabited by the Sámi, they were granted special rights to reindeer husbandry and a constitutional amendment was even passed stating: "It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sámi people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life."

In 1986, a national anthem; SÁMI SOGA LÁVLLA (Songs of the Sámi Family/ People) and Sámi flag were created to celebrate the Sámi heritage.

The circle motif was derived from both the shape of a Noadi drum and was meant to represent the sun (in red) & moon (in blue) - inspired by the poem PÄIVEN PĀRNE' (Sons of the Sun) by South Sámi Anders Fjellner.

The background is in the traditional Sámi colors:

Red:  associated with life, energy, strength & vigor (a prominent color in gákti, especially those for special occasions,)

Blue: for the sky & water, representing calmness, stability,

Green: for the land, forests & growth, a connection to nature,

Yellow: usually linked to the sun, it denotes warmth, light, and vitality.*

Famous figures & stories of the Sámi:

• FROZEN II (2019), features the forest tribe known as the Northuldra, based on the Sámi, and the theme song Vuelie, written by Norwegian joiker Frode Fjellheim and performed by Norwegian female choral group Cantus, is based on Sámi joiks. (There is even a North Sámi dubbing of the film.)

  
  
  
  

• The Netflix show STOLEN (2024) is based on the 2023 novel of the same name, about the Sámi of Sweden, by Sámi author Ann-Helén Laestadius.

  
  

• The crime series; MIDNIGHT SUN  (2016), revolves around Sámi culture and conflicts of with modern Swedish society.

  
  

• Joni Mitchell | Musician & Painter + Renée Zellweger | Actress are both of partial Sámi descent.

* Additionally White symbolizes purity & innocence, (often used for undergarments and some ceremonial attire.) And Black is associated with the earth, darkness, and sometimes mourning.

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The Sámi Tourist

International attention and interest also spawned a Sámi tourism industry, which has helped spread awareness, (I, for one, had no knowledge of the Sámi before learning about them on my travels) but like all for-profit endeavors, it comes with the risk of cheapening and exploiting that which it claims to celebrate.

In Finland the use of "authentic" Sámi ceremonies & lifestyle experiences as a marketing tool by dissembling, non-Sámi, has been criticized as disingenuous and insulting. So as a responsible traveler, be sure to do your research if you are interested in participating in one of these excursion.  At many tourist locales in the Lapland, non-Sámi 'actors' dress in inaccurate replicas of gákti, and gift shops sell crude reproductions of duodji. One popular "ceremony" sold, crossing the Arctic Circle, actually has no spiritual significance to the Sámi at all.

I was lucky to have had the opportunity to learn about the Sámi in a less touristy local; farther out of the way, in the Sápmi north cape of Norway, rather than the flashier, more well known Lapland locations. There were only three of us that night with Nils, who is a full time herder, leading these night rides on the side with his own reindeer. No bells & whistles, just reindeer racing in the snow and a quiet lavvu conversation about Sámi by the fire with a shared joik...

To experience something of the Sámi & Reindeer yourself you can...

Participate in in a genuine reindeer migration, sleeping outside and moving with the herd, but be prepared you will be expected to actually help with the herding, and it will be work.

If your staying in the north already your hotel may offer experiences like mine did, and there are even destinations built in part or entirely around the Sámi lifestyle, like reindeer camps. The most famous of these is Rovaniemi - the year round Christmas village in the Lapland of Finland with it's accompanying Salla Reindeer Park- with reindeer competitions, late night canoe trips (beneath the midnight sun) & sleigh-rides.

Be sure to do your research with these types of experiences to make sure they are authentic and not knock-offs. (There is nothing wrong with a culture making a living often teaching about it's own heritage, but it is a bit sketch for someone outside of a culture to directly profit from it, not to mention deceitful if they do so while pretending to be a member of the culture when they are not.)

There is a Sápmi Park in Karasjok | Norway, where the visitor center presents the Sámi culture and its history through exhibits and a special effect theater presentation,

You can also visit Sámi sites like:

• The Hell of Lapland: a giant’s kettle & the meromictic Pakasaivo Lake in Northern Finland. An indigenous Sámi worship site, said to tunnel to hell (the lower world); the realm believed to exist beneath the 60m deep lake.

• There's Sámi rectangular turf house, or goahti, in Kaperdalen | Senja Island that has been renovated into a museum, with another goahti further up the valley, in Øverkaperdalen, which is has an oval shape more in line with traditional Sámi architecture. (This oval goahti can currently only be seen from the outside)

  
  

• Attend a Sámi theatre performance; Beaivvaš, in Kautokeino in Norway & in Kiruna in Sweden. Both tour the entire Sápmi with dramas often written by Sámi authors.

Have you ever tried a Sámi experience? Or gotten to pet a reindeer? Let us know all about your adventure in the comments below!