Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi
For millennia the reindeer has been one of the most important animals for humans in Laponia and today it is a carrier of a long cultural tradition and Sami identity. Although reindeer herds are now privately owned and managed all year round, they are, as the old Sami saying goes, the property of the wind.
Reindeer have been here since the last ice age. They need different food at different times of the year. Herds have grazed in these forests and mountains during their constant migrations, and the first people to live here followed the animals in their tracks. At strategic points along the herds’ migration routes, they built systems of trapping pits to scare the animals. The hunt did not only provide meat. The furs and skins of the prey were used to make clothes, shoes and other necessities.
Gradually the reindeer were domesticated. For example, a domesticated female could be used to attract other wild reindeer. But the biggest benefit was that it could pull and carry everything needed for the constant journeys. When trade with surrounding peoples began, it became interesting to keep larger herds of reindeer. Reindeer products then became something that could be bartered or sold. Throughout history, every part of the reindeer has been used.
The mountains are largely a evidencecharacterized by cultural landscape. Reindeer have been grazing here for millennia, and grazing has prevented the mountains from becoming overgrown with bushes and other plants have benefited and been able to take up space and grow. This is why the mountain landscape looks the way it does, without the presence of the reindeer we would be faced with a completely different landscape.
Mountain and forest reindeer in Laponia are related to wild reindeer in other parts of the world. The reindeer is an Arctic cervid that existed as early as the mammoth. Over thousands of years, reindeer have adapted to the polar climate. In the harsh cold and snow, the reindeer is a survivor with its heat-insulating fur and hooves that never freeze. Mountain and forest reindeer management is based on the past migrations and annual cycles of wild reindeer.
In spring, the new reindeer herding year begins. In May the reindeer calves are born. The vultures go to their hills, where they always calve when spring approaches. Then the vajan lifts its nose to the west and breathes in the air before starting its migration, ‘biegganjunni’ (Nsam) as the reindeer herders call it.
The period before and during calving is particularly sensitive to disturbance for the vulture and the newborn calf.
The herdsman follows the reindeer herd back to the calving grounds to the west, keeping a watchful eye on the reindeer. They pray to the weather gods for dry and warm weather, for a favorable start for the new members of the reindeer herd, which is also the growth of the reindeer herder.
During the summer, when the calves have grown a bit, the herders gather the reindeer herd to the pasture to mark the calves. You gather them when it gets cooler towards the evening, and keep the calf marking when it is cooler at night under the light of the midnight sun. In the Sami villages of Laponia, the calves are caught with svejp or svahpa (snow stick) or suohpan (Nsam for lasso). The calf’s ear is marked in the same way as the vajan’s, and the traditional custom is to mark it with a knife. It only lasts a few seconds per calf before being released back to the vulture.
In the pasture during the night there is a constant shouting, that’s when the calf and the vwajan get separated.
Mosquitoes are said to be the forest reindeer herder’s best companion; they gather the reindeer into smaller herds, making it easier to gather the herd before putting them in the pasture.
As the snow starts to fall and the ice settles, reindeer start to move to other areas to graze for the winter. The reindeer herders gather the reindeer herd and put them in a pasture where they then separate the reindeer into so-called siiddat (Nsam), winter groups, family by family to take them for winter grazing in the usual area.
This period is called “maturity” among those living in Laponia. The snow and ice melt away and the mountains and forests are left alone. The first greenery appears and provides important and welcome grazing for the reindeer after a long winter.
During this period, reindeer work to eat and build up their fat stores for the cold winter. The mushrooms that come are a great favorite, and the reindeer can run far every day in search of the delicious soups.
This is the time when reindeer are at their most beautiful, having finished changing their fur and making new large horns. The reindeer have eaten their fill during summer grazing and are in good shape for the winter. This is also the period when the reindeer are in heat and the hares, which fight for the wagons to cover them, are large and muscular with huge horns.
During the winter, reindeer graze on their winter pastures. Ground lichen is important bait this time. During the long and cold winter, reindeer use up their fat stores built up during the bare ground period.
When the sun starts to shine again and eventually warm up, the reindeer also start to look for some other food. It likes to look for the hanging lichen that grows on the old trees in the forests, and can wander miles in the area to find it. At the same time, the growing restlessness of the reindeer as they long for the bare slopes of the spring and summer pastures begins to take hold, and they start to wander, and the reindeer herder follows them.
Reindeer and reindeer husbandry depend on pristine land where reindeer can graze. The reindeer(Rangifer tarandus tarandus) is the species of reindeer found in Sweden today. It is well adapted to life in an Arctic climate. Reindeer are herd animals, so they thrive together and follow their habitual routes. Reindeer need different types of grazing depending on the season and therefore move between different areas depending on the season. In winter, the main food is reindeer lichen and during the bare ground season reindeer graze on grasses, herbs, mushrooms and leaves. Reindeer have special habitats where they find grazing, calving grounds for the cows and where they feel safe. Reindeer avoid being in certain areas which can sometimes be due to weather, grazing conditions, grazing tranquillity or disturbances and that is why reindeer herding needs large areas throughout the year. Reindeer, like all animals, are very sensitive to human disturbance.
