The Sami people of Northern Scandinavia were the first people to settle this area. Recent DNA tests show they came from the Basque area between France and Spain. They own all the reindeer in Norway, Sweden and Finland except for a few which are still wild. They have domesticated these animals and raise them for meat.
Here our guide tries to settle the lead reindeer down. The reindeer are anxious to get going because they know they will be fed lichen at the end. It was 2 persons to a sled pulled by one reindeer.
The sleds look crude but they got the job done.
This guy was pulling the sled behind ours' so we got to see him up close and personal for much of the time.
After a short 30 minute ride, the reindeer get to enjoy a treat - lichen.
And when it was all over, we were treated to a stew. You guessed it, reindeer.
Our young guide, Ken, gave a short lecture on the Sami culture. He described the clothes they wore including the reindeer hide shoes. They use dried grass for insulation in the shoes. They have a curled tip, just like Santa's elves.
Ken also described the proposal trip, when a Sami guy wants to marry a Sami girl. After courting for some time and deciding she is the one, the guy asks his best friend to go to the girls home and ask her parents if he can marry their daughter. Whether they say yes or no, a proposal trip is planned. The young Sami guy gathers all his friends and many relatives and hitches up the reindeer. They sled over to the girl's home, circle the house 3 times before the best friend goes in again to ask the girl this time. If she says yes, she will come out and join her guy and he will hand her the reins to show what is his is hers now. What is hers is probably still hers.
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