We are having a fantastic time in Finnish Lapland, within the Arctic circle. Saariselkä is a very pretty snow covered resort. The weather is crisp and dry, with average temperatures of -18C. Dressed in our warm arctic kit we keep very toasty during lovely walks. The hotel and meals are First Class.
We went on a trip to see the reindeer and they pulled us on a thrilling sleigh ride through a beautiful pine forest. Afterwards we were presented with a “valid” reindeer driving licence!
About Saariselkä
Saariselkä, within the Arctic Circle is the most northerly ski resort in Finland. Saariselkä is in Sápmi, an area historically inhabited by the Sámi people, an indigenous race found in Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Murmansk region in Russia.
The Sámi are a Finno-Ugric people who speak several Sámi languages related to Finnish, Estonian and more distantly to Hungarian. Whilst these are related languages, they are mutually unintelligible. Furthermore, none of the Sámi languages are mutually intelligible. The Sámi language with the most speakers is North Sámi and all the Sámi languages are endangered and some are on the brink of extinction.
That’s it, in the smallest of nutshells. If you are interested in finding out more about the Sámi people, there is more information here:
https://bit.ly/2R5Llly
We visited a Sámi working reindeer farm, where we had the chance to meet the Sámi reindeer herders and could observe them dressed in Sámi costumes and could also find out more about the history and culture of these indigenous European people.
We also visited the tourist information centre in Saariselkä where they currently have a fascinating exhibition dedicated to Sámi culture and history.
Have you ever encountered Sámi culture? You possibly have, as traditional Sámi chanting, called Joiking was made famous by the group Enigma, in their 1994 single called Return To Innocence, which is based on Joiking. Joiking is usually unaccompanied chanting based on the five tone pentatonic scale and it can be chanted by both female and male singers.
Of course, there is so much more to Sámi culture – just Google it for more information. I could not possibly inform you more about the Sámi people in an article as brief as this.