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| Nutti Sámi Siida Outdoor Exhibit |
A Day Visit at Sámi Siida, Márkanbáiki.
We traveled up north in search of Aurora Borealis, but that can only be seen at night. During daytime, we decided to take a tour of the area and drove a few kilometers from our lodge to Nutti Sámi Siida, which was nearby.
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| Entrance to Nutti Sámi Siida |
Once you walk through the fence, the exhibit area is to the right, and the small cabin-like shop is straight ahead. There you can purchase memorabilia or tickets for the tour.
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| Nutti Sámi Siida - Reception |
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| Nutti Sámi Siida Shop, beside Café Sápmi |
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| Feed the Reindeer with Lichen |
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| Nutti Sámi Siida Exhibit Map |
The Sámi people, also referred to as Saami, have been around way before Vikings were known to man. It is a reindeer herding community spread throughout the northern parts of specific countries in Europe such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Russia. They have their own parliament, and they govern themselves independently.
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| Nutti Sámi Siida English Tour |
Sámi people are nature lovers, and this plays a major role in their beliefs. They consider Nature to have a soul, and that taking care of Nature's creatures is godly work. Their religious beliefs stem from this, and is parallel to other ethnic groups like the Inuit and Native Americans, placing Nature above all else.
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| Sámi Tepees |
They are keen on the different changes in weather, since every work and leisure activity they have are dependent on nature. Because of this, they have 8 seasons instead of the usual 4. This guides them on how to take care of the reindeer herd, such as migration, calving periods, and the like.
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| A Sámi Tepee |
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| Njalla - Elevated Food Storage for Meat, Dried Fish, and other necessities. |
Winter is a major part of the Sámi lifestyle. Because of this, the they also have a couple hundred descriptive words of snow they use in navigating through daily activities. Through these words, they are able to gauge if snow is untouched or easy to use skis on, and other similar situations that require the knowledge of knowing what quality the snow is on a given time of day.
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| Sámi Eco Activites to choose from |
Nutti Sámi Sida has different cultural adventures they offer to visitors. It mainly consists of immersion into their diverse community with the highlight of feeding the reindeer. The latter is what I was most excited about, even became a bit giddy just thinking about it on our way there.
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| Getting Ready to Feed Reindeer with Lichen (Treats) |
Feeding Reindeer
Sámi-related activities for outsiders such as feeding reindeer have helped them financially sustain the herd. For us tourists, it's a life-changing experience that make us closer to nature. Both sides win.
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| Rengärde |
Reindeer always shed their antlers, males after rutting and females during spring (after giving birth to calves). When they do grow back, they are in the same shapes they had before so you could easily distinguish one from the other. Female antlers are smaller than the male, and antlers of both species are very sensitive to touch. When we went in to feed the reindeer, we were asked to avoid petting the antlers as this can cause them to become aggressive.
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| Female Reindeer Antlers |
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| Male Reindeer Antlers |
The reindeer's teeth are far back in the mouth so I was not scared to put my hand out with all the treats on it and let them feed off it. I actually really did enjoy spending time with them, it was almost magical.
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| Male Reindeer |
If you want to immerse yourself deeper into their culture, they have different adventure packages available. One could even stay at their Reindeer Lodge, learn more about Sámi from morning until night time, feed reindeer as needed. One can also ride a reindeer sled, and interact with other Sámi villagers inside their tepees as you share a snack and sip coffee together. They can try to sing to you one of their folk songs, or just talk about daily routine with the reindeer. I absolutely want to go back and experience this, unfortunately this visit only allowed us to stay during the day and we had an itinerary for the rest of the trip that we needed to follow.
At the end of the tour was a presentation about how a Sámi goes about a typical reindeer-herding day. It got cold after awhile (-8°C), so we went back to the shop to get warm. There was a heating area in the middle of the shop, and Café Sápmi on the other side.
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| Cheese Cutters made of Reindeer Antler - Moose Design |
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| Bottle Openers made of Reindeer Antler - Reindeer Design |
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| Reindeer Hide Rug |
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| With out French, English and Swedish speaking Tour Guide, Guillaume. |
Café Sápmi
On the left side of the memorabilia shop is an entrance to the eating area. Coffee is traditionally made with ground coffee beans boiled with water on open fire. One who prepares the coffee drinks the first cup, and when offered a cup, you cannot refuse it.
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| Keeping Warm at Café Sápmi |
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| Wooden Reindeer Head |
This day visit costed us SEK 200 per person, and additional SEK 30 for every bag of Lichen we fed the reindeer with. It could get quite pricey, but this was part of the Arctic experience that we really wanted, and it was worth it. Next stop is Abisko, onwards to chasing the Northern Lights!
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| Surrounding Area of Nutti Sámi Siida |
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| Jukkasjärvi Church |
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| Avis Rental, onwards to Abisko later that day. |
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