Summer, autumn and winter photos from Honningsvåg and other places on Magerøya island.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Sami camp (4)


This is the camp of Sami people. It belongs to Nils and his wife Anna and they have reindeer there and a souvenir shop.

3 comments:

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Kim said...

This is so interesting to me. Years ago I heard a recording of some Sami singing traditional songs. It sounded uncannily like native American plains Indians' music, it amazed me. To see what looks like plains Indian tepees in your photo of Sami camp makes me wonder if these types of structures were just borrowed from American Indians because they are convenient for summer outdoor life anywhere on the globe, or if there is some long tradition of their use among the Sami.
-Kim

J. said...

These tents are traditional Sami houses and they haven't been "borrowed" from anyone as far as I know. They are still beeing used nowadays, when the reindeer owners travel with the animals from one region to another. For example the reindeer which spend the summer on the island Magerøya go for the winter to the south, about 300 kilometers. It takes 3-4 weeks to get there. On the island there is too much snow in wintertime and the animals just wouldn't find enough food.