Domestic Animals of the Sami
Examines the relationship between Sami peoples, reindeer, and herding dogs.
Early Reindeer Taming in Sami Culture
Although the Sami are famous for their reindeer, true domestication only occurred in the early Modern era. Before the 16th century, most of Sápmi's reindeer herds were still wild. Nomads followed the reindeer as they migrated from winter plains to summer mountains. Hunters sometimes captured live young deer in pit-fall traps. Records from as early as the 9th century show Sami people keeping and trading tame reindeer. These small herds likely started as decoys to lure their wild cousins into traps. Later, families also used them for milk and to pull sleds.[1][2]
Domesticating Reindeer in Sápmi
This pattern of life continued mostly unchanged for thousands of years. True domestication was only needed after outside pressures disrupted the ecosystems of Sápmi. Settlers from the south arrived in large numbers during the 15th century. Their farms took up land that had once been pasture, limiting the number of reindeer. The nations encouraging their expansion imposed high taxes on the Sami. This in turn forced them to slaughter more reindeer to meet demand. With populations falling, Sami nomads turned to herding to protect their livelihoods.[3]
For Mountain Sami in particular, life revolved around reindeer. The hardy animals pulled sleds across the snow on snowshoe-like hoofs. They could survive dark winters along the Arctic Circle on nothing but handfuls of lichen. Their hides and furs provided warmth and shelter, while their bones and antlers made useful tools. In pre-Christian times, they were left at sacred sites as regular sacrifices to the gods.[4][5]
Family groups worked together to manage large herds. They marked their deer through ear notches, similar to branding. A typical herding family kept around 100 deer but could own 1,000 or more. Both men and women could own reindeer; a small herd was often set aside for young girls as a growing dowry.[6][7]
Sami Dogs
Besides their reindeer, Sami families worked closely with dogs. Dogs lived in close quarters with nomadic families and were treated as working members of the family. They helped herd reindeer while on the move and watched for wolves at night. Independence and bravery were encouraged. The most famous modern Sami dog breed is the Finnish Lapphund. They are similar to herding breeds in temperament but sport the thick double coats of other northern dogs.[8]
Sami People and Modern Livestock Industries
Around 10 percent of Sami people now live in a reindeer herding household. Snowmobiles and helicopters have largely replaced dogs and skis. Coastal families have kept livestock like sheep, cattle, and pigs on farms since at least 500 CE. Despite this, reindeer remain the cultural heart of Sápmi. Sweden and Norway limit reindeer-ownership to Sami people, but threats to their traditional lifestyles remain. Today's reindeer herders struggle with land loss, pollution, and predation by protected wolf species, among other concerns.[9][10]
Bibliography
Christian Meriot, "The Saami Peoples from the Time of the Voyage of Ottar to Thomas Von Westen" Arctic 37, no. 4, (1984), 373-84, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40510301.
Richard C. Francis, Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015).
David R. Yesner, "Caribou and Reindeer" in The Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, eds. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 480-487.
Richard Bradley, An Archaeology of Natural Places (London: Routledge, 2000), 48.
Sverker Sörlin, "Rituals and Resources of Natural History," in Narrating the Arctic: A Cultural History of Nordic Scientific Practices, eds. Sverker Sörlin and Michael Bravo (Canton, MA: Science History Publications, 2002), 77-78.
Michael P. Robinson and Karim-Aly S. Kassam, Sami Potatoes: Living With Reindeer and Perestroika, ed. Leif Rantala (Calgary: Bayeux Arts, 1998), 92.
Emilie Demant Hatt, With the Lapps in the High Mountains: A Woman Among the Sami, 1907-1908, ed. Barbara Sjoholm (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013), 24-25.
E. L. Benedict, Stories of Persons and Places in Europe (New York: G. Routledge and Sons, 1887), 46.
Malgosia Fitzmaurice, "The Sami People" in The Finnish Yearbook of International Law, eds. Martti Koskenniemi and Kari Takamaa (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publ., 1997), 200-243.
John Knight, Natural Enemies: People-Wildlife Conflicts in Anthropological Perspective (London: Routledge, 2000), 129.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
