TRAVEL REFLECTIONS
ÁJTTE MUSEUM – JOKKMOKK, SWEDEN
Visited June 23rd, 2016
Thursday afternoon we arrived in Jokkmokk, the capital of Sami culture and one of Swedish Lapland's oldest settlement. Our overnight stay was at the Hotel Jokkmokk, which overlooked Lake Talvastisjön. Near the shores of the eastern end of the lake was the Alpine Mountain Garden that we would visit the next morning.
Jokkmokk, a small town (population approximately 2800), was quiet in June with only a few people on the streets as we walked from the hotel to the Ájtte Museum. Annually though, during the first weekend of February, it's reputation as the largest handcraft center in Lapland is proven when the winter market is held and the population in the streets swell upwards to 30,000. The origins of the winter market date back to the early 17th century when Jokkmokk, the gateway to the high mountains of Lapland, was a natural meeting place for the indigenous Sami people. Karl IX decreed that an annual winter market would be held there to generate tax revenue for his wars. The winter market tradition has continued for over 400 years. People shop in temporary stalls for handicrafts made by the Sami people. Traditional food, drinks, folk dancing, husky sled tours and reindeer races on the frozen Lake Talvastisjön are a part of the winter festivities.
Ájtte means “storage hut.” An appropriate name since the Ájtte museum is an archive for artifacts of the Sami culture and their life. Also displayed is nature that can be found in the northern wetlands, forests and mountains of Sweden. As we entered the museum the goahte or Sami tent, was the introduction to the life of the oldest semi-nomadic indigenous population in the world; the Sami people of Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola peninsula of Russia. This region is collectively known as Sapmi.
The Sami tent was a kitchen, workroom and bedroom for the nomadic Sami. Soft brushwood was used as a floor with reindeer hides for warmth and a fire for heat and light. The tent is still used today for temporary lodgings providing protection from harsh weather conditions.
There has been a relationship between the reindeer and the Sami's life and culture which dates back thousands of years. At Ájtte in this winter forest display, a young women with her companion dog is feeding her reindeer. Reindeer do have the ability to smell lichens, their winter food, through a layer of snow that is over two feet thick. When a crust of ice covers the ground though, it can prevent the reindeer from smelling the lichen and they will quit digging for food. Additional food is then needed for them. During the summer reindeer graze on as many as 250 different kinds of plants. In the autumn the reindeer graze on mushrooms and grasses.
Currently mountain and forest reindeer herding originates from the migrations and yearly cycles of the wild reindeer. There are Sami that still follow a semi-nomadic lifestyle. The forest reindeer prefer open marshy areas with no snow on the ground but they do they move deeper into the forest to avoid insects such as mosquitoes. The Forest Sami communities live in the forested areas year round. The mountain reindeer roam over vast areas. During the early summer they forage on low lying land in birch forests and wetlands with abundant vegetation. Blood thirsty swarms of mosquitoes and the heat drive the mountain reindeer to higher surrounding mountains near the Norwegian border in June and July. In the spring and the autumn they move down to the low fells and mountain birch forests. In the wintertime the mountain reindeer will dig for lichen to eat in snow covered coniferous forests.
Mountain Sami will follow their reindeer but no longer do entire families follow the seasonal movements of the animals as in the past. Sami residences are modern permanent homes now rather than traditional round wooden huts. Herders travel on all terrain vehicles or snowmobiles in winter rather than a sled. They communicate by mobile phones and tracking can be done with drones. With GPS collars the reindeer herder can turn on his computer in the morning to accurately locate the position of his reindeer herd and even determine if any predator activity had recently occurred. In the summertime a herd can loose 50 to 60% of their calves to bears, lynx, wolverines and sometimes wolves. This reindeer I photographed walking near the side of our vehicle did have a bell hanging on one of his two collars. The herd will follow this leader with the sound of the bell and it will also be useful to the reindeer herder at roundup.
The reindeer herds were reduced at the beginning of the 20th century when there was several difficult years for reindeer grazing. Many Sami then turned to fishing at that time. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 contaminated vasts areas of key grazing land including lichen, the reindeer's main source of food. At that time 80% of Sweden's reindeer population had to be destroyed as reindeer meat was not fit to eat. Currently only 10% of the Sami population still practice reindeer herding. Regardless of that small percentage, it is still a primary part of the Sami culture and economy. Reindeer husbandry remains an important source of income as the meats and hides from the herds are sold commercially.
At the Ájtte musuem the exhibit signage told us that in Sweden there are no wild reindeer. The wild reindeer disappeared from the Swedish mountains at the beginning of the 20th century. For generations the Sami have lived close to the reindeer so they have become semi-domesticated livestock with the ownership of the reindeer marked by a unique ear notch carved on it's ears. In Norway there are still populations of wild reindeer but overall, the reindeer still retain their ancient need to roam freely and graze undisturbed.
Roy took this photo from his driver's seat as were were traveling from Hemavan to Jokkmokk. The reindeers showed no trepidation as they trotted from the forest directly onto the highway pavement with traffic approaching in both directions. It took an experienced local lorry driver to encourage the reindeer to scatter off the pavement so the line of vehicles could pass by safely.
One of the exhibition halls at the museum displayed the wildlife found in Lapland regions; from Tundra Swans to Brown Bears. The Great Gray owl and the Ural and Eagle owls that inhabit the coniferous forests of the northern region plus one of the largest birds of prey, the Golden Eagle that nests in the old growth pine trees of the north are also represented. The taxidermy was done by Göran Sjöberg, director of the Jokkmokk Mountain Botanical Garden and Ájtte Museum.
Before exiting the museum there is an animated virtual 3D helicopter flight of Lapland covering the mountains northwest of Jokkmokk in nine vertical panels. Two snapshots I took of the panels show examples of natures rugged lakes and desolate mountainous terrain in the Laponia World Heritage area which extends, roughly in the shape of an arch, toward the Norwegian border.
Outside of the museum is a peat goahti from Vaisaluokta which was built in 1972, which we were invited to enter and sit in while learning its history. This goahti was previously used from early summer until autumn by a Sami family. The goahti was built octagonal, a style which became popular in the 1960's and provided more room, rather than the traditional round peat goahti. Birch bark and peat moss were placed on the framework in the traditional manner. Instead of the traditional open hearth in the middle that was lined by stone, this goahti had a wooden stove which would use less wood and eliminate the smoke inside. Half the floor in the goahti is wooden which allows having a stove. The other half is twig covered ground for laying on. The living space in the peat goahti was often similar as arranged in the movable tent. Now many Sami build cabins instead of the goahti.
When I visited Stockholm on my 2014 trip with the Lakeland Horticulture Society, I visited Skansen, an open air museum which is a living history of Sweden. Recreated at the museum was a Sami mountain camp from the early 20th century that would have been used in the spring and autumn. The two buildings in the picture come from Lapland and Jämtland. The rounded turf shelter with birch poles for support, was covered with birch bark and turf which protects from the cold and damp. At the center of the shelter was a hearth and a smoke-hole which could be covered in rainy weather. The second building, a timber shed, was used along the routes between the forests and the mountains to store winter and summer equipment. The sheds were built on tall posts in order to avoid the snow and animals that might attempt to access them.
Living in a harsh arctic climate and following an ancestral lifestyle of reindeer herding based on the animal's instinctual seasonal migration movements, the indigenous people of Northern Scandinavia have an understanding and a close bond to nature and the environment. Their relationship to the land is not of ownership. Their ancestors took care of the land for them. Therefore, they acknowledge that it is their responsibility to care for nature. Nature has provided for their existence and with care, will provide for future generations.