Experience reindeer husbandry of the past at the Sallivaara round-up site

A full moon casts its silvery light across the flat mire landscape. The mire is dotted by small islands of aged pine trees, scattered here and there. A biting frost wraps the pale snowy landscape in a frigid embrace. It has frozen the boggy land into a rock hard expanse.

The moon’s light makes the ice crystals floating in the cold air sparkle like millions of tiny jewels. The silence is so absolute that you can almost hear it.

Suddenly, the silence is broken by the dissonant sound of a bell from somewhere off in the distance. The sound gradually approaches, getting louder and louder. It is joined by new sounds, like instruments in a symphony. Grunts and snorts, accompanied by the steady pounding of countless hooves on the frozen surface of the mire, ring out through the midnight air like a joik.

A reindeer herd then appears in the landscape. Their steamy breath rises into a great cloud of mist, which gleams in the moonlight. Reindeer dogs and men in skis herd the reindeer. Forged over centuries, the unspoken choreography of their partnership is like a dance in the winter night.

The mouth of the siula, or lead (fence), soon swallows up the first reindeer. The lead guides them into a round holding pen, which is soon filled with the heaving mass of the herd. The herd begins trotting around the pen in circles, like sprinters in a track meet. All around the pen, sharp eyes pick out their own earmark before deft hands dart a lasso through the air. The lassoed reindeer are pulled into one of the konttori, or shoot pens and identified. Other than the moonlight, the only light to be seen is sudden flashes of matches and the red glow of pipes and cigarettes. Amid the din of grunting reindeer and chatter of men on the fences, the strains of an accordion can be heard off in the distance.

The reindeer round-up at Sallivaara had begun.

Sallivaara is one of the few large, old-school reindeer round-up sites remaining in Finland. The name of the round-up site is named after the neighbouring fell. A local reindeer herding cooperative was also later named after the same fell.

Most of the Lemmenjoki National Park is part of the Sallivaara reindeer herding cooperative, although the northern parts of the park are part of the Muotkatunturi reindeer herding cooperative. In addition to Lemmenjoki, Sallivaara includes the western parts of the Hammastunturi Wilderness Area.

The round-ups at Sallivaara were a major event from the early 1900s to 1964. However, the history of the round-ups actually begins with national border disputes that took place in the mid-19th century.

Wild mountain reindeer had been tamed by using castrated male reindeer and bait reindeer as late as the 1000s, but large-scale reindeer husbandry developed in northern Sweden in the 1500s. From there, it also spread to other parts of Sápmi.

This original form of Sámi reindeer husbandry was already based on the annual cycle of the mountain reindeer: the summers were spent on the mosquito-free Arctic Ocean coast where the grasslands were plentiful. When winter arrived, the herds were moved to the sheltering pine forests and lichen fields of Finland and Sweden. It was a completely nomadic way of life.

Over the centuries, each family established its own summer and winter pastures and the migration routes between them. This migration with reindeer is called jutaaminen. The importance of jutaaminen to Sámi culture is aptly summed up in the Sámi proverb “Jođi lea buoret go oru”, which means “It is better to be on the way than to only stay”.

In this this nomadic way of life based on jutaaminen, countries had very little significance in the lives of the Sámi - the absolute centrepoint of their lives were their ancient pastures.

Countries also considered the reindeer husbandry of the Sámi to be such an important livelihood in northern areas that Denmark-Norway and Sweden-Finland signed the Strömstad Treaty in 1751 to ensure that the Sámi would be able to continue jutaaminen across national borders.

However, things began to change as nationalistic sentiments increased and Finland was made a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Especially in Finland, there was growing dissatisfaction with reindeer migrating from Norway to feed on lichen fields in Finland in the winter.

The situation eventually led to the closure of the border between Norway and Finland in 1852 and the closure of the border between Sweden and Finland in 1889. This threatened traditional reindeer husbandry and put an end to jutaaminen in Finland, except in Enontekiö.

The grazing areas of Sallivaara also remained deserted for a while, as the herb-rich forests previously grazed by reindeer herds remained on the other side of the border. This resulted in the pastures overgrowing, thus triggering decades of Sámi migration.

The most well-known migration in Finland is when the residents of Enontekiö moved to North Sodankylä in the Sompio region. Residents of Karasjoki and Utsjoki moved to the Sallivaara area, Residents of Inari also moved to the empty pastures of Sallivaara, and a new era of reindeer husbandry began to take shape in Lemmenjoki.

Public opinion on the Sámi migration caused by the border closures had sometimes characterised the newly settled Sámi as Norwegian immigrants. This shows a fundamental ignorance of the issue, as almost all reindeer herders had pastures on both sides of the border. The borders of the nation states had little meaning in their lives.

Migration is above all about the resourceful adaptation of one’s culture to a situation caused by external forces, in which the past lifestyle is suddenly made impossible.

Indeed, reindeer husbandry soon flourished again at Lemmenjoki.

The next reform of reindeer husbandry took place in 1898, when the reindeer herding area was divided into reindeer herding cooperatives by decree of the Finnish Senate. These cooperatives became not only a grazing area for reindeer in a certain locality, but also a basic administrative unit for reindeer herders in the area.

Despite the reform, reindeer husbandry work in Sallivaara continued as before. Reindeer owners had formed siida shares, or herding groups. After the reindeer round-up, each siida share took their herds to their own winter pasture areas, where reindeer were herded until the calving season in the spring.

In fact, the reindeer round-ups, which began with etto (gathering of reindeer in the autumn), were once a major event. The etto gethering was traditionally done in the autumn after the large rivers in the area, Repojoki and Ivalojoki, had frozen over.

Before the advent of the snowmobile, reindeer were gathered on foot and skis. Etto lasted several months and ended at around the new year. After this, the gathered herd was moved to the Sallivaara round-up site.

As many as 8,000 reindeer could be handled in one round-up, although such a large reindeer herd was usually divided in two before bringing them to the site. Round-ups took several weeks and evolved into an almost market-like event, especially in the 1950s.

In addition to the reindeer herding cooperative members, people from the neighbouring reindeer herding cooperatives came to Sallivaara. Reindeer buyers came to the site from Enontekiö, Kittilä and Sweden. The big round-up also gave rise to a variety of other enterprises around it - legal and illegal. There were several canteens at the site that served coffee and snacks to the round-up attendees. One of the more illegal enterprises at the round-up was moonshining, which brought the attention of local law enforcement.

During the long dark winter nights, there was plenty of spare time between the round-ups, and there was a decidedly active social scene at Sallivaara. In the huts built around the site, singing and Sámi joiks broke out, accompanied by raucous dancing. Indeed, many young couples met at the Sallivaara round-up.

In the actual pens, reindeer were separated by owner and identified. The prices of meat were had not been decided in advance, but were instead negotiated separately with each reindeer owner. Only fat and fit reindeer could be sold, as they were to be driven alive across the roadless landscape to the buyers’ own slaughterhouses. Some reindeer drives were quite long, reaching all the way to Enontekiö and Kittilä.

The last reindeer round-up at Sallivaara was held in 1964. After that, round-ups were moved to the newly completed Hirvasalmi round-up site on the Inari-Kittilä road. A slaughterhouse owned by the reindeer herding cooperative was also built next to the site, thus ending the need to drive large herds.

One year before the road arrived and the new round-up site was completed, the first snowmobile was introduced at Sallivaara. Over the next few years, all reindeer herders had to start using the snowmobile.

This marked a major turning point. Trips that had previously taken several days could now be done in hours. Instead of living in lean-to shelters and huts, it was possible to go home for the night at the end of the working day.

However, there was also another side to the mechanisation of reindeer husbandry. Sledges, spare parts and fuel purchases increased costs. At the same time, many of the traditional reindeer husbandry skills disappeared, as there was no longer a need to, for example, tame male reindeer. The importance of reindeer herding dogs, which were once essential, had also decreased. Training a good reindeer herding dog had been one of the most important demonstrations of a reindeer herder’s professional skill.

The change also affected the dress of reindeer herders. Fur and leather clothes made from reindeer hide or traditional costumes were not suitable for snowmobiling. Industrially manufactured gear replaced the traditional work clothes, while traditional costumes were worn more for festive occasions. However, the handicraft tradition for making these clothes has remained strong.

Even though the round-ups at Sallivaara came to an end, the round-up site remained an important piece of cultural heritage, telling the story of reindeer husbandry in the not so distant past. The round-up site standing at Sallivaara today was built mainly in 1933, and Metsähallitus, together with the National Board of Antiquities, restored the old site structures and huts at the end of the 1980s.

Sallivaara is one of the traditional landscapes in Lapland, and the round-up site and nine of its huts are protected as items of cultural-historical value.

• Heargi = A castrated male reindeer used for driving.
• Sarvvis = A fully-grown, uncastrated male reindeer.
• Spáillit = An untamed, castrated male reindeer.
• Váža = A female reindeer with a calf.
• Rotnu = A female reindeer without a calf.
• Noađđeheargi = A castrated male reindeer used to carry loads.
• Niestaboazu = A reindeer slaughtered by a reindeer herder for their own use.
• Dápmat = To tame a reindeer.
• Johtin = (Jutaaminen) Moving with reindeer from one place of residence to another.
• Ráido = A procession where driving reindeer pull sleighs or sleds.
• Fieski = An area of heavily trampled snow where reindeer have been digging for lichen.
• Bálggus = A reindeer herding cooperative. Basic administrative unit for reindeer husbandry.
• Girdnu = (“Churn”) The smallest pen at the round-up site where reindeer go through their final separation.
• Gonttur = (“Office”) The pens surrounding the churn into which the reindeer of one siida share or family were put.

The book Lemmenjoki - Suomen suurin kansallispuisto was used as a source for this article. Kajala, Liisa (edit.). Metsähallitus, 2004