Day 7 – Sevettijvi – Prartakon Revontulet Oy

Very pleased to be in the cabin last night & not being part of the storm hammering away outside!

From her more reliable weather app (the IPhone one is hopeless in these parts), Katja advised me to hold back from riding out until after lunch. So, instead of cycling, I sat back & mainly listened whilst she gave me a little insight into the Sami people. Before the international borders, & the laws & restrictions that came with them, the Sami were both nomadic & democracy. In summer months they went off with the reindeer, in winter they gathered as a community for celebrations and to plan the following year. Who went where & with how many reindeer was agreed collectively on need only.

Katja went back to the early 1900’s when the borders and laws of the outsiders began to take affect. Her great grandmother was with her baby, fishing in a canoe, as her people had done for centuries. Unbeknown to her, this was no longer allowed. A patrol spotted them & began shooting. Wounded and chased, she made her way to shore then into the forest and hid in a hollow from a fallen tree. The pursuers were only inches away when the weather worsened & the hunt was called off. Both survived &, in the 1950’s, retold her story in a recording, in Skolt-Sami. The recordings are extensive and personal & Katja listens to them often.

It’s only now, when the Sami culture & language has all but gone, that it is valued.

I asked if the Sami shared the same neutral position as Kirkenes on the Ukranian war. The same she said – but for different reasons. The Sami are passive – no history of conflict – it’s alien to them. ‘For us, even the people we don’t like we depend on and need to get on with.’

Eventually Katja headed for the school and I took another coffee & waited for the storm to pass.

Todays ride was pleasantly undulating through a very wild Lapland, though the strong headwind took away some of the pleasure. Accommodation was to be a hunter’s cabin – all very Finnish.