Don’t ever ask a Sámi person how many reindeer he owns. It’s about as polite as asking someone in Britain how much cash he’s got in the bank. But enquire after the health of his reindeer, or which are the ‘stand-out’ specimens in his herd of between 300 and 1,000, and you will be fine. In fact, get ready for a detailed response from someone whose Arctic community often still lives symbiotically with its animals.
Racing reindeer has been popular among Sámi people for hundreds of years, but began receiving wider attention in 2005, when the Midnight Sun Marathon organisers and the Sámi Valáštallan Lihttu sporting body arranged the first championships to be run in Tromsø in Norway. Since then, only Covid has stopped the event from taking place in northern Norway’s largest city every February.
On a recent Sunday, I was among an international group of more than 2,000 people, mixed with traditionally dressed Sámi folk, lining a closed street in Tromsø, 220 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
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