Up North in Scandinavian Winter !

The Scandinavian winter is behind me. I love every part of travelling in the Scandinavian Arctic’s in the winter as much as I do in the summer. But somehow the winter is more larger than life. The snow and the white magic it creates, makes you forget everything. At times even that you are in Scandinavia. However when you touch more than just the white flakes you know its Norway, Sweden or Finland. The people up north in these countries are called Sami. They share a common culture with the Russian cousins.  However they are a few decades ahead of them in technology. But the Russian sami’s have their own reason of sticking to their traditions. They believe that they can zoom around in a snow mobile but what about the fuel? How will they afford that? So they continue riding the reindeer. Unlike in Norway where the Sami herdsman travels ahead of his reindeer family in a snow mobile, sets his tent and comes back for them in the months of winter migration.

The Sami trade in reindeers. Its their currency. So when a child is born in the family, he gets a reindeer and then on each birthday he receives one more. When he has 20, he reserves the option to trade them for money or to become an active herdsman. And If he does choose to trade them, then even in Norway he could afford a nice apartment and a good life. Such is the value of reindeers.

For us however all that matters is to take a ride on the sledge and to feel the warm fur over its skin. Then, to sit in a Sami tent made of reindeer skin and to listen to the tales of the Sami, about his family and their way of life, as the reindeer stew cooks slowly over the central fire and his kids run wild in the snow outside in – 20 deg.

My winter tour to Scandinavia is titled the ‘Northern Lights, Scandinavia’. However even if the northern lights do show their full color it feels more contended, when people say, “there is much more to the winter here, than just the lights”.  Its true the culture in a place, the people the food can even make the nature take a back seat at times. However when both of them come together, the combined effect is a winning combination.

I am flying now to Lisbon and to + 17 deg. I knew even when I was freezing in – 20 and absolutely hating it, that I would miss the negative double figures on the mercury scale. I am already doing that as I enter the Portuguese airspace.

Winter or summer in Scandinavia. The northern lights or the mid night sun. The story of the fisherman in summer or that of the Sami in winter.  Everything about Scandinavia is simply Scandinavian!