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Laura Ricketts Designs is a personal and business website for Laura Ricketts, hand-knitwear designer, author, teacher, crafter, mother and wife.
...as a very real part of life.
In the past two weeks, my husband had foot surgery, my father-in-law had brain surgery, and my three school aged kids had Fall breaks, but not all at the same times.
As of tomorrow, all three will be back to school, and life will continue -- as normal? At that time, I can continue with my story of my trip.
*This post is about a trip I took last month*
Later that day, I went for a walk along the Neiden river.
Summer has been warm and long in Sapmi, the name for the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola peninsula of Russia -- the Sámi traditional homeland. At the end of the first week of September, fall was in full swing. Leaves were turning, there was a chill in the air in the morning. The lingonberries and blueberries were ripe.
Perfect time for a walk!
The shoes I was forced to buy in Jokkmokk, because the airline lost my bag.
The Neiden river near Neiden, Norway
The Neiden river is important to the Skolt Sámi people. St. Triphon, after killing his wife, wandered up this way and preached orthodoxy to the Sámi and blessed the water of the river. That was in the 1500s. The Skolt Sámi still baptize in the river today.
They also netted salmon hundreds of years ago. It is still regarded as one of the best rivers in the region for salmon.
The first red toadstool I've ever seen! There were no smurfs underneath.
There were many more beautiful scenes which I could put here, but life intervenes.
I walked back to the lodge. Eeva and I had a nice last dinner together of reindeer, lingonberry sauce and vegetables. The Finnish cafe workers at this stua were very nice and pretty excited because this was the last weekend of the season. The next day, they went home to Ivalo.
Mmmm. Reindeer!
The next day, we got up and tidied, ate a nice breakfast and went to the Kirkenes airport. Goodbye, Eeva! Hello adventure alone.
*This blog is about a trip I took last month.*
Eeva and I boogied on out of Finland, experiencing more lakes, birch, and lonely roads. Toward dinner, we saw it: the Norwegian border.
Finnish-Norwegian border
At each border crossing, there were signs to go very slow, about 15 mph, and there was a office building, but one doesn't have to stop the car unless someone comes out and waves. As a result, the only crossing I had to show my passport was on a layover in Germany on the flight home.
The wooden "bridge" in this picture was for snowmobiles and reindeer. Eeva drove the border again, and I walked the bridge. Again. All the way to Norway.
Welcome to Norway, Sør-Varanger county
Before long, we were driving along the Neiden river. Friday and Saturday night we stayed in a Neiden camp grounds, or stua.
Because it was the weekend, and summer hours were over, there wasn't as much to do. Saturday, we drove to Kirkenes. We stopped at the museum there, but my contact wasn't in that day. So, we looked at the mittens, and then went on to downtown. We stopped at a tourist center, that was closed, the library, that was closed, and a Salvation Army, to buy a fleece after I left mine in Finland.
Neiden river
Kirkenes is the easternmost town in Norway. Russia is not far away at all. Before the trip, Eeva and I had talked of trying to do the border crossing during this visit. It turns out, Russia requires a $50 visa, obtainable only in Washington DC. We didn't want it that badly. Whenever we mentioned a border crossing to people in this town, they got noticeably tense. Not the nicest border crossing ever, I guess. Everywhere in this area were posted signs warning of Russian border control patroling within 100km, I believe. It felt very alien.
Instead of running the border, we ran to the NE corner of Norway, to put our toes in the Berings Sea. I'll try to link a map here. Click the "here" to connect. We drove the dirt road up to the Berings Sea and SOMEONE refused to take her socks and shoes off. Yes, it was windy and cold, but it was the Berings Sea, people. Here is a picture of the brave little foot that could.
And, yes, that's long underwear under my jeans.
The drive out was beautiful.
the base of the fjord
Friday morning dawned bright and early. Eeva went for a swim in the lake (brrr!). I opted for a more comfortable warm shower.
We're here!
The view at the hostel
At 8am I was at the Samisiida museum with curator Aile Aikio. What a wonderful time! She and I had emailed quite a bit over a year ago, and I was quite looking forward to meeting her. Every once in awhile you meet someone who has the right job, enjoys it and excels at it. Aile is such a person. She has a finger on the pulse of the Inari community. She interviews elderly in senior centers; she collects stories; she collects materials. As a result, she has so much information about so many aspects of the Sámi life. One undesirable effect of this knowledge is "ethno-stress" -- the stress of knowing all the history and "right" ways to do things. Does the life of Sámi culture depend on them? Sometimes it feels so. It can be a heavy weight to bear.
Happily, one area she knows much about are Sámi mittens from her area. Before I talk mittens, however, let me educate you about the Sámi in Finland. The museum had exhibits on both of the following sub-groups and had mittens from both as well.
The Sámi peoples have about 9 subgroups. Most of these subgroups have a wide land area. Only one of these sub-groups is within one country only, and that is the Inari Sámi. They are found within Finland, around Lake Inari. They herd reindeer near the lake and enjoy other lake activities. Their national costume has green in it, not common with most other sub-groups. Likewise, their mittens often have green.
The other Sámi sub-group mostly found within Finland, the Skolt Sámi, have their original homeland divided between Norway, Finland and Russia. Approximately half of it is in Russia. Around 1935, they were instructed by the Russian government that the borders were closing: get out or stay. Most left, but were allowed back in a year later.
In 1947, they were told again: get out or stay. Most left to Finland. They have never been allowed back in. The majority of those who remained in Russia were collectivized and moved to the town of Lovozero. Their reindeer were seized and collectivized as well. Much of their culture was destroyed. Less than 2,000 Skolt Sámi remain in Russia.
Of those that remained in Finland, many settled in Sevettijarvi, north of Lake Inari. You must understand, that the Skolt Sámi living in Russia for 100s of years were influenced by the Russian majority. Many have Russian last names, wear Russian influenced outfits, and are Russian orthodox by faith. They, however, are not Russian.
As a generality, Finns hate Russians. The Finns have had bitter conflicts and many wars with their giant, overbearing neighbor to the East. Russia has so many people and so many resources compared to this small neighbor, so naturally, they almost always won. So, when Russian speaking Skolt Sámi fled to Finland, the Finns didn't exactly greet them with open arms. When Skolt Sámi moved near lake Inari, the Inari Sámi weren't exactly thrilled either. The Sámi peoples have been discriminated against by their majority cultures for over 100 years. Now the discrimination was within their community. As a result, the Skolt Sámi were treated as the lowest of the low.
Their culture is fascinating, though. Sevettijarvi has a beautiful small orthodox church, reindeer, lakes and birch trees. The traditional women's costume includes the old horn hat, long skirts and shawls. The men wear Western dress and were the first of the Sámi peoples to drop traditional clothing. The women stopped wearing the reindeer skin leggings, and so became the only Sámi people to wear knit socks in the traditional costume.
The Skolt Sámi have distinctive mittens. Most of them are plain on the hand and patterned only on the cuff. The patterning is every other stitch, with the stitch inbetween in the base color. Many of the patterns have names, as well: ptarmigan's foot, boat's bow, and netting. As you may guess, fishing and bird trapping are a part of everyday life.
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the museum. Here are some pictures of the parliament building just around the corner. I've read somewhere that it is shaped like a reindeer bone.
The Finnish Sami Parliament in Inari, Finland
Inside is a rather nice handcrafts shop with books, shawls, jewelry, CDs and knitting.
Skolt socks
Finnish mittens, River Sámi mittens, Inari mittens, and Swedish Lovikka mittens
We filled up on diesel, visited a small grocery and bought some food for the following days in Norway. I bought an "Angry Birds" candy for my eldest (Angry birds is one of Finland's biggest exports these days!). Then, we loaded up and headed for the border.
Tomorrow: Norway!