Already in April, long before the last snowmobile trails disappear, the Labba family has transported numerous boxes, packed with food and dry goods, to Staloluokta. Around midsummer, approximately June 22, they fly up to Tuorpon Sami village’s summer settlement Staloluokta. There, the year’s absolute highlight awaits – the calf marking.
In their everyday life, the Labba family – father Per Åke, mother Åsa, and daughters Lina, 16, and Sara, 14 – live in Vaikijaur outside Jokkmokk, but during summers they stay at the mountain summer settlement, like other reindeer owners. The Tuorpon Sami village has its summer grazing lands in the areas around Staloluokta. The reindeer migrate there in early spring and remain until late autumn when they return to the winter grazing lands in the forest.
The idea of the family spending summers anywhere other than in Stalo is completely unthinkable. It would be a punishment.
“You start longing to go there early in spring,” says Åsa, who works as a business development manager in Jokkmokk.
Creating Their Own Summer Jobs
At midsummer, they fly up by helicopter. In their reindeer herder’s cabin, boxes await with basic supplies for the entire summer, including 36 kilos of flour. The girls create their own summer jobs. They bake gáhkko, a soft, slightly chewy and incredibly delicious Sami flatbread, and hot-smoke Arctic char which they sell to hikers passing along the Padjelanta or Nordic Arctic trails. As a variation to the hikers’ freeze-dried diet, the girls’ alternative is extremely popular.
When I ask who taught them to hot-smoke fish, Lina becomes a bit puzzled.
“Uh, I don’t know. I don’t think anyone taught me,” answers Lina with surprise, but that response immediately meets resistance.
“I have to protest there, it was mom who taught you. And for cold smoking, it was dad,” Åsa laughs.
Knowledge Transfer
One summer, a researcher happened to pass by. She asked Åsa and Per Åke how they transferred the Sami culture to their children.
“What do you mean, we wondered. Nothing. We’re not culture enthusiasts, we just haul engines, spend time on the lake and at calf marking, and do what we’ve always done. But after thinking for a while, we realized that culture is transferred every day,” since the children are involved, says Åsa.
Transferring knowledge between generations is therefore not something you think about while doing it. It comes naturally. During summer, all generations gather in Stalo. Most are more or less related. Everyone must be engaged and involved for the reindeer herding work to function. The younger ones follow suit. It’s not planned. It just is, as Åsa puts it.
“We have an older relative who still lives in a turf hut during summers. That’s where the kids have sat during summers, making birch bark cups and fermenting fish. And making angelica pipes and secretly smoking!”
Calf Marking, the Receipt for the Past Year
In July, the reindeer herders gather their reindeer in large pens. The calves need to be marked. The marking takes place at night when it’s cooler, which is more comfortable for both animals and humans. If it gets too warm, the calves follow their female reindeer less well, making it harder to determine which calves belong to whom. Since calves are marked in their ears with the owner’s reindeer mark, everyone needs to identify their own reindeer and their calves.
Calf marking is the year’s highlight. That’s when you get the receipt for how winter and spring have been, regarding reindeer grazing and predator losses.
“There are many dangers for the reindeer. If there are many calves, it’s especially enjoyable, then we know we’ve done things right, even though it’s primarily nature that controls everything,” says Per-Åke.
With a sharp knife, the reindeer owner cuts their reindeer mark in both ears of the calf. Each reindeer owner has their unique mark. Within Jokkmokk’s five Sami villages, there are nearly a thousand reindeer marks. Yet an experienced reindeer herder can quickly identify which Sami village the reindeer belongs to, and often recognize different owners’ marks. And definitely their own, even from a distance.
Sara and Lina also participate in the calf marking.
“I was probably around ten when I marked my first calf,” Lina recalls.
Want to Participate in Working with the Reindeer
Lina participates in reindeer herding work whenever possible. As soon as she has school breaks, she follows into the reindeer forest, just like most of her friends do.
“I help with bull slaughter, reindeer separation, and when we move the reindeer to the mountains. And when we gather for calf marking, they always need people to run behind,” explains Lina.
Her younger sister Sara is equally interested. It feels natural to help out, even though many tasks can be heavy. Pulling a large bull reindeer is no child’s play, and loading reindeer onto trailers is hard work.
“Last autumn when Per Åke was gathering reindeer for a month and a half, Lina had to step in,” says Åsa.
“Yes, I can always come along and look at marks and pull reindeer,” says Lina.
Good Standard
In Stalo, located in Padjelanta National Park, there are about 25 reindeer herders’ cabins. The Labba family’s cabin is now comfortable compared to when the children were small. Back then, they still carried all water and had a tub and hand pump for showering behind a tarpaulin. Now they have running summer water, sauna, solar panels on the roof for 12-volt electricity, a generator, and a gas freezer. With that plus an outhouse, it’s easy to live comfortably from midsummer until well into August.
Staloluokta is actually a real metropolis during summer with both a hotel, kiosk, and airport with up to six daily departures to Kvikkjokk and Ritsem. The number of hikers has increased in recent years. Hiking seems to be becoming increasingly popular again.
Times Are Changing
Times are changing, and this is also noticeable among those who come up to the summer settlement, the siijda, to participate in calf marking. Fewer reindeer owners and their families stay in the mountains for extended periods.
“Nowadays, people don’t really have time and peace. Many leave as soon as the calf marking is finished. I don’t want to use the word stressed, but people don’t really have the peace to stay. It’s different compared to before, when I was here as a child,” says Per Åke.
Those who have the peace to stay try to take the opportunity to relax a bit after the somewhat grueling reindeer herding year in the forest land where the reindeer spend the winter. Though there’s always something to do in the summer settlement.
“Weather and wind take their toll on the buildings, boards need to be repaired or painted, the outhouse needs to be moved, you want to fish a little, and neighbors come by for coffee. Tourists pass by. You don’t live by the clock but take things as they come. Sometimes it pours with rain,” says Per Åke.
One thing is clear, up in Stalo the Sami village members socialize more than during wintertime. This is because it’s only during summer that all the Sami village’s reindeer are gathered in one place. During winters, the mountain Sami village’s reindeer are divided into smaller groups down in the forest land, where Tuorpon has its winter grazing lands. Then it’s mostly the families who have reindeer in the same place who see each other.
“Up here, you sometimes visit each other several times a day, chat a bit, borrow a crowbar. Here we live under the same roof. During the rest of the year, there are many you never even see, despite all of us living in the Jokkmokk area,” notes Per Åke.
Keeping the Language Alive
Per Åke speaks the least Sami in the family, despite being raised with the language. He never got to learn it either in school or at home, which was a shame since his mother spoke the older and very word-rich variant of the language. Although he understands a lot and manages the “reindeer herding Sami” of course, the vocabulary that can explain with a single word how a reindeer looks, something that would require one or several sentences in Swedish.
Both girls have attended the Sami school in Jokkmokk from preschool to grade 6 and continued studying Sami throughout their school years. Åsa has studied Sami as an adult. For them, it’s important to keep the Sami language alive.
The Girls’ Future Plans
After the summer stay in Stalo, Sara will start eighth grade and Lina will begin high school. Her choice of high school program has long been clear. She will study aircraft mechanics in Luleå.
“I’ve always been interested in helicopters. We’ve been flying every year since I was a baby,” Lina explains her choice.
She has cousins who are both helicopter pilots and airplane pilots, so that world isn’t unfamiliar. After high school, she can choose to continue to become a flight technician or pilot. She doesn’t know yet how it will turn out.
“After high school, I want to go to Norway first and work for a while. Then I want to work with reindeer herding and have a job on the side,” says Lina.
Sara’s future plans haven’t quite crystallized yet. She still has time to think.
“I don’t know yet what program to choose, there are many fun and interesting programs to choose from. Economics and law might be something,” says Sara.
Should we guess that summers will continue to be reserved for the summer settlement in Stalo. There really isn’t any other alternative.
Text: Irene Lundström Photo: CJ Utsi