Term Papers on Normadic Herding- Sami

Term Paper Title	Normadic Herding- Sami
# of Words	1050
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.2

Normadic Herding- Sami

Normadic Herding-Sami

     In the Lands of the Midnight Sun lives the Sami, formerly called the Lapps by the Scandinavians, are the indigenous people of the far north of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. Their language is Finno-Ugric, related to Finnish and Hungarian. The Sami people's traditional, semi-nomadic subsistence ways include reindeer herding and fishing and hunting. Their clothing, handicrafts and music are distinctive. The Sami are thought to descent from a people who reached Finland after the end of the last Ice Age. When they got to Finland, at first they occupied the southern parts of Finland, and from there, started to migrate towards Lapland. Today there are more than 70,000 Sami, from whom over 40,000 live in Norway, Sweden up to 25,000, in Finland 6,000 and in Russia 2,000. In Finland the birth-rate amongst Sami is slightly above the average for the country in general, while there are no marked differences in the death-rate. At the same time, the average size of family is very much higher in the case of Sami, 5,7 persons as compared for 3,8 for the Finns, partly as a consequence of the high birth-rate and partly due to the close ties prevailing between the members of the family. There is a Sami Parliament spanning these borders, which participates in the global indigenous peoples' movement at UN.

        Reindeer has always been an important resource of food, clothing, tools and other products to the Sami. They are milked at different stages of their nomad's seasonal migration. The meat, fresh or preserved, is excellent, not least because, so far as possible, it is obtained from selected animals which are at their prime age (from 4 to 5 years) not, as with venison from wild deer, when the hunter is able to bag his quarry. It is comparatively lean and unusually rich in proteins and important vitamins. The tongue and marrowbones are delicacies. The blood is used for gruel, pancakes and sausages. Other parts are eaten fresh or preserved. The animal's own stomach is cleaned and used to store food. It's intestines serve as sausage casings. One animal produces about 40-65kg of meat.
     From the pelt they can get the finest natural cold-weather clothing available. It is still now a days widely used as such throughout the Arctic and is indispensable for bedding and groundsheet. The dressed hide is made into other garments- leggings, tunic and boots. The bones are used to make knife-handles, sheaths, buttons and other small objects. The sinews are traditionally used in the construction of things like sledges or panniers, and for sewing leather objects.

     The traditional way of life for the Sami has been the same for centuries. Their economy based almost exclusively on hunting and fishing evolved into one dominated by reindeer husbandry, as reindeer herds were tamed. The Sami led a nomadic lifestyle based around the seasonal migration of their reindeer. In summer time, the animals were herded into the mountains in search of food and cooler temperatures, and in winter they were taken to the shelter of the lowland forests. Until qui...

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