page_title: Sámi people
section_title: Reindeer husbandry
hierarchical_section_title: Sámi people / Culture / Reindeer husbandry
caption_attribution_description: English: Building in Ljungris, Ljungdalen, Berg Municipality, Jämtland County. Ljungris is owned by the Sámi community and used especially for Reindeer calf marking in the summer. Polski: Drewniana chata w osadzie Ljungris położonej w pobliżu Ljungdalen w gminie Berg, w szwedzkim okręgu administracyjnym Jämtland. Chata jest własnością społeczności lapońskiej i jest używana głównie w lecie podczas znakowania cieląt reniferów.
context_page_description: The Sámi people are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula within the Murmansk Oblast of Russia. The Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders. Sámi ancestral lands are not well-defined. Their traditional languages are the Sámi languages which are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family. The terms "Lapp" and "Lapland" are regarded as offensive by some Sámi people, who prefer the area's name in their own language, "Sápmi".
  Traditionally, the Sámi have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding. Currently about 10% of the Sámi are connected to reindeer herding, providing them with meat, fur, and transportation. 2,800 Sámi people are actively involved in reindeer herding on a full-time basis in Norway. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved for only Sámi people in some regions of the Nordic countries.
context_section_description: Reindeer husbandry has been and still is an important aspect of Sámi culture. Traditionally the Sámi lived and worked in reindeer herding groups called siiddat, which consisted of several families and their herds. Members of the siidda helped each other with the management and husbandry of the herds. During the years of forced assimilation, the areas in which reindeer herding was an important livelihood were among the few where the Sámi culture and language survived.
  Today in Norway and Sweden, reindeer husbandry is legally protected as an exclusive Sámi livelihood, such that only persons of Sámi descent with a linkage to a reindeer herding family can own, and hence make a living off, reindeer. Presently, about 2,800 people are engaged in reindeer herding in Norway. In Finland, reindeer husbandry is not exclusive and is practiced to a limited degree also by ethnic Finns. Legally, it is restricted to EU/EEA nationals resident in the area. In the north (Lapland), it plays a major role in the local economy, while its economic impact is lesser in the southern parts of the area (Province of Oulu).
  Among the reindeer herders in Sámi villages, the women usually have a higher level of formal education in the area.
caption: Building in Ljungris, owned by the Sámi community and used especially for Reindeer calf marking in the summer.
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