And in the centre of the gathering, a traditional
Laplander used a reindeer antler to beat out a tune on the drum, before welcoming everyone in turn to his homeland.
There were twenty-four
Laplanders, their dogs, and their reindeer (which died one by one when the heat of summer arrived).
If
Laplander means more specifically a "member of the Sami people of the Lapland area of Scandinavia," single quotes might be used to better designate and evaluate the term.
The destination was a nineteenth-century neo-romantic structure recalling in turn the palaces of a century before: today it is home to the Nordic Museum, a curious visual encyclopedia embracing everything from ethnographic displays of
Laplander culture to a recent show concerning the relationship of Swedes to their cars.
Organized in 1929 by the Canadian government to import a herd of several thousand reindeer to help the starving Inuit of the Mackenzie Delta, the trek was led by Andrew Bahr, a 62-year-old
Laplander commissioned to bring the reindeer from the Bering Sea across Alaska and into the Northwest Territories.
Last Sunday the wide-eyed youngsters stepped into the snow at the airport in Rovaniemi to be greeted by reindeer and a
Laplander in traditional dress.
Thus a
Laplander, American, Frenchman, and Japanese will each have their own ideas on what they find entertaining, humorous, and relevant news to them or something they aspire to.
On a good night, ten to twelve rascals would ply themselves on the scaffold and hoist a
Laplander onto the fatherland's shoulders.
PWC's advisers reckon the globe-trotting
Laplander needs to focus on four key areas.
Norwich Union reckons the hard-working
Laplander would be classified as a "non-standard motoring risk".
YOU'LL NEVER LOOK AT A
LAPLANDER THE SAME WAY AGAIN AFTER READING THIS PIECE
Gerda has to battle through magical landscapes to rescue her friend, encountering everything from giant dancing flowers to
Laplanders and a prince and princess suspended above the stage in their castle.