Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights Page #6

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'This is the time for weddings, partying

and basking in the year's first sunshine

'with the mercury soaring

to a balmy minus five.

'The festivities kick off with the

town's annual confirmation ceremony.

'Today, around 80,000 Sami people

live across Arctic Scandinavia.

'Until recently,

they were commonly known as Lapps,

'inhabitants of a region

the world called Lapland.

'Reviled as little better than

savages, they suffered for centuries,

'but Sami identity and language

are now enjoying a renaissance.

'There were no roads here until the

'and broadband internet and they enjoy one of

the highest standards of living in the world.

'Yet close to half Kautokeino's

families still depend on reindeer.

'The mayor introduces me to one of

the top herders, Mikkel Isak Eira,

'who lives a life utterly different from his

grandfathers'. He invites me to join him for a day. '

Do I need to wear a helmet?

Yes. Here is your scooter. Wow.

Do you drive with a scooter before? No. When

you start, you must... Only take this key.

ENGINE STARTS:

And here it stops. OK.

'Unlike me, Mikkel Isak's son

is no learner driver. '

How old is he?

He is four years and five months.

How long has he been driving? About one year.

So he started... When he was three?! Yes.

Can you tell in English,

one, two, three?

No! No.

Emil, do you like to drive?

Yes. Yes.

'Hey, I'm not proud.

'If it takes a four-year-old

to teach a grandmother, so be it.

'I bet he can't do country dancing which I was

pretty good at aged four years and five months!'

Is Emil coming with us today?

No. I will bring him

to the kindergarten. OK. Yes.

Just a quick snowmobile ride, teach an older

person how to ride, then off to kindergarten!

Yes. Pretty much puts things

in perspective.

'Mikkel Isak may have all the mod cons,

but he still lives a semi-nomadic life,

'following his reindeer on their

annual migration to coastal pastures. '

'The migration

is still some weeks away,

'but even in winter, when the

reindeer are nearby, they roam free,

'so we don't know

exactly where we'll find them.

'I've been told that it's the height of bad

manners to ask a Sami how big his herd is.

'Let's just say Mikkel Isak's would

be hard to miss. ' Look at that.

That's my reindeer herd.

Look at that!

Mikkel Isak, they look fantastic!

Will you do it for me? Yes.

I've got mad old woman's eyes!

Oh, no, I can see now.

Oh, they're so beautiful!

And what a big herd! Isn't it?

Now, some have got antlers

and some haven't. Which is which?

Females get the antlers and the males don't in

winter. The females get them? The females, yes.

Usually, the male has the antlers and the female

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