A different kind of life Take an area the size of two-thirds of Belgium, but populated by no more than 5,000 people, and a distinct lack of public transport, and you get a very different kind of place indeed. Add a history as a Sámi trading gateway, and a picture of Sweden’s northernmost province, Jokkmokk, starts to emerge. By Linnea Dunne | Photos: Therese Rydström
“When you take the kicker to school instead of the bus or commuter train, it makes for quite a different life,” says Per Olof Lindroth, CEO of Destination Jokkmokk and a native of the town. “This roadless, vast landscape without subways or anything like that – it leads to a local knowledge among the people who live here that’s hard to come by elsewhere in Europe.”
es. Today, the market attracts more than 40,000 visitors every February, offering three days of not just stalls full of Sámi crafts, design and delicacies, but also hundreds of events including reindeer feeding, storytelling in a lavvu tent and northern lights hunts, giving visitors a chance to experience the full breadth of life above the Arctic Circle.
Jokkmokk is best known today for the Jokkmokk Winter Market, an annual tradition with over 400-year-old roots, dating back to a time when the Swedish Crown wanted to strengthen state control of the indigenous Sámi population with the added benefit of collecting tax-
Of course, life in Jokkmokk does not stop when the market ends. “The thing that really hits you when you get here is the presence of Sámi culture,” says digital communications officer Linnea Sigurdson. A visit to Jokkmokk, in other words, is a taste of Sámi life at its most
44 | Issue 83 | December 2015
The human angle
authentic: you can learn how to cook using ingredients found in the wilderness, enjoy a Sámi poem and a yoik – the traditional Sámi singing – or help out with the reindeer husbandry for a day. Then there is the not-to-be-missed Áttje Museum, telling the story of life in a demanding climate and environment. “Our strength is in the people,” says Lindroth, “in these real characters who sit on so much history and knowledge that is completely unique to the area. We’re close to nature and naturally sustainable, like c/o Gerd, producing beauty products from local ingredients such as cloudberries, blueberries and lingonberries.”
A real arctic winter Naturally, experiencing the arctic winter with the northern lights and inches of snow is in itself a draw. “Just walking out in the midwinter darkness with a lantern in your hand, stepping through the snow and hearing it crunch – it’s easy to take