Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights Page #3

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I just can't bear the thought of going

home without seeing them on this trip.

'My bags are packed,

spirits a bit low.

'As the film crew sort their equipment,

I take one last stroll around A.'

Look, look, it's gone.

Ah!

It's gone now.

I'm so sorry, we just...

I was calling you. It was just here.

Just a great big sort of pale...

rainbow, sort of coming from nowhere.

Right across the sky,

like a vapour trail.

It was the most extraordinary thing.

It kind of...

It kind of... sort of broke a bit,

sideways like that.

It was just... right across the sky.

I think it's gone now.

I'm so sorry you missed it.

I saw it. We'll see them again.

'We sat up half the night waiting for

the reappearance of the "Tricky Lady",

'but she doesn't show her face again

all night.

'As I move ever northwards, and across to the

mainland, I leave coastal Norway far behind.

'The landscape, culture, history and people

where I'm now heading couldn't be more different.

'This endless expanse of Arctic

tundra is the ancestral homeland

'of the indigenous people,

the Sami.

'Kautokeino is the most Sami town

in Norway. '

Good morning. Morning. 'Its mayor, Klemet

Erland Haetta, kindly agrees to meet me. '

How good to meet you. I expected a much

older mayor. You are very young for a mayor!

Now you are in Samiland.

It's thrilling. You see.

It's fantastic. And this beautiful belt

and skirt. What are these? Sealskin?

This is skin from reindeer.

Reindeer skin. And this is also.

So we have white reindeer

and more black reindeer.

And this beautiful pattern -

can I touch it?

Was this made for you?

This is made for me. Very important.

Yes. You can see when you are

unmarried, then it is round.

When you are married,

then you've got... Square? Yeah.

So I'm in with a chance. No...!

Yes, shall we go to the church?

How lovely!

CHURCH BELL RINGS

'We do go to the church.

'I'm lucky, not just with my choice

of guide, but with my time of arrival.

'The run-up to Easter is THE Sami season.

Bells are summoning everyone to church.

'Heading there with the mayor means, within minutes,

I've been introduced to all of Kautokeino's society. '

This is my cousin.

Lovely to meet you. And you.

'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

looks a bit humble. Here, the men look a bit humbler.

Some of them are pawing. Is that...?

Yes, they find the "moos". Moss?

Moss, yes. Look at them

digging like that! Yes.

And this is how the Sami have lived

for thousands of years.

Yes. Travelling with the herds? Travelling to

the winter place and in summer time, to the coast.

Now we're gonna try to catch one. Catch one? Yes,

with my lasso and I will show you the ear mark.

You've got your own mark on these?

Yes, I use the lasso to catch them.

This is like rodeo, like a cowboy.

Yes. But you're a reindeer boy. Yes.

ENGINE ROARS:

Joanna! Come and help me.

Oh, look!

And here you see... Yes. The ear.

When she was a calf, I do it. Yes.

That's your mark. Yes, it's my mark.

It says "Mikkel Isak". Yes.

It's a female. Six, seven years old.

She's beautiful. A big one too.

She's lovely. You caught her

just so easily. Yes.

I've done it before. You're a bit

of a champion reindeer boy.

Is she OK? She's very OK. Good.

She's not afraid. No.

And the herd is just

quietly grazing there. Yeah.

How fantastic!

Thank you so much. That's OK.

'When he travels with his herd, Mikkel Isak still

stays in his lavu, the traditional Sami tent.

'He's invited an elder there to introduce

me to the yoik, a unique form of Sami song. '

SINGS YOIK:

'Ante Mikkel Gaup is one of

Kautokeino's most revered yoikers.

'And the yoik is much more

than music to the Sami. '

That was lovely.

REPLIES IN SAMI:

'Ante Mikkel explains

that Samis have always yoiked.

'Not just with people,

but directly to animals and nature.

'The most important thing, he stresses,

is that Samis don't yoik ABOUT something.

'They bring its very essence

into the yoik.

'It turns out there's no set time for a yoik.

It happens whenever the moment feels right. '

SINGS YOIK:

That's wonderful.

He's yoiking about me. Yeah.

Some person.

How I am and what I do.

And it's about me.

Ante Mikkel, will you tell me...

Do you yoik the Northern Lights?

SPEAKS IN SAMI:

'Ante Mikkel surprises me by saying

he does not know a Northern Lights yoik

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