Chuck Darwin on Nostr: Ghosts of the landscape: Folklore and songs are key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer ...
Ghosts of the landscape:
Folklore and songs are key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer
The Finnish folk musician
Liisa Matveinen lives in a mustard-coloured house in Ilomantsi,
12 miles (20km) from the Russian border.
Large books of folk songs line her walls.
Sitting in her kitchen, Matveinen sings about a humble hunter going into the woods to find reindeer.
The song tells us how they were “honoured” providers of food, clothing and a sense of place, says Matveinen, who is recognised as a doyenne of Finnish folk music.
Singing takes Matveinen back to a vanished world of hunting and fishing in the Finnish and Russian region of Karelia, where she was brought up and now lives.
“I always come back here like a boomerang,” says Matveinen.
She has a deep love for this remote part of eastern Finland, a place covered in vast peatlands and rivers where the oral poetry tradition stretches back 3,000 years.
Few people now know these songs. And along with the songs, the reindeer themselves have disappeared.
⚠️The last wild forest reindeer was shot in the Koitajoki area in 1919.
Its horns are on display in a local restaurant, not far from Matveinen’s house.
⭐️Now, a plan is being hatched to reintroduce them.
The peatland has been restored and the first wild reindeer will be released here in 2028.
The aim is to eventually have a herd of 300.
Scouting animals
– known as “ghost reindeer”
– are already coming back down from their range farther north to look at these peatlands, suggesting the habitat could be suitable for them.
Bringing back reindeer, however, is only one part of this rewilding project.
✅ The other components are part of an approach called “deep mapping”,
which includes rejuvenating the culture and folklore associated with these animals to rebuild people’s connection to the land around them.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/23/finland-ecology-reindeer-deep-mapping-folklore-entwined-rewilding-karelia-peatland-forest?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Folklore and songs are key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer
The Finnish folk musician
Liisa Matveinen lives in a mustard-coloured house in Ilomantsi,
12 miles (20km) from the Russian border.
Large books of folk songs line her walls.
Sitting in her kitchen, Matveinen sings about a humble hunter going into the woods to find reindeer.
The song tells us how they were “honoured” providers of food, clothing and a sense of place, says Matveinen, who is recognised as a doyenne of Finnish folk music.
Singing takes Matveinen back to a vanished world of hunting and fishing in the Finnish and Russian region of Karelia, where she was brought up and now lives.
“I always come back here like a boomerang,” says Matveinen.
She has a deep love for this remote part of eastern Finland, a place covered in vast peatlands and rivers where the oral poetry tradition stretches back 3,000 years.
Few people now know these songs. And along with the songs, the reindeer themselves have disappeared.
⚠️The last wild forest reindeer was shot in the Koitajoki area in 1919.
Its horns are on display in a local restaurant, not far from Matveinen’s house.
⭐️Now, a plan is being hatched to reintroduce them.
The peatland has been restored and the first wild reindeer will be released here in 2028.
The aim is to eventually have a herd of 300.
Scouting animals
– known as “ghost reindeer”
– are already coming back down from their range farther north to look at these peatlands, suggesting the habitat could be suitable for them.
Bringing back reindeer, however, is only one part of this rewilding project.
✅ The other components are part of an approach called “deep mapping”,
which includes rejuvenating the culture and folklore associated with these animals to rebuild people’s connection to the land around them.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/23/finland-ecology-reindeer-deep-mapping-folklore-entwined-rewilding-karelia-peatland-forest?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other