History of Kotas

The Finnish Kota (known in Britain as Barbecue Lodges or bbq huts) which originated from the north of Finland  were widely used by the Reindeer herders as they moved across the tundra. They are still used as emergency shelters as well as now being used in a more commercial way for the tourists in the ski resorts and in Lapland.

There is no question that in the Sámi culture, there are few things as important as the reindeer, they have been a source of food, clothing, shelter, and inspiration. For centuries the reindeer and the Sámi have sustained one another.

It was a very slow process for the Sámi to go from hunting only wild reindeer to herding their animals with snowmobiles and helicopters, and turning a sizable cash profit each autumn in the process.

Over the course of history, reindeer herding has traced its development in Finland along a slightly different path than the one it had followed in nearby Sweden and Norway. Non-Sámi Finnish settlers, almost upon arrival, began to adopt the practice of reindeer herding, and as an economic activity it soon spread far beyond the borders of Sápmi. By the mid-1700’s reindeer herding was practiced widely north of the line stretching between Kuhmo and Oulu, spanning approximately the same herding range that still exists today.

Only about forty per cent of the reindeer in Finland are currently located in the Sámi Homeland (Sámiid ruovttuguovlu). Reindeer herding in Finland still consists of two fixed annual events: calf marking, which takes place in traditional marking sites in the high fells between June and August, and the herd separation which always takes place in November or December.

In the 1997-1998 herding season, there were 196,000 reindeer in Finland and a legislated national maximum of 224,900 but by 2001 the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reports that there were approx 300,000 reindeer in Finland.

The only legal requirement to become a reindeer herder in Finland is to live within a herding district and be either a citizen of the European Union or a member of the local reindeer-herding association

Many Sámi reindeer herders open their reindeer farms to the public and subsidize their incomes through the sale of Sámi handicrafts to the tourists while they visit the farm.Visitors are served coffee out of wooden cups, traditional Sámi game dishes, and the program concludes with the singing of traditional joiks. Some reindeer farms also offer a “reindeer safari” where you can travel by sled, and visitors can earn a ‘reindeer driver’s license’