To Sweden and Back...

June 6, 2010
After a much needed late morning, Arna and Vigleik suggested a trip to Sweden for our Sunday afternoon. We packed up the car and started on the two hour journey from Mo i Rana to Hemavan Tärnaby. The border between Norway and Sweden is very laid back, there are no customs or policing and in fact, many Norwegians used to travel to Sweden frequently to pick up cheaper groceries, particularly tobacco and pork. Tärnaby is a ski resort and busy in the winter months where visitors can rent cabins and stay overnight. It is a really small town, home to only one restaurant, one grocery store, a tourist center and a Sami shop. Since we drove in on a Sunday, everything was closed and not a car was in sight. Vigleik and Arna, who hadn’t visited Tärnaby in a couple years, seemed surprised by the lack of activity. They said the last time they came there were more shops open and at least a few stores and restaurants were open on Sunday. The financial crisis seems to have hit Sweden as well. Instead of having lunch in town, we decided to visit the local grocery store to pick up some supplies for a trip up to the mountains to Arna and Vigleik’s cabin. On the drive back to Norway, we drove through several snow storms and to our delight, ran into some reindeer. We were surprised to see reindeer this time of year since typically the reindeer travel north into the mountains during the summer to find pockets of snow to get away from insects. The unseasonable cold this year has likely made the reindeer stay in the area, so for once, we were not complaining about the weather! Our introduction to reindeers included clarifying a well-known myth… Rudolph is actually a girl! Reindeer lose their antlers once a year; the male reindeers lose their reindeer in the winter and spring while the female reindeers lose their antlers in the summer and autumn. Therefore, Rudolph couldn’t have had antlers in December unless he was a young reindeer and had yet to grow his antlers and only had stubs. One of the most amazing sights was seeing a newborn reindeer. The female reindeers, after spending the winter pregnant after mating season in the autumn, give birth in May. We saw some newborns, perhaps only a couple weeks old, which looked like baby lamb with white skin and pink eyes. All the reindeer in the area does belong to somebody. There is a reindeer farm in the area that has marked the reindeer but lets them roam freely in the area, only feeding them if it the weather is too harsh for the reindeer to find their own food. When the reindeer are older, they are slaughtered for reindeer meat. Reindeer meat is a popular delicacy in the area, but it is rather expensive since there are limited number of reindeer killed each year. The Sami people have long eaten reindeer and are the herders in the area. It wasn’t until recently that they were able to organize themselves better and now have started offering more reindeer meat to the local stores. Vigleik explained that when referring to the Sami people who herd reindeer is okay to call them Laps. However, the politically correct term for the others is Sami people.


Another popular myth that Vigleik and Arna clarified was the history of the Viking helmets. No remains ever found in Norway indicate that the Vikings had horns on their helmet. That was an exaggeration by the history books!

About 25 kilometers from Mo i Rana, we arrived to Arna and Vigleik’s cabin at Rauvatnet. The name means “on/at the River Rauvatnet.” Arna and Vigleik bought this hytte (cabin) in January 1987 when their twin boys were only 11 years old. The cabin is a 15 minute uphill trek from the car and far enough into the mountain that you can’t see any other cabins. There is no electricity minus a couple small solar panels on the roof and there is no running water, although there is a creek that runs by the side of the house. There is an outhouse bathroom, which is essentially a toilet with a hole in the ground which is cleaned every couple years. The Hagas don’t use the cabin too often during the winter, but do celebrate every Easter up here. The cabin is tiny, you walk in and on the left is a living room with a small couch, chair, furnace, kitchen and bunk beds built into the wall. On the right is a small room with another set of bunk beds. The outhouse is attached to the side of the house but can only be accessed by leaving the main door. Vigleik and Arna said they prefer the primitive cabin and enjoy this place as their retreat from the busy everyday life at home. As soon as we entered the cabin, Arna started the furnace by throwing in a couple logs while Vigleik started boiling a pot of water for coffee and setting out some whiskey to warm us up. He then cooked up some sausages and soy sausages for us as we enjoyed a late afternoon lunch.

After spending several hours in the cabin, we made our way back to Mo i Rana. A quick stop at the grocery store turned out to be quiet an experience. Local law dictates that a full grocery store cannot be open on Sundays but a store that is less than 100 meters in size can stay open. Therefore, the ICA grocery we visited had a small section in the corner of the main floor that housed all the necessities including eggs, bread, milk and frozen pizza for the customers. This small store was packed the entire time we were there! Arna said that while it is perhaps not allowed, if you need something that is not available in the Sunday store, the cashier will run into the main store and pick it up for you when it gets slow in the store. Both Arna and Vigleik agree that the Sunday store rule is one of Norway’s silliest!