INTRODUCTION

The Arctic is the most northerly region of Planet Earth and covers one sixth of the Earth’s surface. People usually define the Arctic as the area above the ‘Arctic Circle’ – an imaginary line that circles around the top of the globe. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, parts of Canada, Russia, the USA, Greenland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland.

Winter in the Arctic means short days and at least once a year there’s an entire day of darkness in this freezing region. And, it sure does get freezing up here. Temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius have been recorded in the Arctic.

Yet, despite the freezing cold temperatures people, live here and call this wintery wonderland home. Amongst these are the indigenous people of Lapland called the Sami. They’ve adapted to the cold weather and have found ingenious ways to survive in one of the harshest environments on our planet.

This includes domesticating and farming Reindeer. The Sami have practised traditional reindeer herding for centuries. Reindeer herding is more than just a profession to the Sami, it’s a way of life.

The Sami are known as ‘the people who walk with reindeer’, but they not only walk with reindeer, they also rest with them, and they bring us a reminder of an important message from our ancient past, a message we would do well to remember in our modern world. So, join me
and the Sami herders, as we walk with reindeer to find out all about it.

It’s the middle of winter in Finnish Lapland. The days are short, and the temperature today is about 20 degrees below zero. Lapland is located in the very north of Finland, deep inside the Arctic Circle and borders Sweden, Norway and Russia.

This place dishes up the stuff of a real Arctic winter wonderland – like snow-dusted forests, cosy log cabins, Aurora Borealis – the northern lights, and a population that’s made up of more reindeer than people.

PERFECTLY DESIGNED

And these reindeer are perfectly designed for living up here in one of the coldest places on Earth. To begin with, they’re very well insulated. They have some pretty clever ways of keeping warm. For example, they grow a thick coat with two layers of hair: a dense undercoat, and then an outer layer of hollow hairs.

That final layer traps the air and provides excellent insulation. It ensures that they retain their body heat. In fact, it’s so effective at keeping in heat, reindeer can even lie down in the snow and not cause it to melt. 

Then, reindeer have distinctively shaped skulls and have a broader and flatter muzzle than most deer. Their noses are specially adapted to warm the air they breathe before it enters their lungs. This helps them maintain their core body temperature.

Even their hooves are special. In summer when the ground is wet, the foot pads on their wide splayed hooves soften and become thick and spongy, providing extra grip to help them keep their footing on the soft tundra. Then in winter, the footpad tightens and shrinks back, exposing the rim of the hoof that grips and provides traction in the slippery snow and ice.

Even their eyes change colour between summer and winter to adapt to the widely varying levels of light in the far north. Their eye colour changes from yellow-green in summer to dark blue in winter.

Due to the extremely limited amount of light up here in winter, reindeer’s eyes need to be much more sensitive to light than in summer. The blue colour during the darkest months of the year helps scatter more incoming light and results in better vision.

Reindeer are the only mammals that can see ultraviolet light. This ability lets them see things in the icy white of the Arctic that others would miss.

With all these wonderful and unique attributes Reindeer thrive in these freezing conditions, and in a place where cattle and sheep cannot survive, they are valuable to people. The reindeer is the only domesticated deer in the world. And the people who first domesticated them here in Lapland were the Sami people.

THE INDIGENOUS SAMI

The Sami are Scandinavia’s only indigenous people and they inhabit areas around the Arctic Circle in Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Lapland here in Finland. There are about 100,000 Sami scattered throughout this region.

The Sami People have been herding reindeer for centuries, and they’re at the very heart of traditional Sami life and culture. Reindeer are a way of life for the Sami people.

There are more than 7,000 reindeer herders here, known traditionally as ‘boazovazzi’ or ‘reindeer walkers’. And that’s exactly what herders once did, following the fast-paced animals on foot or wooden skis as they sought out the best grazing grounds over hundreds of kilometres of terrain.

Modern day herding is a mix of traditional skills and land use, and motorised herding. Instead of walking or skiing, the herders now often rely on expensive all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles to keep up with the demands of herding.

But the Sami are still some of the most tenacious people on earth – the cowboys and cowgirls of the tundra – deeply in tune with nature and able to deftly move and guide huge herds of reindeer during brutal winters over vast expanses of tundra.

YEARLY CYCLE

Here in Lapland, the Sami herders schedule is not governed by time and the movement of the sun, but is tied to something far more important – the movement of the reindeer. The yearly cycle of the Reindeer determines everything.
In late April through to June the majority of reindeer calves are born. After that the reindeer are released to the summer pastures and allowed to roam freely. Then in mid to late June the reindeer are gathered for calf marking.

Round ups are carried out in the specific reindeer cooperative locations or herding districts, where the herds are counted, the new calves are marked with distinct ear marks that identify their owner, and then the reindeer are released to roam freely until autumn in small herds ranging in size from a few animals to hundreds at a time.

In the autumn the reindeer mate, after which they are collected into reindeer corrals and separated. The respective owners determine what animals will be butchered, ownerships are re-affirmed and the animals to be kept are counted. The work at the corrals often involves extended families and networks, and sometimes whole villages can be involved.

After separating the animals, they move to winter pastures. In modern times the reindeer herders supplement the natural lichen pastures with artificial fodder. After separating more animals for selling, additional corals are organised to determine ownership and group attachment of each reindeer.

Then the animals are moved to spring pastures, and the reindeer yearly cycle begins again. And that’s what happening right now. The reindeer are being released from the corrals and the Sami herders are moving them to the spring pastures.

It’s easy to understand why reindeer are revered in Sami culture. For thousands of years these magnificent animals [that] have adapted so perfectly to the freezing Arctic conditions, have provided Sami families with everything they need – food, clothing, accommodation, transport, money, tools, and weapons.

Reindeer are at the very heart of traditional Sami life and culture. Reindeer are part of the Sami people’s very identity. They say that one of the best ways to get to know a society is through language.

And this is certainly true of the Sami people. The close relationship with their reindeer is reflected in their language. It’s estimated that there are about 1,000 Sami words devoted to reindeer appearance, behaviour and habits.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Many of these words are unique and colourful. For example, take the word poronkusema. It’s an old-fashioned Sami measurement. It’s the distance a reindeer can walk or pull a sleigh before it needs a rest stop, a comfort stop.

Reindeer can’t travel too far without answering the call of nature. They must have a rest stop every 7 and a half kilometres so that they can urinate. So, when the Sami are walking with reindeer, they have to stop and rest every seven and a half kilometres.

Then, there’s the Sami word, peninkulma. It refers to the distance a barking Lapp Reindeer-Dog can be heard in still air. The Sami people have bred these dogs for herding and guarding their reindeer, and on a still night their shrill bark can be heard for a distance of 10 kms across the Tundra. That distance is called peninkulma.

These two old-fashioned Sami measurements certainly are unique and fascinating. However, most of the Sami measurements to do with distance are related to the human body. For the Sami, the human body ruled when it came to measuring, just as it did for most ancient civilisations.

For example, the Sami had measurements that are very similar to the old Imperial system of measurements – which is also based on the human body. An inch is the width of a man’s thumb. The Sami call it a tuuma.

A span is the length between the tip of the little finger to the tip of the thumb when the hand is stretched out. The Sami call it a vaaksa. A foot was the length of an average man’s foot. The Sami word is jalka.

And it’s not just the Sami and early English that used the body as a standard for measurements, that’s how people measured things for thousands of years dating right back to the 3rd millennia BC.

The early Egyptian and Babylonian records indicate that length was first measured with the forearm, hand, finger and foot. Even the very earliest civilisations needed measurement for purposes of agriculture, construction, and trade. Using the body as a standard for measurement was simple and convenient.

Early standard units might only have applied to a single community or a small region, with every area developing its own standards of measurements for length and weight. But with the development of manufacturing technologies, and the growing importance of trade between communities and ultimately across the earth, standardised weights and measures became critical.

In the 18th century modernised, simplified, and uniform systems of weights and measures were developed. The metric system was officially adopted by France in 1799 and over the 19th and 20th centuries, it became the dominant system worldwide, although several countries, including the United States and China, continue to use their own customary units.

TIME

Although there have been a great variety of different systems of measuring distance over the course of history, the measurement of time has been far more uniform and standardised around the world – even here in Lapland.

The oldest clock was most likely planet Earth. Historically, the large units of time were measured by the movement of the Earth, in relation to the Sun, Moon, and stars.

So, there’s the year, which is determined by the time it takes Earth to complete one full orbit around the sun. Then there’s the month, which is based on how long it takes the moon to orbit the earth. And there’s the day, which is the time it takes the earth to rotate once on its own axis.

Then the day is subdivided into 24 hours, an hour into 60 minutes and finally, a minute into 60 seconds. So, all of our major time measurements are related to the movement of the heavenly bodies.

THE 7-DAY WEEK

All of them, with one exception – the week. The week is unique in that it’s our only major time unit that isn’t connected to the movement of the heavenly bodies. The week is a period of seven days, a unit of time, that has no astronomical basis whatever. Yet, we order our lives in a seven-day cycle.

The seven-day week is one of the most durable phenomena in history. It’s universal. In virtually every nation and civilisation on the planet, throughout all history, you will find people living out their lives to the rhythm of the week – even here in Lapland.

The week is one of the most important calendar units in our lives. How did this seven- day cycle become so popular, so universal, and come to occupy such an important place in our minds and in our calendars? How did it become such an important rhythm of human life? Where did it originate?

Well, the origin of the week has long baffled anthropologists and scholars of ancient history, but now, amazing new discoveries in the scientific world are shedding light on this mystery.

CHRONOBIOLOGY

The relatively new science of chronobiology has uncovered some totally unexpected facts about living things. Now, chronobiology is a field of biology that studies how our body’s natural cycles – mental, physical and emotional – are affected by solar and lunar rhythms.

We’ve known for a long time that our bodies operate on a circadian or daily rhythm, as well as monthly and annual rhythms. But chronobiologists have only recently discovered seven-day cycles – or circaseptan cycles – written into our biology.

And what’s especially interesting is that this 7-day cycle is the central rhythm by which all other circadian rhythms in our bodies are tuned or orchestrated.

In fact, our blood pressure cycle, coping hormone cycle, immune response to infections, production of blood and urine chemicals, our heartbeat, the common cold, and even our mood or general state of mind, all operate on a seven-day cycle.

There’s even evidence of a 7-day cycle in the formation of our tooth enamel. The 7-day weekly cycle is embedded in our genes. But it’s not only written into the biology of humans. The 7-day cycle is also found in animals, plants and insects.

Experiments conducted by leading scientists prove that 7-day cycles govern fundamental aspects in the lives of flies, rats, bees, and even primitive algae.

Amazing as it may seem, we were all created with a 7-day biorhythmic cycle built into us – from complex humans down to simple bacteria and one-celled organisms. Science proves that the 7-day weekly cycle is etched deeply into our DNA and life on Planet Earth.

What explains these biological seven-day or weekly rhythms? Well, simply this: the
7-day week, was established by God Himself right back at the creation of the world. And that 7-day cycle was etched into mankind’s DNA, mankind’s consciousness, way back there.

The most conclusive evidence we have in history, philosophy and science for the establishment of the global week, and the 7-day cycle, is the Bible account of the creation of the world.

THE CREATION

There, God created everything in the world in six days and then rested on the seventh. This provided the model for cultures, societies and civilisations all around the world. Here’s what it says in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. (Gen. 1:1, 31)

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Gen 2:1-3)

There it is. Pure and simple. God created the weekly 7-day cycle when He made the world. It’s rooted in the created order and it’s etched into our DNA. It’s the cycle humans were designed to function best on – work the first six days of the week, and rest on the 7th.

God placed the 7-day cycle in our body chemistry at Creation. God created life to live on a 7-day cycle. That’s the rhythm we’re made for, that’s best for us. And to help us remember that, God placed this formula for optimum living right in the very heart of the Ten Commandments – the 10 principles he gave us to live by. Here’s what God said:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work… For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
(Exodus 20:8-11)

The 4th Commandment calls us to remember our origins. You see, it’s not only reindeer that need to take a break and have a rest. So do we. And God designed us to function best on the 7-day cycle – to work the first six days of the week and rest on the 7th day.

BREAKING THE CYCLE?

Now, down through history, people have tried to change this God-given cycle. They’ve tried to break the 7-day cycle and change the length of the week – but with disastrous results. The French tried to change the 7-day cycle.

In 1793, just after the French Revolution, France adopted a 10-day week in an attempt to increase productivity. During these years, French society saw a stark increase in injuries, exhaustion, illness, and work animals that collapsed and died at astounding rates. Back there, people attempted to operate on a rhythm other than the one they were designed for, and the results were disastrous.

The Soviet Union, and other societies have tried similar changes to the 7-day weekly cycle, but like the French, found they didn’t work and soon all reverted back to the original God-given 7-day model.

Humans function best when we live out our lives to the rhythm of the week, the 7-day cycle. That’s the way God designed us. God created the weekly cycle at creation when he made the world. And that 7-day cycle is etched into our DNA.

God made the seventh-day of the week a rest day specifically for our well-being. God designed every 7th day as a rest day for us. And we would be wise to recognise this God- given cycle, this weekly cycle, that’s built into our bodies and our environment. This is the way life works best for us.

As scientists are discovering, living rhythmically leads to a healthier and happier life. If everything around us functions to natural rhythms and the weekly 7-day cycle, wouldn’t it be wise for us to do so as well – to work for the first 6 days of the week and rest on the seventh? This allows us to tune into our body’s rhythm and perform at our peak every day.

SPECIAL OFFER

If you’d like to find out more about God’s plan to provide rest for our busy lives in this modern world, if you’d like to perform at your peak, [and] if you’d like to experience inner peace and happiness, then I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today.

It’s the easy to read booklet, Experiencing God’s Peace. This small book will only take you a few minutes to read, but it could help you find inner peace and lasting happiness. This booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free. I guarantee there are no costs or obligations. So, make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive the gift we have for you today.

Be sure to join us again next week when we’ll share another of life’s journey’s together. Until then, let’s ask God to lead us to find real peace and meaning in our lives – and lasting happiness. Let’s pray.

CLOSING PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father, we all face challenges in life. We live in a busy, stressful world, and we often struggle to find true rest and peace. But Lord, you have a plan to provide the rest and peace we need – you’ve even embedded it in our DNA. Father, guide us to this weekly 7th day rest that you’ve provided, and give us peace and happiness now and forever. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Special Thanks
Henry Stober