🌍 Arctic and the North
Also known as: Arctic, the Far North, Subarctic
Tundra and taiga. Reindeer were milked mainly by the Sámi and some taiga herders; for the Yakuts the core of the dairy tradition is mare's milk and kymys.
Arctic and the North is the cold northern land of tundra and taiga around the North Pole. The tundra and northern taiga are a land where ordinary dairy cattle are hard to keep: long winters, short summers and little fodder. The main domestic animal here is the reindeer. For many peoples of the North it is first of all a source of meat, hides and transport, but some reindeer herders milked their does.
Reindeer milk is very rich and thick, the yield is small, and it is milked in summer. The Sámi of northern Europe were traditionally known for milking reindeer, as were some taiga reindeer herders of Siberia. The milk was drunk, thickened, made into cheese and added to tea.
The North also includes Yakutia, where the Sakha people raise hardy cows and horses adapted to severe frost. Here mare’s milk is fermented into kymys, the main drink of the summer festival of Yhyakh.
What it includes
- Peoples
- Dairy animals
How it connects to milk
🌍 Arctic and the North ← milked in ← 🦌 Reindeer → gives → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Peoples
- 🧑🤝🧑 Yakuts, 🧑🤝🧑 Sámi, 🧑🤝🧑 Nenets
- Dairy animals
- 🦌 Reindeer
- Part of
- 🌍 World regions
Frequently asked questions
Do people in the Arctic drink reindeer milk?
Historically, yes — the Sámi and some taiga reindeer herders did; today reindeer are rarely milked.
Why are there so few cows in the Arctic?
Long winters and short summers yield almost no fodder; the reindeer survives best here.
What do people drink at the Yhyakh festival?
Kymys — koumiss made from mare’s milk; at the start of the festival it is sprinkled on the earth and the fire.
What to read next
- 🧑🤝🧑 Yakuts — The Sakha, a Turkic people of the middle Lena valley, one of the coldest inhabited lands; kymys is the main drink of the summer festival Yhyakh.
- 🧑🤝🧑 Nenets — Samoyedic reindeer herders of the tundra from the White Sea to Taymyr; milking is not typical, as reindeer mean transport, meat and hides.
Similar
🌍 Northern Europe · 🌍 West Africa · 🌍 Southern Africa · 🌍 Himalayas and Tibet · 🌍 Carpathians · 🌍 Central Europe
Sources
- Faccia et al. Milk Products from Minor Dairy Species: A Review. Animals, 2020
- University of Aberdeen — Ysyakh project: The Ysyakh Festival