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Picture: The Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle Source: www.santaclausvillage.fi |
Finnish Lapland bases itself on the attraction of the "original exotic". Lapland stands out as the most original tourist destination in Finland. Lakeland, nature trails, ski resorts and the Helsinki-sized cities can be found throughout the world, but Lapland is located in people's minds and this Lapland is in Finland and Santa Claus lives there.
The arts and crafts that Santa brings to the good children of the world on Christmas time have very little in common with the original Sami culture.
Some Sami people do not welcome mainstream tourism and other economic competitive situations in Lapland.
"... The outsiders usurp the central symbol of our identity - the Sami clothes - and make our folk costume the most visible external symbol of the tourism industry".
Lapland is becoming a theme park that utilises the aesthetics and traditions of Lapland in professional tourism business, by trial and error, by duplicating and copying the original. However, the tourism industry is trying to develop a sustainable business by taking into account nature and also social authenticity values.
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Photos: Kari Rouhiainen, 2010. Craft Museum of Finland, Jyväskylä (Marjut and Pekka Aikio, 1999) |
"Is Lapland open today?” asked an American woman visiting the Helsinki City Tourist Office. The majority of tourists do not know that Lapland is in Finland, when they ask for a journey to visit Santa. Strictly speaking, it is of no importance to the visitor whether Lapland is in Finland or not, when he is wishing to visit Lapland. But for Finns, this is irritating and annoying in the national mind, as well as it annoys the Sami people in ethnic and cultural sense. Many Finnish tourism companies, advertising agencies, as well as foreign advertising agencies and tour operators have participated in the creation of a Lapland brand. In this brand, the Sami are decorations just like the images of the ancient pharaohs in Egyptian travel brochures. Tourism is a major industry in Lapland which takes advantage of every Sámi symbol for commercial purposes.
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Source: www.santaclausvillage.fi |
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6.1.2. Shamanism | 6.1.4. Santa Claus and Presents |
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