The reindeer and the Sámis in Port Townsend in Barbara Sjoholms book! #Sápmi

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]This book, The Reindeer of Chinese Gardens, came out this year and part of it is the story of the Sami who came through Port Townsend in 1898 on their way to Alaska. They came all the way from Alta to the East Coast and then across the United States by train to Seattle and then they stayed in Port Townsend for a while before going to Alaska. And it's the story of one woman in particular, Elna Destina Paristotter and one of the things we're going to do today is to go out into Port Townsend and I can show a few places that are connected with the Sami here.

[00:00:40]And in one part of the novel there one of the reindeer has been left behind, it belongs to Elna Destina and it's called Leksu. It's a white reindeer and she is still milking it. She doesn't want it to go up to Alaska. So it's out there that they bring the reindeer to be grazing so that she can get some grass as well as the lichen that she they have brought. So it's described as sort of an interesting little parade every time they take the reindeer um from the house where they're staying um over to Chinese Gardens cuz Elna Destina is wearing gakti and uh Oh, she did wear gakti and she maybe she didn't have anything else. She didn't have anything else. They probably only had one dress, one pair of clothes when they came. Yeah, exactly.

[00:01:37]They couldn't bring too much.