Reindeer between European Folklore and Human Rights of Indigenous Reindeer Herders in the Arctic
Our relations with animals are a fundamental part of what makes us human. For a large period of human history, human existence has been shaped by close relationships with other animals. From the moment that humankind moved beyond hunting to cooperate with animals, we exist in a society that consists of multiple species. The interaction with animals can be so crucial as to raise questions about human rights. This also includes the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the oldest regional human rights court, on questions relating to human-animal interactions as a topic of human rights law. Based on an analysis of cases that have been decided by the European Court of Human Rights and the former European Commission on Human Rights, an overview will be provided of how the European Convention on Human Rights can be utilized to safeguard human-animal interactions. The need for such protection through human rights will be shown by using the example of indigenous reindeer herding in northern Europe. It will be shown that human rights law provides a functional tool for the protection of human interests in their interactions with animals and that the animal side of human-animal interactions deserves more attention also through the lens of rights.
In the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and to some degree in Canada, Alaska, Mongolia, and China, as well as in Scotland, although with the exception of the latter, these regions are outside the geographical scope of the research presented here, local, in particular (and in Norway and Sweden exclusively) indigenous, communities continue to depend heavily on reindeer for multiple purposes, including culture, food security and livelihoods. Across the region, reindeer herding is organized in different ways. What reindeer herders in the European Arctic, have in common is the relative importance of reindeer herding for indigenous cultures and local economies. Across the Arctic, reindeer herders face significant challenges. Reindeer herding is experiencing multiple pressures from land use conflicts to climate change. In light of the cultural, economic, and practical importance of reindeer herding, the question has to be asked how the reaction of state institutions to these challenges relates to the obligations of states under international human rights law.
Thousands of years ago, reindeer were hunted also in what today forms the territory of France and Germany, for example by the people of what is now referred to as the Ahrensburg culture, named after a town near Hamburg. Today, reindeer are seen as symbolic animals there. The image many people in Central and Western Europe, and in many other parts of the world, have of reindeer, can often be disconnected from the reality of human-reindeer interactions in the circumpolar North.
At no other time of the year do reindeer (rangifer tarandus) get as much almost global attention as before and around Christmas. By many, reindeer are seen as near-mythical animals from the North Pole in the modern, commercialized story that has very little to do with the origins of one of the world’s most popular religious holidays. In the Arctic, reindeer play an important role in the lives of millions of people. The modern story of Santa Claus and his reindeer coopts reindeer and their cultural role. Reindeer have historically been used by indigenous peoples to pull sleighs in the Arctic. This use of the now iconic animals has been woven into a story that consists of several strands.
The legend of St Nicholas of Myra, a 3rd/4th century bishop from what is today the town of Demre on Turkey’s southern coast, who was renowned for his generosity and care towards children, has long played a special role in Germany and the Netherlands, in the latter often surpassing Christmas in terms of their relevance when it comes to gift-giving to children. From there, Dutch and German immigrants likely brought the story to the United States where the story of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer emerged around two hundred years ago. Among the other stories that had long been told in northern Europe and that likely will have been familiar to settlers from the Germanic-speaking countries who moved to North America, was the story of the wild hunt (Wilde Jagd), a folklore motif that can be found across Northern Europe, usually Odin leading a group of hunters across the sky in a flying chariot pulled by his horse Sleipnir (although at times the characters are also exchanged in different variations of the story) during the dozen nights around the winter solstice and the turn of the year, corresponding to the time from Christmas until Epiphanias, the hence the English term “twelfth night”. These days account for the difference between the lunar and the solar year. The German term for these nights is Rauhnächte, a term that might come from the words Rauch (smoke) and Nächte (nights), and that might be a reminder that in the past evil spirits were smoked out, a tradition that can still be seen in some rural areas when bonfires are lit at the end of the winter, while a different explanation aims to connect the term with an old regional term for fur. To this day, the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day is in German referred to as being “zwischen den Jahren”, literally “between the years”, reflecting a sense that this is a time that is taken out of the normal flow of time, when things are different than normal and where the lines between natural and supernatural become blurred. In predominantly Catholic regions of Germany, in the West and South, on Epiphanias, children dressed up as the three magi go from home to home to bless houses, apartments and all that live there with incense, songs, prayers and by writing the letters C+M+B, Christus mansionem benedicat, Christ bless this house, commonly also read as Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the names folklore has given to the three magi, the mortal remains of which are said to be located in the cathedral in Cologne, and indeed the reason why the cathedral was constructed in the first place. In 1835, Jacob Grimm, of Grimm Brothers fame, described the wild hunt in his landmark book “Deutsche Mythologie”. Grimm essentially codified the wild hunt story in a printed form. As a consequence, it gained widespread attention, and it seems safe to assume that at least some 19th century settlers in North America will have known this story in one form or another. By then, the story had already been told with different characters and it lent itself to being appropriated. The story of the Wild Hunt is a remnant of the old belief in the old gods. In a process that might remind some of the syncretistic integration of cultural elements of groups that are being targeted with missionary activities, these old elements (that, contrary to the example of European missionary activities in the Americas, played a rather limited practical role in the lives of 19th century people in Germany) were integrated with a different story that brings us closer to the origins of Christmas.
Like it has happened in many other cultures, old and new were merged. The story of Thor’s wild hunt eventually merged with other Christmas-related traditions and with the story of the real-life bishop who had lived in a farwaway country many centuries before. The merger of Thor and St Nicholas brings us Santa Claus, borrowing name and job description from St Nicholas, the mode of transport (flying in a usually ground-bound vehicle) from Odin, and the timing from ancient festivals around the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. The connection between winter in places such as the continental United States, Germany and the Netherlands, and the places in which the climate was thought to be one of eternal winter, i.e., the far north or the north pole, was then an easy one to make. As there was knowledge of the presence of reindeer or caribou in the northern lands, it seems likely that it did not require much of a leap of imagination to see Santa’s sleigh (a mode of transport that was traditionally associated with reindeer in the context of indigenous people of the North, although today often in the context of the modern tourism industry) replace Odin’s chariot. Odin’s other name, Thor, from which the English language draws the inspiration for the word “Thursday”, the Germanic god of thunder, is still found in the merged story of Santa and his flying reindeer, specifically in the names of the reindeer named Donner (Dutch: dunder, German: Donner, means thunder) and Blitzen (Dutch: bliksem, German: Blitz, means lightning). The fascination with the cold and the Northern countries in general, and with reindeer in particular, is a fairly common cultural aspect found in Germany and the Netherlands to this very day, even though (or maybe also because) climate change means that a white Christmas is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence there. A few thousand years ago, reindeer still lived in that part of Europe and the collective hunt for reindeer was an important part of the livelihood of local communities near where we find today cities like Paris or Hamburg. Is it possible that to this day, Europeans outside the far north associate reindeer with times of plenty after a successful hunt and with the knowledge that their family will have enough to eat to survive the winter?
While most people will think of reindeer in this specific cultural context that has emerged only in the last few generations, for the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, reindeer remain an important part of their cultures and livelihoods. While most Sámi, for example, no longer work in reindeer herding, animal and reindeer-based products continue to play an important role in this culture. Similarly, reindeer are relevant for indigenous peoples in Russia and to some extent, in North America, where rangifer tarandus is referred to as caribou. What for most is a decorative part of the commercialized version of Christmas, which seems entirely disconnected from the religious origins of the holiday, is an essential animal for others.
This importance makes it necessary to look at the human rights dimension of the relationship between humans and these animals. Reindeer play a role reindeer in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) which applies the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). For this purpose, the judgments and decisions of the ECtHR and of the former European Commission of Human Rights (EComHR), which operated until 1 November 1998 when the European human rights system still functioned more similarly to the Inter-American human rights system. Reindeer have also featured in the case law of the Human Rights Committee (HRC) which is tasked with interpreting the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Though a number of cases brought under the ICCPR, indigenous Sámi litigants have greatly contributed to the development of the international legal norms that protect the rights of indigenous peoples as their applications have provided the impetus for the HRC to take a closer look at Article 27 ICCPR in the context of reindeer herding. Through these cases, and through participation in international fora such as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), indigenous persons from the Arctic have made important contributions to the development of the rights of indigenous peoples under international law. While a complete analysis of the case law would go beyond the confines of this text and would have to take into account also the domestic litigation, for example in Canada, Russia or Alaska, the human rights dimension of reindeer herding in the circumpolar North should not be underestimated.
Among the key challenges for reindeer herders are land use conflicts, sustainability, and the impact of climate change. In light of the continued relevance reindeer have in the life of the people who call the Arctic their home and often can trace their history back thousands of years, these issues are likely to become more pressing in the future. The 2021 decision by Norway’s supreme court on the conflict between renewable energy and reindeer herding offers a glimpse of the kind of emerging legal conflicts that are already relevant today.
Human life is impossible to imagine without animals. Today, we rely on animals for work, companionship, as well as for food and other services. In some countries, such as Finland, there is a trend away from food the production of which requires the death of animals and overall, awareness of animal rights appears to be growing. Today, international human rights bodies are already recognizing the importance of animals for humans, but the legal status of animals in many national legal systems is often still insufficient to offer the level of protection that is needed for the welfare of animals. Animal welfare has to be a human concern, too, and the connection between humans and animals is a matter that is related to the protection of human rights.