Hidden Treasures: Mahkalahke

STILLNESS AND SILENCE

INARI WALK

Lapland  2000

63.3 North, 30.95 East

Some words written during the week that I took the second photograph, back in 2000 BB (Before Blogging):

In Helsinki, I befriended a German Girl who told me:

"Finland is a disease. 

You must leave before you catch it

Or you will never recover."

But I had been told

"Lapland is so exotic, even for Finns."

So I travelled to the Arctic Circle.

What did I expect to find?

All day long, mist has lingered over this northern outpost.

From the window of Room 211 at the Inari hotel

I watch snow falling

Over the Inari branch of the Kuukkeli supermarket.

The only northern lights are

The orange-glowing street lamps

On the main road to Norway.

Downstairs, the seedy bar

Promises pizza buffet and Karaoke.

Here, the locals: mainly lonely men,

While away their northern nights

With talk of reindeer and fishing.

And yet I have been told

This is a special place,

With a fatal attraction that pulls people back:

Magnetic North.

Tomorrow, I will travel South

What do I hope to find?

There is a Sami word:

Mahkalahke.

It means:

To return to a place you once lived

In order to find

Something you’ve lost.

And I promise myself that this time I will.

I really will...

I have only recently reposted both of these images but have decided to do so again because I found the above diary extract from my Lapland trip. There was a written posting accompanying the first image reposted above and that can be found here, but the second one...well, it was just one of those days when the language part of my brain had frozen with fear. The soundtrack to these photographs would be the remarkable music of Wimme Saari, particularly two songs entitled: Boaimmas (which means Rough Legged Buzzard) and Gierran (Enchantment). Wimme is a contemporary performer of the great Sami tradition of Yoiking and If only I knew how to embed music into my blog page, you could hear the incredible soundscapes that this man creates. He may not be well-known outside Scandinavia but he should, in my opinion, be a superstar.

My other Lapland images can be viewed here

I'd like to thank the lovely and talented Lula of Sailor and Lula Designs, for giving me this sweet award. Thank you so much Lula! I promise to pass this on (and the others I've been hanging onto) in the near future!