The Sámi NorthJun – Sep

Lávvu Night

What a lávvu is

A lávvu is the portable Sámi tent — a cone of poles and canvas with a fire in the middle and a hole above it, designed to be put up, lived in and taken down by people following animals. It is not a tipi and the difference matters to the people who use them.

Sleeping in one is warm, smoky and surprisingly comfortable. Birch twigs go down first, then reindeer hides, and the hides do the work — they are hollow-haired and they insulate better than almost anything manufactured.

The fire is the whole management of the night. It gets banked rather than fed, someone wakes to it, and the temperature at floor level and the temperature at head height are two different climates.

A summer thing, not a winter one

June to September, which surprises people who assume it is a winter thing. Summer is when the lávvu is genuinely in use, it is light all night, and the reason to be in one is the mountains rather than the cold.

Mosquitoes are the honest problem and the smoke is the honest answer — it is why the fire stays in all night, and why you will smell of it for days.

There is no plumbing. There is a spade and a view. Most people find this less of an adjustment than they feared and a few find it more, so we would rather ask now.

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