Snowy winter holidays in Helsinki, Finland. Picture by Piero Damiani.

Snowy winter holidays in Helsinki, Finland. Picture by Piero Damiani.

On the web, especially on twitter, I see often people complaining about the cold weather and winter. In a Washington DC forum one lady asked, if there were other cold admirers, and she immediately got replies like, “Are you nuts?!”

My god, how is it possible not to love the cold? Especially when the cold weather is not extreme, mild and snowy as it is in Helsinki.

Take a look at Piero Damiani’s winter street photographs taken during this month’s holidays in Helsinki, Finland. Awesome! True wonderland to dream about!

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Luhkka is also known as a Saami poncho or cape. They say, it is superbly warm in the winter cold.

The Sami luhkka is used over knitwear or pelisse a long time. The use of thick ullvadmel will shelter from cold and winds.

The Sami luhkka is used over knitwear or pelisse a long time. The use of thick ullvadmel will shelter from cold and winds.

Luhkka has become a popular outdoor garment among people in the cold season. Made out of thick frieze and decorated with red cloth and braiding.

Luhkka has become a popular outdoor garment among people in the cold season. Made out of thick frieze and decorated with red cloth and braiding.

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Snow has already arrived in Lapland, Finland. In the photo: Kilpisjärvi, Lapland. Oct. 10, 2010.

Snow has already arrived in Lapland, Finland. In the photo: Kilpisjärvi, Lapland. Oct. 10, 2010.

What do you know about snow? The Saami do a lot. Their languages have a very rich terminology for snow. As Dr. Ole Henrik Magga noted, Saami’s knowledge of snow and ice conditions has been a necessity for subsistence and survival in the arctic and sub-arctic areas.

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Reindeer in Yakutia, North Siberia, Russia. Photo by Bolot Bochkarev.

Here I would like to share the current results of the Siberian part of the Snow Change International Research Project realization. It took me real efforts to find this information. The project I am about described has its own website, but its owner doesn’t have time to publish a very interesting research results info on its online resource. Therefore, I asked a regional coordinator, the Northern Forum Academy chairman, Vladimir Vasiliev, to present the text to me. He did, but it was totally written in Russian. So I have translated it into English and not sure yet if some terms sound correctly. If any, just let me know about mistakes.

About: SnowChange is a not-for-profit independent cooperative organisation with headquarters in Finland. Head of International Affairs: Tero Mustonen
Status: Active. Website: SnowChange.org.

Project Mission

The international community network of SnowChange spans all eight Arctic states. Most of the member communities and families are from the various Arctic Indigenous Nations and other subsistence communities.

The project involves working with the various Northern areas and peoples on the topics of ecological, especially climatic and weather changes from the scientific and traditional knowledge point of view. In addition to the community documentation Snowchange as well works to advance local Indigenous knowledge in the global context and advance decolonisation of the North in the face of rapid changes.

The scientific priority of Snowchange is currently in the following areas of the North:
- The Saami territories of Finland, Russia, Sweden and Norway
- Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Murmansk and Republic of Karelia in Russian Federation
- Savo, North Karelia and Kainuu, Finland
- Iceland and Faroe Islands
- British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada
- Alaska, USA

In addition to the operations in all Arctic countries (United States / Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Greenland and Faroe Islands (Denmark), Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russian Federation) SnowChange has partners in Bolivia, Nepal, Ghana and New Zealand.

Report on the Snow Change project realization in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Information from its regional coordinator, Vladimir Vasiliev
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