Reindeer Games in Sweden

With a population of less than 3,000, Jokkmokk, Sweden, is not, for most of the year, a compelling place to visit. Three miles north of the Arctic Circle, the town is snowy even in June, and the surrounding lakes remain frozen for up to six months at a time. Jokkmokk itself has only a handful of businesses stuttering along one main street piled with snow and half-submerged Saabs.

But for a few days every winter, the place is transformed. Teepee-like structures are erected throughout the village, music plays over loudspeakers and the air smells of smoked meat. The local residents trade their high-performance parkas for colorful tunics, which they wear with extravagantly pompomed hats and curl-toed boots made of fur. There are dances and feasts; reindeer festooned with bells are paraded through the middle of town. This is the Jokkmokk Winter Market, a three-day festival that has taken place each February since the 1600s. Over the course of one long weekend, thousands of people visit. Most are from neighboring boreal towns, a handful are from Stockholm. 

From “Cold Comfort at the Edge of the World” by Alice Gregory for New York Times Magazine; Photo by Olivier Metzger

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