The diet of the Lapp people is not very varied but it is rich in calories and helps these nomads to stand up to the rigors of their difficult climate.

Lapland is a region of northern Europe stretching across the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia from the Norwegian coast to the White Sea. The climate is dominated by winter: in some places, the Sun does not rise for six or seven weeks in winter, but stays continually in the sky for a corresponding period in summer. Rivers freeze in November and thaw in May, and snow depths vary greatly.

The staple food is reindeer meat and fish eaten fresh during the summer and dried or smoked in winter. The Lapps cook their food on fires lit by the women every day in the center of the tent beneath a hole which acts as a chimney. Once the meal is over the fire is covered very carefully and the women was the dishes and the dogs eat the left-overs. Lapps keep their tent-homes scrupulously clean.

Apart from their household tasks the women also make the leather clothing which Lapps wear summer and winter alike. In winter Lapps wear trousers made of reindeer-skin with the furry side turned inwards. In summer they discard these clothes for lighter ones in leather or rough cloth.

Lapps walk a great deal and shoes are an extremely important part of their dress. They wear soft boots, stuffed with grass which is changed frequently.

The holiday costume is covered in hand-embroidery and decorated with shawls, hoods and, for the men, with a cap the shape of which indicates to which tribe he belongs.