During the month of May, the Gaup family move the male reindeer and the females that are not pregnant from Kautokeino, Norway 250 miles to a northern fjord, their summer grazing area. This migration can take between 1-3 weeks depending on the weather conditions. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Some Sami people say the northern lights could take you to the other world.The world of their ancestors. Čohkka Jaskka, they would teach the children, Sit Silent when you see them. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Nils Peder Gaup sits with his dog, Gideou, as he watches his herd. This would be considered an ideal vantage point to view their entire herd. A Sami's herd corresponds not only culturally but also economically to their survival. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Cone-shaped tents called lávut provide temporary shelter for Sámi herders while following the reindeer. Nils Peder Gaup, resting here on the tundra, feels most at home in the mountains. "The Sámi spirit follows you," he says. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Sarah Risten and Ingrid Marianna Gaup, mother and daughter, have a coffee break in the lavvo during Norwegian summer calf marking. They will live for up to two weeks during this time with the entire extended family © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Sven Skaltje was saddened to find the carcasses of two female reindeer whose antlers had become entangled during a dominance struggle in northern Sweden. He estimates it took three days for them to die of starvation. After separating the bodies, he saw from the ear markings that one belonged to him and the other to his cousin. Skaltje is much admired by the younger Sámi in his herding group, but he is unsure whether the skills he teaches them will endure. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

A reindeer lies slaughtered on a table in the Gaups' modern kitchen in Kautokeino, Norway. Not a bit of it will go to waste. The family freezes, smokes, or dries the meat, as well as the organs, fat, blood, and even hooves. Some Sámi make handicrafts using antlers and bones for tools and toys, tendons for thread, and skins for bags and garments. They spend months preparing hides—scraping, soaking, drying, and stretching the leather by hand. To sell meat commercially, herders transport reindeer to slaughterhouses, which butcher the meat and discard the rest. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Johan Kuhmunen, with his dog Cammu, lives in Sweden, but the summertime range for his family's herd crosses into Norway. The Sámi tradition of learning from the elders is an important part of reindeer herding, and knowledge is passed down from generation to generation and not learned in books. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Glove used for marking calves. Many women used it in the older days but it is not so common today. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Ingrid Gaup attended boarding school in Sweden before marrying and moving to Norway. She follows the Sámi tradition of making some household items herself. She collects "shoe grass" in river marshes, dries and braids it, then shapes it to fit inside winter boots. "It traps warm air and absorbs moisture much better than modern insulation," says Ingrid. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Sven Skaltje makes a meal from some staples of the Sámi diet—dried reindeer meat, homemade bread, coffee—in the kitchen of the apartment he shares with five of his siblings in Gällivare, Sweden. They split their time between the town and their village of Harrå, unreachable by roads. Skaltje spends much of the winter on the tundra with his herd. "I feel empty when I am away from the reindeer," he says. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Sara Gaup, 14, is dressed for her confirmation. The garb that she and her father, Nils Peder Gaup, wear identifies their hometown as Kautokeino, Norway. The upturned tips of their reindeer-hide boots were designed to hook into skis. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

Norway: Nils Peder Gaup, secures one of his reindeer that he found mixed into another herd. He will return the reindeer via sled to his herd. © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine

After finding the carcasses of two female reindeer that starved to death with their antlers locked together, Sven Skaltje removed their antlers. He boiled them clean to save as a keepsake © Erika Larsen / Redux Pictures for National Geographic Magazine