Nellim ( fi, Nellim or '; smn, Njellim; sms, Njeäʹllem) is a village on the shore of

Lake Inari Lake Inari ( fi, Inarijärvi/Inarinjärvi, se, Anárjávri, smn, Aanaarjävri, sms, Aanarjäuʹrr, sv, Enare träsk, no, Enaresjøen) is the largest lake in Sápmi and the third-largest lake in Finland. It is located in the northern part of L ...

Inari Inari may refer to: Shinto * Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit ** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari ** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari * Inari-zushi, a type of sushi Places * Inari, ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

that has three distinctly different cultures:

Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

, the

Inari Sámi Inari Sámi (, "the Inarian language", or , "the Inari (Aanaar) Sámi language") is a Sámi languages, Sámi language spoken by the Inari Sámi people, Inari Sámi of Finland. It has approximately 300 speakers, the majority of whom are middle-ag ...

and the

Skolt Sámi Skolt Sámi ( , "the Sámi language", or , "the Eastern Sámi language", if a distinction needs to be made between it and the other Sámi languages) is a Uralic, Sámi language that is spoken by the Skolts, with approximately 300 speakers in ...

. Nellim is approximately northeast of

Ivalo Ivalo ( smn, Avveel, se, Avvil, sms, Âʹvvel) is a village in the municipality of Inari, Lapland, Finland, located on the Ivalo River south of Lake Inari in the Arctic Circle. It has a population of 3,998 and a small airport. south of Iva ...

and approximately away from the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n border. The village has a store, a coffeeshop, a marina, an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

wilderness church and a wilderness hotel. Other landmarks in the area include an old log flume, the Travelers' Cross at Tsarmijärvi, and remnants of the Rautaportti "Iron Gate" fortifications that were constructed in the second world war. The people of Nellim claim that it is the best location in Finland to view the Northern Lights.

Livelihood

The main sources of

livelihood A person's livelihood (derived from ''life-lode'', "way of life"; cf. OG ''lib-leit'') refers to their "means of securing the basic necessities (food, water, shelter and clothing) of life". Livelihood is defined as a set of activities essential t ...

in Nellim are

reindeer husbandry Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

natural economy Natural economy is a type of economy in which money is not used in the transfer of resources among people. It is a system of allocating resources through direct bartering, entitlement by law, or sharing out according to traditional custom. In the ...

and tourism. Villages in Inari, Finland {{Lapland-geo-stub