Saami Shamanism:  Missionized and New Aged
For over 30,000 years, the Saami, a diverse group of indigenous people in northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and uppermost peninsulas of Russia, are reported to live a semi-nomadic way of life, reindeer herding from summer to winter campgrounds, while other groups fish  along the rich coastlines bordering the Arctic Circle. They’ve undergone waves of colonization from the 16th century, and in this past half century, have organized, resisted, and found an independent political voice within the governments of Norway and Finland, but not as recognized in Sweden and Russia. As with all indigenous people, once their lands and resources are coveted by the dominant economic-political players, their struggle becomes a series of lost ground and court battles. Some Saami are urbanized, blending and working in all sectors of society. Only a few thousand hold to their herding traditions, although the reindeer are still revered for traditional reasons.

Night hunting in Bhutan
A social nightmare hit me last night here. The distasteful Bhutanese custom of "night hunting" reared its ugly head. My driver pounded on my door at 11 pm and again at 1 am, saying, "night hunting! night hunting!" I talked to him through the safety latch-lock.  "Are you kidding me?  Go away. There'll be no night hunting with me -- get lost." He finally laughed although he tried to push on the door and force himself in. I quickly slammed the door shut and spent the rest of the night, awake and angry.  There is no formal marriage or divorce in Bhutan. Women are impregnated by men who roam the countryside, pounding on doors, and inviting themselves in for a bit of "romance," as some of them say, which is really nothing more than unwelcomed sex or rape.Defenders of the tradition say the men sometimes stick around and raise the children, working the woman's farm, and are generally recognized as fathers and husbands.  But they have no formal obligation and are free to night hunt all they want from village to village. It's a good thing that the farms remain in the matrilineal property rights, or the women would be pregnant and without a means to support themselves.