Subsistence

The Sami were sporadically deprived of natural
resources. Fish, furs, ores, forests, water power, and oil, are very vital necessities used for constructing roads, communications systems, and businesses. Reindeer are powerful symbols of this ethnic group.
Reindeer herding was the basis of the Sami economy until very recently. They hunted reindeer from the earliest times and used them as pack and decoy animals. Only a few centuries ago full-scale nomadism with large herds began. The reindeer-herding Sami lived in tents or turf huts and migrated with their herds in units of five or six families, supplementing their diet along the way by hunting and fishing. However, nomadism is no longer practiced.
-Darby Ciaravella

References:
Anderson Myrdene February 17, 2010 The Sami in a
Shrinking World http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/norway/saami-shrinking-world
Accessed July 14, 2013http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/520463/Sami
Advameg Inc.Saami- Kinship, Marriage, and Family.
http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Saami-Kinship-Marriage-and-Family.html.
Accessed July 13, 2013