Greenland tours & travel

Greenland’s tiny and low-density population is made up mostly of native Inuits. The minority of the country are Danish migrants from Europe. Due to Europe’s firm grip on Greenland for hundreds of years, the country has a very European identity, despite the ethnic proximity of the Inuits to Native Canadians. An overwhelming majority of people are Protestant, and the original shamanistic beliefs of the Inuits have all but faded from daily life. They still however retain their original languages, with most people speaking both Greenlandic and Danish. 

Greenland is the world’s largest island. It stretches out from the Atlantic Ocean all the way up into the Arctic Circle. Its closest neighbours are Canada, Iceland, Norway and Denmark. Close to a quarter of the island is designated as national park, ensuring the unique flora and fauna are preserved for posterity. The weight of the enormous icesheet in the centre of the island has pressed the land down to form a basin, leaving the coastal areas mountainous and craggy by comparison. The whole of Greenland’s population live along the coasts where it’s comparatively free from snow and ice. 

Make the most of your Greenland holiday and bring a little piece of this foreign land back with you. Local artisanal products reflect the deep connection of the Inuits to land and sea – they depict acts of hunting and fishing, and the products are made from the animals they catch. Jewellery and trinkets are made from reindeer and muskox horns, and bags and clothes are made from muskox wool and sealskin. You can also find shamanistic figures known as tupilaks and authentic hunting knives such as the ulo. 

Christmas

Greenlanders celebrate perhaps the whitest Christmas in all of Europe. The locals put up pine trees and decorate their houses with stars made of fairy lights. It’s a time for family and feasting, with warming dinner and special treats such as mulled wine.

National Day

National Day is a celebration of all things Greenlandic. It’s held on the longest day of the year and involves formal ceremonies such as flag raising as well as festivities like singing, dancing and feasting. Locals also partake in sports shows like kayaking.

The people of Greenland traditionally subsisted on the fat-rich meat of marine mammals as well as fish and birds. Though the Inuits are no longer known as Eskimos, legend has it they were originally named so for their diet of raw meat. Today, Greenland’s culinary delights are still based on these exotic creatures of this northernmost island. The national dish is a soup known as suaasat, which is made form the meat of seal, reindeer, whale or sea birds. And the European influence on Greenlandic cuisine is evident in the locals’ taste for beer and coffee. 

• Last places – A journey in the north by Lawrence Millman
• This cold heaven: Seven seasons in Greenland by Gretel Ehrlich
• The fate of Greenland: Lessons from abrupt climate change by Philip Conkling
• The crooning wind: Three Greenlandic poets by David R. Slavitt