The Sami are indigenous people living in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia's Kola peninsula. Originally, the Sami religion was animistic; that is, for them, nature and natural objects had a conscious life, a spirit. Therefore, one was expected to move quietly in the wildernss and avoid making a disturbance out of courtesy to these spirits. Ghengis Khan is said to have declared that the Sami were the one people he would never try to fight again. Because the Sami were not warriors and did not believe in war, they simply disappear in times of conflict. They were known as "peaceful retreaters". Closest meaning of the underlined word animistic, as it is used in the passage, is the irrational belief in supernatural beings the irrational belief in supernatural beings the belief that animals and plants have souls the belief that animals and plants have souls the belief that animals are gods the belief that animals are gods the primitive belief that people can be reincarnated