Autumn

Eskimo's (Inuits) Culture

Topics: The Inuits are a group of culturally similar native people inhabiting Canada, Denmark, Russia, and the United States. Inuits are descendants of the Thule culture, who originated from Western Alaska. In 1000 AD they crossed the land bridge from Asia. Language The language of the Inuits is a traditional oral language called Inuktitut. This language is spoken in Canada, Greenland, Siberia and Alaska. Inuktitut is a syllabary type of writing that reads left to right in a horizontal line. The syllabary consists of basic signs, where their orientation decides what vowel sound is attached to them. Gender Roles The gender roles for the Inuit people are outlined with their principle jobs but they are not set in stone in any way. The women typically did work like cooking, sewing, cleaning and taking care of the children. While the men usually were hunting, fishing and gathering. But some women are forced to hunt out of necessity, and the men while they're out hunting or fishing they're still expected to know how to cook and sew. Family Structure Family groups were the most important unit in the Inuit culture. The Inuits family structure is very flexible. Their households might consist of a man and his wife or his wives and children. They might also have his parents or her parents living with them. Also they might have adopted children living in the same household. Or a household could be the formation of several siblings with their parents or wives and children. Some households held more than one family as they shared their space and resources with one another. They would have about 6-10 families living and hunting together. Families usually consisted of 5-6 people. Some of the marriages between Inuits were arranged but for the most part they were by choice. A typical Inuit family is pictured below. Food Gathering and/or Production The Inuits were mainly hunters and relied on the animals of the Arctic as their main source of food. They could not depend solely on plants for their food due to poor vegetation. Inuits were very skilled hunters and caught food year around even during their harsh winters. In the winters they usually hunted for sea animals. They hunted seals for their meat and skin, they hunted walruses for their tusks and then their meat for their dogs. They hunted beluga whales for their skin and food, and they hunted narwal for their ivory and meat. Some land animals that they hunted were: caribou, musk oxen, arctic fox, polar bear, arctic hare, and arctic birds. In the summer the Inuits would mostly fish and hunt caribou. Fishing was also an important source of food for them. They would mostly fish for arctic char, especially during their spring and fall runs. They would also fish for whitefish and trout. During the summer they would fish in kayaks and in the winter they would fish through holes in the ice. How the Inuits ice fish is shown below in the video. media type="youtube" key="If6xSY7UjMk" width="560" height="315"
 * 1) Language
 * 2) Gender Roles
 * 3) Family Structure
 * 4) Food gathering and/ or production
 * 5) Religious and Spiritual beliefs
 * 6) Use of art (music, painting, body modification, etc.)
 * 7) Use of sports, games, entertainment, etc.

They have several ways to prepare their food. One way would be to cook the meat and eat it fresh. But this is not very common due to the fact that there is a shortage in fuel for cooking. Another way is they would dry the meat and preserve it, they would also freeze the meat to save and eat it later. But most of the meat they had was eaten raw. Below is a picture of Inuit women taking apart a seal that was just killed and preparing it to eat, with nothing being wasted.

Use of Art Inuits art shows how passionate the Inuits are about sharing the love tat they have for their culture and the land that they live on. Their art comes in many different forms varied on the different communities and the different artists. The most popular and well known style would be Inuit sculptures. The other different forms of their art include, lithographs and printmaking, soft sculptures and dolls, tapestries, embroidery and beading, drawings and paintings, and more. Their sculptures are carved from bones, antlers, tusks or ivory and different types of stone. Printmaking was shown to them over fifty years ago and from then it spread to many communities with the most famous coming from Cape Dorset. Their intricate beadwork is a from of art that takes large amounts of skill and time to create this wearable art. The dolls they make started from scraps of fur that were originaly made to pass time and for their children has now become its own art form for the Inuits. This sculpture is a Lukie Tukaluk Serpentine stone carving of a whale. This is a Lithograph done by Kenojuak Ashevak in 1994. This is one of the oldesr dolls that have been found. It was made by the Ancestors of the Inuits. It has a soapstone head and is carrying an ivory fish and ulu. This is a tapestry called "//Winter Game//". The artist is Elisapee Ishulutaq and the weaver is Kawtysie Kakee. This is a woman's parka showing embroidery. Their clothing is often decorated with beads, tassels, dyes, and colored thread. The styles of design vary from the different regions. This painting is called "//Festive Owl//" painted by Kenojuak.

Use of Sports, Games and Entertainment Inuits loved competition and and sports. Inuit games were designed by two different needs. The first need is strength and needing to be fit and agile, along with hunting and being able to survive in the Northern region. The second need for some of the other games were for entertainment during long hours of being out on land, and for when they had long periods of darkness. Some of the games include: The kneel jump, this game the players would start on there knees and jump forward as far as they can. It is similar to what we do as one we do called long jump but they start on their knees. Whoever jumps the farthest wins the game. This is illustrating the Kneel jump. Knuckle hop is another game that they play that tests their pain and endurance. It can be played as a race or just a test of distance. You would start out in push up position, but you would be on your knuckles instead of your palms. The player then must hop forward either as fast as they an or as long as they can on their knuckles. Below is a picture illustrating what the knuckle hop is. Alaska high kick is where a layer would place one hand on the ground and then with one foot would jump and attempt to kick a target that is hanging above them. This game also branches off into two other games that are similar to it but have different requirements. One is the one foot high kick, where the player would sweep their arms from behind to front and jump off of two feet as high as possible. They would attempt to kick a target thats above them and then land on their kicking foot. The other game is the two foot high kick, which is very similar to the one foot high kick, but this time the player has to kick the target with two feet and land on both feet. The first picture below is representing the Alaskan high jump, the second one is showing the one foot high jump and then the third is showing the two foot high jump. Back push is another game where two players sit back to back where there knees bent and arms interlocked. They attempt to push each other out of the designated playing area. Whoever is pushed out first loses. The video below demonstrates the game being played. media type="youtube" key="C789sBtpick" width="560" height="315" Another game is the Musox push or the Mushox fight. The players take a position on their knees facing each other and then they place their heads under their opponents under arms. The goal of the game is to push your opponent out of the playing area. This action is shown below.