Inuit Traditions
- Drum dance The drum dance used to be kind of a battle; so if you couldn't settle a dispute through dialogue, you could “dance it out”. ...
- Mask dance There are not a lot of native traditions that we hold on to from the Greenlandic faith, and a lot of the things that we do have been re-invented. ...
- First seal Hunt ...
Full Answer
What are the Inuits beliefs and ceremonies?
Inuit beliefs & Traditions. The Inuit have a deep, spiritual and loving bond with animals; the killing of an animal was considered a ritual, killing to survive and worshipping the spirits of the animals. Not only did they have a respect for animals, but also the natural environment in general.
What are some Inuit traditions?
What Are Some Inuit Traditions? Inuit traditions include the continued use of Inuit languages, storytelling as a way to pass events down to generations, dancing and the belief in mythology. Inuits often maintain a hunting tradition as a way to obtain food and keep a close connection to family and friends. Since World War II, Inuit traditions ...
What are some examples of Inuit ceremonies?
- The main instrument of Inuit ceremonies and dances was the shallow, one-sided drum.
- Most drums were made from caribou skin, or walrus stomach or bladder stretched over a wooden hoop.
- Drum dances usually occurred inside large snowhouses (igloos) with up to 60 people.
- In song and dance they told stories of the spirits.
What rituals did the Inuit have?
The Inuit rituals were rather straightforward. They mainly consisted of birth and death procedures. Birth - The child should be born in a hut that is separate from the hut that the family lives in. The hut must be abandoned if this is not done. After the mother has given birth she is isolated for an amount of time depending on the sex of her child.
What traditions does Inuit have?
The importance of the Inuit values and skills they were taught by their ancestors and passed down through generations of elders that allow them to survive in the harshest of environments. Traditional values such as sharing of food, respect for others and cooperation remains central to Inuit community life.
What do the Inuit celebrate?
Quviasukvik is the Inuit winter feast that celebrates the coming year and placates the roaming spirits for good luck in the year to come.
Are there still traditional Inuit?
The Inuits of Chukotka – a world apart The Yupiks of far-eastern Siberia, the most traditional Inuits living today, are found along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, home of Wrangel Island and its impressive concentration of denning polar bears.
What is the Inuit traditional food?
These traditional Inuit foods include arctic char, seal, polar bear and caribou — often consumed raw, frozen or dried. The foods, which are native to the region, are packed with the vitamins and nutrients people need to stay nourished in the harsh winter conditions.
What gods did the Inuit worship?
DeitiesAgloolik: evil god of the sea who can flip boats over; spirit which lives under the ice and helps wanderers in hunting and fishing.Akna: mother goddess of fertility.Amaguq/Amarok: wolf god who takes those foolish enough to hunt alone at night.More items...
Do Inuit people pray?
After hunting, Inuit pray for to the spirits of the killed animals. Appeasement with these spirits is necessary for successful hunting and fishing and for preventing them to seek revenge on the community.
Do Inuit eyes blue?
Inuits should, in theory, have light skin and blue eyes, but because their diet is extremely high in vitamin D, this genetic adaptation never happened. Light skin helps absorb sunlight (resulting in the conversion of cholesterol to vitamin D in the body), which is helpful at distances farther away from the equator.
What does the Inuit tradition forbid?
Inuit traditional knowledge played a role in developing a ban on commercial fishing in the High Arctic. Canada and the four other countries with Arctic coastlines signed the agreement last week.
Why do Inuit have dark skin?
To adapt, their bodies produced more melanin to protect them from damaging UV rays. Increased melanin made their skin become darker. As early humans started migrating north into Europe and east into Asia, they were exposed to different amounts of sun.
What language do Inuit speak?
InuktitutInuit / LanguageThere are five main Inuit language dialects spoken throughout Canada: Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun, and three different dialects of Inuktitut. In this fact sheet, these dialects are collectively known as the Inuit language. While some dialects have many speakers, others have a smaller number.
Do Inuit only eat meat?
Inuits, colloquially known as Eskimos, have an unusual animal-based diet due to the Arctic environment of their homes. The traditional Inuit diet does include some berries, seaweed and plants, but a carnivorous diet can supply all the essential nutrients, provided you eat the whole animal, and eat it raw.
Why do Inuit eat raw meat?
Eating raw meat indirectly provided Eskimos with enough carbohydrates in the form of glycogen (found in the muscles and liver of animals) to meet their necessary nutrient requirements and keep them out of a starvation condition called ketosis.
What is the Inuit religion called?
Traditional Inuit religious practices include animism and shamanism, in which spiritual healers mediate with spirits. Today many Inuit follow Christianity, but traditional Inuit spirituality continues as part of a living, oral tradition and part of contemporary Inuit society.
What do Inuits believe about death?
After death, the Inuit believe that human souls go to either the upper or under world. In fact, the Inuit prefer the underworld as it is warm with abundant food while the souls that go to the upper world will suffer from cold and famine. The Greenland Inuit believe that after death the people can reappear as ghosts.
What language do Inuit speak?
InuktitutInuit / LanguageThere are five main Inuit language dialects spoken throughout Canada: Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun, and three different dialects of Inuktitut. In this fact sheet, these dialects are collectively known as the Inuit language. While some dialects have many speakers, others have a smaller number.
What are taboos in Inuit culture?
Taboos, Amulets, and Songs Most taboos were imposed to separate the game from a person who was tabooed because of birth, menstruation, or death. A separation between land and sea animals was also important in many localities, reflecting the seasonal changes in hunting adaptation.
What is the culture of the Inuit?
The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn. The word " Eskimo " has been used to encompass the Inuit and Yupik, and other indigenous Alaskan and Siberian peoples, but this usage is in decline.
How did the Inuit culture change?
Complete self-sufficiency and independence were to a large extent replaced by dependence on goods of western industrialized countries, such as clothing, many kinds of foodstuffs, weapons, tools and technical equipment. This development was largely due to the fact that as hunters and trappers, they could develop only a low level of productivity that could not financially cover the Western way of living. Moreover, the products of the kill depended too much on market and fashion fluctuations, not to speak of concerns related to protection of species and of the environment.
Why are the Inuit called Eskimos?
The primary reason some people consider Eskimo derogatory is the questionable but widespread perception that in Algonquian languages it means "eaters of raw meat." One Cree speaker suggested the original word that became corrupted to Eskimo might indeed have been askamiciw (which means "he eats it raw"), and the Inuit are referred to in some Cree texts as askipiw (which means "eats something raw").
Why do Inuit say "the baby has arrived"?
Due to the fact that the infant is several weeks old when it arrives in its homeland, it is common for members of the community to shake the baby's hand to welcome him or her to the community.
How long ago did the Inuit live?
Many elders still remember the time, more than 60 years ago, when the Inuit lived a nomadic lifestyle. Depending on the seasons (up to sixteen according to old traditions), they followed the animals they hunted for clothing and nourishment. They had to relocate and reconstruct their camps frequently and followed the same traditions for generations.
What did the Inuit use to hunt?
They used harpoons, bows and arrows, and to take down animals of all sizes. Thus, the everyday life in modern Inuit settlements, established only some decades ago, still reflects the 5,000-year-long history of a hunting culture which allowed the Inuit peoples and their ancestors to populate the Arctic.
How many people were in the Inuit in the 19th century?
Traditional Inuit clothes; Amauti. The basic social structure of the Inuit in the 19th century consisted of an estimated 50 groups of 200 to 800 members apiece. The membership was based upon the voluntary association of large and loosely composed clans.
What is the Inuit culture in Greenland?
The Inuit culture in Greenland is an ancient one. The ethnology of the Inuit people shows that there was a migration from Alaska and Northern Canada over thousands of years, following suit with the range of languages the are found across these regions, of which Greenlandic is a variant. Danish colonialism has washed away a lot ...
What is the role of mask dance in Greenland?
The mask dance has three main functions: to entertain, to teach children about fear and how to deal with it. It also has a role in courtship. Photo: Josepha Thomsen.
Why was the mask dance important to Greenlanders?
In this way, it was easier to piece together and reinvent it. It resurrection of the mask dance in a way gave back Greenlanders so of the national and cultural identity that was lost during the colonisation period.
What is Greenland Adventures?
Greenland Adventures offers a range tours that give you insight into these traditions; we can take you to a kaffemik and show you a drum dance performance! On the west coast, discover ancient ruins and visit the incredible Ilulissat icefjord.
What is the drum dance?
The drum dance used to be kind of a battle ; so if you couldn't settle a dispute through dialogue, you could “dance it out”. It was a dance battle where one person makes fun and ridicules the other and then often the one that lost got so embarrassed he would leave the village. Photo: Mads Pihl.
What is the traditional way of life of the Inuit?
Traditional Inuit way of life was influenced by the harsh climate and stark landscapes of the Arctic tundra – from beliefs inspired by stories of the aurora to practicalities like homes made of snow. Inuit invented tools, gear, and methods to help them survive in this environment.
What was the clothing of the Inuit?
Clothing for Staying Warm. Traditional Inuit clothing was made from animal skins and fur. Boots were also made from animal skins. Large, thick coats with big hoods called “parkas” were worn as an outer layer. Today the parka style of coat is worn in other places in the world and it is made of many other materials. Traditions.
What did the Inuit use to travel?
To travel from one place to another, Inuit used sleds made of animal bones and skins pulled over the snow and ice by dogs. Strong dogs with thick fur like huskies, bred by Inuit, were used.
What did the Inuit eat?
Inuit fished and hunted to get their food. Whales, walruses, seals, fish were staples of their diet. Traditional Inuit clothing was made from animal skins and fur. Boots were also made from animal skins.
How did the Arctic change?
The Arctic had always been seen as inaccessible, but the invention of airplanes made it easier for non-Arctic dwellers to get there. Permanent settlements were created in the Arctic around new airbases and radar stations built to watch out for rival nations. Schools and health care centers were built in these permanent settlements. In many places, Inuit children were required to attend schools that emphasized non-native traditions. With better health care, the Inuit population grew larger, too large to sustain itself solely by hunting. Many Inuit from smaller camps moved into permanent settlements because there was access to jobs and food. In many areas Inuit were required to live in towns by the 1960s.
Why did the Inuit move to permanent settlements?
Many Inuit from smaller camps moved into permanent settlements because there was access to jobs and food.
Why did the Inuit move to the Arctic?
So the Inuit had the place to themselves. They moved between summer and winter camps to always be living where there were animals to hunt.
Relations Between Men and Animals
- According to eastern Inuit religious tradition, each animal had its own inua (its "man," "owner," or "spirit") and also its own "soul." Within the western Inuit religious tradition, the inua seems to have been identical to the soul. The idea of inua was applied to animals and implements as well as to concepts and conditions (such as sleep). Lakes, ...
Taboos, Amulets, and Songs
- Unlike cultic practices in connection with the deities, which had relatively minor significance, taboos, amulets, and songs were fundamentally important to the Inuit. Most taboos were imposed to separate the game from a person who was tabooed because of birth, menstruation, or death. A separation between land and sea animals was also important in many localities, reflecting the s…
Rites of Passage
- In many localities in Canada and Alaska, women had to give birth alone, isolated in a small hut or tent. For a specified period after the birth, the woman was subjected to food and work taboos. Children were usually named after a person who had recently died. The name was regarded as a vital part of the individual, and, in a way, the deceased lived on in the child. The relationship resul…
Shamans
- In Greenland and Canada, the shaman (angakkoq) played a central role in religion. In Alaska, however, where it was common for an individual to become a shaman as the result of a calling, many rites did not demand the expertise of the shaman. Prospective shamans often learned from skilled shamans how to acquire spirits and to use techniques such as ecstatic trances. In Greenl…
The Deities
- The Inuit of Canada and Greenland believed that the inua of the sea, the Sea Woman, controlled the sea animals and would withhold them to punish people when they had broken a taboo. Franz Boas (1888) transcribed the name given to her by the Inuit on Baffin Island as Sedna, which probably means "the one down there." The Inuit of eastern Baffin Island ritually killed Sedna duri…
Bibliography
- An excellent survey of Inuit culture from prehistoric to modern times is given in the Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 5, edited by David Damas (Washington, D.C., 1984). The best survey of Inuit religion is Margaret Lantis's article "The Religion of the Eskimos," in Forgotten Religions, edited by Vergilius Ferm (New York, 1950), pp. 311–339. Lantis is also the author of Alaskan Esk…
Overview
The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America (parts of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland). The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat (northern Alaska), and Yupik (Siberia and western Alaska), and the Aleut who live in the Aleutian Islands of Siberia and Alaska. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; …
Inuit in Canada
Between 1800 and 1950, the culture and way of living of the Canadian Inuit, who had not known any monetary system before, changed fundamentally. Complete self-sufficiency and independence were to a large extent replaced by dependence on goods of western industrialized countries, such as clothing, many kinds of foodstuffs, weapons, tools and technical equipment. This devel…
Etymology
Europeans in North America used to refer to the Inuit as Eskimos, but the people consider that term pejorative. The primary reason some people consider Eskimo derogatory is the questionable but widespread perception that in Algonquian languages it means "eaters of raw meat." One Cree speaker suggested the original word that became corrupted to Eskimo might indeed have been askamiciw (which means "he eats it raw"), and the Inuit are referred to in some Cree texts as ask…
Inuit Circumpolar Council
The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), formerly Inuit Circumpolar Conference, is a multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and indigenous peoples' organization (IPO) representing the 180,000 Inuit, Yupik, and Chukchi peoples (sometimes referred to as Eskimo) living in Alaska (United States), Canada, Greenland (Denmark), and Chukotka, Siberia (Russia).
The Conference, which first met in June 1977, initially represented Native Peoples from Canada, …
Cultural history
The common ancestors of the Inuit and related peoples are believed by anthropologists to have their origin in eastern Siberia, arriving in the Bering Sea area approximately 10,000 years ago.
The Inuit in North America (including Greenland) are the descendants of what anthropologists call the Thule people, who emerged from western Alaska aroun…
Movies
• Nanook of the North (Robert J. Flaherty), 1922
• Eskimo (Peter Freuchen, W. S. "Woody" Van Dyke II), 1932–33
• Trial at Fortitude Bay (Victor Sarin), 1994
• Kikkik (Martin Kreelak, Ole Gjerstad, Elisapee Karetak), 2000
Bibliography
• Barry Lopez: Arctic Dreams. Random House, Vintage, Bantam, Simon & Schuster 1986. ISBN 978-0553263961 (National Book Award for Nonfiction)
• Bryan & Cherry Alexander: Eskimo – Jäger des hohen Nordens. Belser, Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-7630-2210-4
• Kai Birket-Smith: Die Eskimos. Orell Füssli, Zürich 1948.
See also
• Circumpolar peoples
• Disc number – used by the Government of Canada in lieu of surnames
• Eskimo
• Head pull – Inuit game