World Architecture Review Earth Issue 2010: Inuit People

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Daily Life

The Inuit live all over most of the Arctic Regions of Canada, United States, Greenland and Siberia. They had traditionally been hunters and fishers. They hunted whatever they could find from the Arctic Regions, such as whales, walrus, caribou, seals, polar bears & fishes. Hunting among the traditional Inuit was responsible and sustainable; they would only hunt for what they need and would not harm the immature young ones. To travel from one place to another on land, the Inuit used sleds, which made of animal bones and skins, to be pulled by dog team. A dog team was usually consisted of husky dog breed. To travel, hunt or transport on water, they would use kayak or umiaq, a larger boat.

Architecture

Throughout a year, the Inuit built different housing to protect them from the weather. During summer they lived in tents that were made of animal skin, while in winter they built icehouses, the igloos, to protect themselves from the extreme cold weather. A tipi or a tupiq was the summer tent for the Inuit. A tipi or a tupiq was a cone-shaped house, used wood, whalebone or antler as secure structure and caribou skins for outermost protection.

In winter, the Inuit built igloo as winter homes. They started off by marking an outline of a circle in the snow. Then they carefully cut blocks of snow and placed them on the circumference. They shaved the top of the block to obtain an upward inward slanted slope. As they continued shaving after placing snow blocks, eventually the spiral formed a dome. It was very dark inside an igloo that they would light a lamp that burned fat from a seal or whale. Sometimes they would make a window out of seal intestines or a clear ice block. They would also build a platform out of snow at the back for cook, work and sleep. For better insulation, some Inuit would line the inside walls with animal skin.

Clothing

Traditional Inuit clothing was made from animal skin and fur, sewn together using needles made from animal bones and threads that were made from animal tendons. Boots and thick parka coats were also made out of animal skin. The caribou’s hollow hair made its skin the best material for making parkas, but sometimes when caribou could not be found, bird’s skin with lots of feathers would be used instead. When making waterproof clothing, the Inuit would use cleansed seal intestine as the garment material.

Diet

The Inuit chose their diet based on four concepts, “ the relationship between animals and humans, the relationship between the body and soul, life & health, the relationship between seal blood and Inuit blood, and diet choice”. They believed that the combining animal and human blood in one’s bloodstream could create a healthy human body and soul. The Inuit eat all different kinds of food. They eat fish, walrus, seals, whales, polar bears, berries and fireweed. Shaped by glacial temperatures, stark landscape, and protracted winters, the traditional Inuit’s diet had little in the way of plant food, no agricultural or dairy products and was unusually low in carbohydrates and high in fat and animal protein. They consume this type of diet because a mostly meat diet is effective in keeping the body warm, making the body strong, keeping the body fit, and even making that body healthy. Inuit drink melted snow water as well as seal blood. Seal blood is seen as fortifying human blood by replacing depleted nutrients and rejuvenating the blood supply.

Education

Traditional education among most Inuit was accomplished by several techniques including observation and practice, family and group socialization, oral teachings, and participation in tribal ceremonies and institutions. With these methods children learned the values, skills and knowledge considered necessary for adult life.

People told stories for fun, to teach their children and to pass along the history of their group. Often stories showed the close bond between hunter and nature. They contained teachings for young people about the rules of behavior and manners, that it is good to be patient, truthful, calm, quiet, unselfish and not inquisitive. These were admired traits and children learned what was considered to be acceptable behavior from their elders. Because the world around them could not be changed, and had always been the same, old customs were followed and old people's wisdom were not challenged.

Beliefs

The people of the north lived according to the weather, the seasons and the movement of wild animals. All around the people were strong forces, which they could not explain-water, winds, snow and ice, the sun, moon and stars and the cycle of birth and death. The Inuit believed that all people, animals, things, and forces of nature had spirits, who lived in another world after they died. One of the most important spirits to many groups was a goddess who governed the sea named Seda. She lived at the bottom of the ocean and controlled the seals, whales and other sea animals. The Inuit followed special rules or taboos to please and respect these spirits. For example, women were forbidden to sew caribou skins in snow houses out on the sea ice during the dark months. It was also taboo to eat the meat of land and sea animals at the same meal. A knife used for cutting up whales had to be bound with sealskin, not caribou sinew. Hunters trickle melted snow into a dead seal's mouth to assuage the spirits' thirst for fresh water. The same procedure is also made to freshly killed whales. In Alaska, the Inuit saved the bladders of the seals that they killed for they believed that the spirit of the seal rested therein. In a special ceremony each year, the community returned the bladders to the sea to ensure good hunting in the year to come. Among the Inuit, there were men and women who possessed special religious powers obtained by long periods of living alone and fasting so that the secrets of the spirit world would be revealed. Troubles such as bad weather, sickness and poor hunting were blamed on the breaking of these taboos. The shaman, or angakok as referred to by the Inuit, would advise gifts to the offended spirits, movement to another place or some sort of fine or punishment. These were the taboos based on sound principles of health or conservation.

The Inuit also believed that the human spirit could live on in a new body if the old body dies. This view was made a part of their religious lifestyle. They believed that a person was made of three parts-body soul and name. They gave names of a dead relative to a newborn child so that the name and soul could continue as one. Such a child may often be called 'grandfather' or 'aunt' by its older relatives because it has the soul of the dead loved one. The name of the person who died could never be mentioned until the newborn took the name and made it come alive again.