Lithograph from 1884 representing an Inuit family with their traditional equipment • ISTOCK From the XVI th century, the term Eskimo was used to designate a large part of the inhabitants of the arctic and subarctic regions of the globe. It is unclear whether this term originally meant "raw meat eaters" or "snowshoe builders". Anyway, to this denomination now considered pejorative, we prefer the term Inuit, which means "people" or "human beings" in the Inuktitut language. Pat igloos and hide tents It is estimated that the first Paleoeskimo peoples approached the North American Arctic about 4,500 years ago, after leaving Asia and crossing the Bering Strait. Later, the Neo-Eskimo culture of Thule, which stretched 1,000 years ago from Alaska to Greenland, gave rise to the Inuit. Some experts consider, however, that the latter are only a more evolved variant of the Thule people. The Inuit were divided into 21 tribes scattered in the Arctic regions of Russia (Chukotka), Alaska, Canada and Greenland, thus becoming the largest ethnic group in the world. They had common physical traits, practiced very similar oral traditions and spoke languages from the same Eskimo-Aleut family. Their way of life was marked by extreme physical conditions, with temperatures dropping to -55 ºC in winter. However, it would be wrong to think that all Inuit shared the same way of life. While tradition has always shown the typical Inuit habitat in the form of a snow igloo, only about 13% of Inuit in the Arctic used it as permanent habitat, and 20% as temporary habitat, which means that two third of the Inuit were unaware of the existence of this type of habitat or never built one. The most representative traditional habitat of this people during the coldest periods consisted of a construction of stone and peat, sometimes surmounted by a roof in the form of a vault and supported by a structure made of whalebone, walrus tusks or driftwood salvaged from the coast. Like snow igloos, these dwellings were built on platforms and accessed through a tunnel that served to trap the cold. In the summer, the Inuit settled in caribou skin tents (a wild reindeer) similar to the tepees of the Indians of North America. Salmon fishing in summer Spring was the most important season of the year for them. During this period, the Inuit traveled by means of sleds pulled by dogs and devoted themselves to seal hunting, which they practiced on the icy sea and the pack ice (where they took advantage of the holes pierced by the breathing of these animals in ice), or in polynyas, bodies of water surrounded by sea ice, where they could also hunt walrus and sometimes even certain types of whales. During the summer, the Inuit fished for salmon, arctic char or capelin, and hunted certain species of birds. Also read:Arctic:in search of the Northwest Passage During the summer months, they sailed in their kayaks and umiaat , large skin boats, in search of large marine mammals. The women engaged on dry land in picking berries and other wild plants, collecting poultry eggs, and collecting molluscs and seaweed on the coast. While fall was the best time to hunt caribou, the Inuit sometimes practiced it in spring or summer, depending on the availability of food and their degree of dependence on this animal. For much of the year, they consumed the fruits of their hunting and fishing, while accumulating surpluses in order to face the harshness of the arctic winter, during which most tribes reduced their activity to a minimum. and tried to survive by consuming the stored foodstuffs. If, however, the provisions ran out during the months of January and February, they could be forced to sacrifice certain members of the group, in particular the little girls, while the older ones could decide to commit suicide or abandon their families. The main thing was to ensure the survival of the community. In the light of qulleq The division of labor among the Inuit was done according to gender. The work of the women consisted mainly of tanning the skins, making the clothes of the whole family, butchering the animals and taking care of the children. Their primary responsibility, however, was to keep alight the flame of a soapstone oil lamp known as a qulleq; fed with animal fat and provided with a foam or cottongrass wick, it was used to dry the skins of animals, to cook, to heat and to light the hearths. The qulleq was in a way the cornerstone on which the culture of the Inuit people was built:without this lamp, they could not have survived in such a harsh climate and environment. The men devoted themselves to hunting and fishing:it was their responsibility to obtain the food necessary for the survival of the family. With the help of the women, they also built winter houses, skin boats and sleds. They made the tools used for hunting and fishing by means of a bow drill which was also used to light the fire and to perforate the materials. The powers of the shaman The uncertainty of tomorrow, the anxiety linked to the outcome of the hunt, the perpetual threat of hunger and simple survival in one of the most extreme climates on the planet led the Inuit to develop a series of beliefs and rituals related to their economic activity. Their coexistence and their strategy of survival converged towards the search for a harmonious balance between the natural world and the spiritual world. Only the shaman was connected to the inua, the "spirit" associated with any object, phenomenon, animal or human being. And he was the only one who could ask for her help through a special language. The Inuit believed that any object, natural phenomenon, animal, human being or place was associated with an anua or inua , a term that can be translated as “lord”, “person” or “spirit”. This explains why the animal kingdom was in their eyes an object of admiration and respect, which found its highest expression in the many rites and festivities that the Inuit considered essential to the smooth running of their activities. Only the shaman, or angakkuq , was connected to the inua. He was the only one who could ask for her help through a special language. He also performed a propitiatory cult of great importance to this people of hunters. He controlled the weather and the animal kingdom by means of his songs, formulas and rituals. He was also responsible for enforcing taboos and maintaining the harmony between human beings and nature. Anyone who broke these rules was punished with disease and disgrace. The Inuit perpetuated this way of life for centuries and managed to adapt to extreme conditions by integrating their fears into their culture. The arrival of the “white man” in the 16th century century, however, upset this fragile balance and began to transform traditional culture and ancestral beliefs. Find out more The Inuit, Mr. Therrien, Les Belles Lettres, 2012. A people decimated by European diseases At the end of the 15th th century, the “white man” began to frequent the Far North in search of the mythical Northwest Passage, supposed to directly connect Europe to Asia. This is how the first contacts between Inuit and Western explorers, merchants and missionaries took place, which were anything but friendly. In 1577, by order of Queen Elizabeth I re , the British explorer Martin Frobisher brought with him three Inuit from Baffin Island without foreseeing the return of the latter to their country; all three died a month after their arrival in London. If the Inuit population fell from 74,000 to 35,000 individuals, it is in fact because of the infectious diseases carried by these first Western travelers, against which the Inuit were not immune. Multiple uses The ulu was the traditional women's knife. Fan-shaped, it could be carved from slate, ivory, copper, or even meteoritic iron. Its handle was made of caribou antler, musk ox horn, walrus ivory or driftwood. It was used to cut meat and cut hair. It was common in women's funerary furniture.
