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St Lawrence Island Yupik and Inupiaq Native American history - page 2 of 4

Traditional clothing consisted of outer and inner pullover tops (parkas or kuspuks / qiipaghaq - the outer garment); outer and inner pants, socks, boots (kamiks). Tops and pants were made of caribou skin, with the fur facing inward on inner garments and outwards on outer. The woman’s pullover had a larger hood for carrying small children, except on St. Lawrence Island, where they do not carry the baby in the parka. Gloves were made from various skins, with the fur turned inside and usually connected with leather strip around the neck. Waterproof outer garments made from sea-mammal intestines completed the wardrobe.

The Inupiaq used a variety of designs and materials for their living quarters, but three key features were common: an underground tunnel entrance below the living level to trap cold air, a semi-subterranean structure, using the ground as insulation, and a seal-oil lamp from soapstone or pottery, for light, heat and cooking. Homes were usually made from sod blocks, sometimes laid over driftwood or whalebone and walrus bone frames, generally dome-shaped. They insulated their partly buried bone and wood house structures with sod blocks cut from the tundra. The shape was usually rectangular, except on St. Lawrence Island where the houses were circular of varying sizes. The rectangular houses generally were 12-15 ft. x 8-10 ft., holding 8 to 12 people. In the summer many of these houses flooded when the ground thawed, but most people had already moved to their summer camps. Food was kept frozen by storing it in ice cellars dug deep into the frozen ground. They were able to stay warm by eating whale blubber and seal oil and wearing skin clothing.

One important aboriginal Inupiaq institution uniting family members was the community house called qargi, a kind of family gathering place and work area. Although an overturned boat placed downwind on the beach could serve as a simple qargi, the structure was usually a building of some permanence. Prior to the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 1890s, every Inupiaq settlement had one or more of these ceremonial houses. Children joined the house of their father, and on marriage a woman transferred to that of her spouse. During the day, it was a common meeting place for boys and men; girls and women commonly spending their working hours in family houses. In the evening, the qargi became the family social center where members and friends regularly played games, told stories, danced, and participated in various rituals. With the opening of the ceremonial season in the fall, men spent much of the day there in work and recreation. Wives brought them food and sometimes remained to join in games and dancing. Occasionally men and older boys slept in the qargi as well. Recreational activities reached their peak in mid-winter. Games of physical strength, gambling, storytelling, and string-figures were common. Friendly competition between different qargi groups was encouraged, and formalized in wrestling matches and contests in weight lifting, jumping, chinning a bar, miniature bow and arrow shoots, and kickball. Another regular wintertime activity of the qargi was dancing, which took several forms. Some dances, limited to men, portrayed a particular event such as the search for polar bear or a joke played on a friend. Women's dances were usually more static, consisting of rhythmical movements of hands and body performed in a given location. Sometimes couples danced in unison or as part of a larger group. Mimicry in a dance was also common, the target being anyone the dancer wished to mock. Accompaniment was provided by several drummers, beating tambourine-type drums and chanting. The blend of the beat and rhythmical rise and fall of voices, punctuated with shorts of auu yah iah quickly drew qargi members to the dance floor. In the larger villages, two or more local families occasionally joined together in an arranged feast, dance, or athletic contest. In these communities, poorer Inupiat households might be allowed to observe or participate in qargi events of more well-to-do families in return for their maintaining the building, running errands, or otherwise assisting the owners.

• Athabascans,
• Yup'ik and Cup'ik,
• Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik people,
• Aleut and Alutiiq peoples,
• Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people.

Inupiaq and St Lawrence Island Yupik Native American history - page 3

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