The Inuit

The Inuit are traditionally fishers and hunters. They hunt whales, seal, polar bears, caribou, muskoxen, and birds. Given their harsh climate, farming is largely out of the question, but they do forage for grasses, tubers, roots, berries, and seaweed when seasonally available. The typical Inuit diet is high in protein and very high in fat – in their traditional diets, Inuit consumed an average of 75% of their daily energy intake from fat. This fat can be very important and beneficial in such a cold climate.

They hunt sea animals from single-passenger, seal-skin covered boats called qajaq (or, kayak). Inuit also make umiaq, larger open boats made of wood frames covered with animal skins, for transporting people, goods, and dogs. On land, the Inuit use dog sleds (qamutik) for transportation, and it was the Inuit who bred dogs from wolves to create the Husky breed. With a lack of natural landmarks, the Inuit are incredibly adept as using stars to navigate.

Men are traditionally hunters and fishermen while women take care of the children, maintain the home, make clothing, and cook. However, there are numerous examples of women who hunt, out of necessity or as a personal choice. At the same time, men, who could be away from camp for several days at a time, would be expected to know how to sew and cook. Traditional Inuit clothing and footwear is made from animal skins, sewn together using needles made from animal bones and threads made from other animal products, such as sinew (a fiber that connects muscle and bone). Like many indigenous groups, the Inuit are known for using every part of the animal (creating clothing, tools, boats, etc) so as not to waste resources and to show respect.

As long as there was plenty of food and no immediate chores to be done, or when a severe winter storm kept everyone housebound, there was time to indulge in pastimes (especially for children). One pastime the Inuit children enjoyed was games. Children spent a lot of time outside playing tag or hide and seek or pretending to hunt. There are also games played by Inuit of all ages that are particularly important for endurance in their harsh environment. Inuit games serve to keep people mentally tough and physically healthy. The games help build strength, cultivate endurance and develop agility. To endure the rigours of this lifestyle, Inuit practise endurance games. These games include the knuckle hop, airplane planking, foot racing and various hopping games

During the winter, some Inuit lived in temporary shelters made from snow called an igloo, and during the few months of the year when temperatures were above freezing, they live in tents, known as tupiq, made of animal skins supported by a frame of bones or wood. Other Inuit groups live in homes made of sod or driftwood. They are semi-nomadic, spending part of the year moving around following food resources.

The Inuit place high value on inclusiveness, resourcefulness, collaboration, and decision making through discussion and consensus. While individuals are expected to be self-reliant and fulfill their role in society, each member is also expected to support and help the others.

Marriages are not strictly monogamous, and arranged marriages are not uncommon. Family structure can be flexible: a household might consist of a man and his wife (or wives) and children; it might include his parents or his wife's parents as well as adopted children; it might be a larger formation of several siblings with their parents, wives and children; or even more than one family sharing dwellings and resources. Every household had its head, either an elder or a particularly respected man.

There was also a larger notion of community as, generally, several families shared a place where they wintered. Goods were shared within a household, and also, to a significant extent, within a whole community. There is no formal Inuit law, but there is a set of expectations:

• maligait refers to what has to be followed

• piqujait refers to what has to be done

• tirigusuusiit refers to what has to be avoided

The Inuit practiced a form of shamanism based on animist principles (animism is the belief that all things and beings have unique spiritual essences). They believed that all things had a form of spirit, including humans, and that to some extent these spirits could be influenced by a pantheon of supernatural entities that could be appeased when one required some animal or inanimate thing to act in a certain way. The angakkuq of a community of Inuit was a sort of healer and shaman, who tended wounds, offered advice, and invoked the spirits to assist people in their lives.

By believing that all things, including animals, have souls like those of humans, any hunt that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated spirits cause to avenge themselves.The harshness and unpredictability of life in the Arctic ensured that Inuit lived with concern for the uncontrollable, where a streak of bad luck could destroy an entire community. To offend a spirit was to risk its interference with an already marginal existence. The Inuit understood that they had to work in harmony with supernatural powers to provide the necessities of day-to-day life.

Some Inuit also believe that the spirits of ancestors could be seen in the aurora borealis (northern lights, see below).