Inuit (Eskimo's)

Inuit’s are very crafty beings. The Inuit have become famous for their bone, soapstone, ivory carvings, and their creation of elaborate wooden masks. They also spend their time hunting, curing the meat, and make clothes. They make their clothes out of skins and furs. Their jacket which is called a Parka is finished with fringe of fur from a wolf or wolverine. The glossy hairs of those furs allow ice or snow to be shaken away easily. Since the climate is too cold for most plants, Inuit’s are primarily meat eaters. They hunt seal, whale, walrus, fish, and sometimes even polar bears. Since they eat food raw they are not missing out on the vitamins that vegetables supply. However, now that the Inuit people are gaining exposure to modern western food their diet is changing for the worst. The Inuit culture is one of the close knit culture on earth. They heavily depend one each other for their well being. They come together as family and friends and pass on stories and play games. Some games include the kneel jump, knuckle hop, and back push in which you can see require excessive physical activity. The leading sport found in many Inuit communities is ice hockey. A major event in this culture is a feast called a potlatch. This is held whenever a new totem pole is raised. The Inuit who held the potlatch would give up his most valuable possessions at the ceremony. At traditional Inuit gatherings, drumming, throat singing, and dancing are utilized which provides the chief form of entertainment. Their culture has some similarities and differences once compared to ours but it is ultimately different. They depend on each other and work together far more than we do. They are more hands on with building their own homes, making their own clothes, and catching their own food. The Inuit treats humans, lands, plants, and animals with equal respect which is different in our culture.

The Inuit way of life also varies from community to community, but they all generally live in a self-governing, nomadic system. They have a more egalitarian society, meaning a government of equality with no hierarchical statuses (Harrison and Friesen). They lack a governing body or chief and everyone is treated as equal partners. Most of the communities are smaller and isolated with an average of 1,000 people per Inuit culture (Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada). Age and sex play a role in status, but women are viewed as more equal to men in comparison to most nations and cultures. Though their primary job is the care of the house and children, Inuit women often complete daily tasks such as fishing, hunting, and ambushing prey with their husbands. Family to the Inuit people is essential as one household can have as many as three generations living under one roof.  Because of their close ties to one another and their environment, the Inuit live in more a collective society. Privacy is very limited. Embarrassment, gossip, ridicule, and ostracism are very common because of such small communities. Individualism is not prevalent as they are infrequent to outside exposure.

Would you like to be apart of the Inuit culture? Why or why not? 

Do you think their way of life is very different from Americans? If so, how?