The Eskimos

1.

The Eskimos.
Eskimos are the most northerly,
hardy and unpretentious people,
making up the indigenous
population of the territory from
Greenland and Nunavut (Canada) to
Alaska (USA) and the Eastern
rim Chukotka (Russia). The
population is about 170 thousand
people. The languages belong to the
Eskimo branch of the EskimoAleutian family.
The Eskimos created a special
Arctic culture of hunters and
fishermen. They learned how to get
food in the harsh conditions of the
tundra.

2.

Housing
One of the most remarkable
inventions of the Eskimos is a
spherical house made of snow bricksigloo. A domed hut made of snow
was constructed from snow blocks
cut with a special knife. Rectangular
blocks were tightly fitted to each
other, laying layers in a circle.
The joints between the "bricks"were
filled with water, which immediately
turned into ice in the cold. When the
construction of the igloo was
completed, a stone fat burner was lit
inside – a lamp in which seal or deer
fat burned.

3.

After the inner walls of the igloo
began to thaw, the oil pan was
extinguished, and the inner surface
was covered with a continuous layer
of ice. An entrance corridor was dug
in deep snow, which was barricaded
with a block of dense snow at night
to protect it from polar bears. Inside
the igloo, snow beds were made,
covering them with a double layer of
skins. The ceiling and walls were
covered with deerskins. Thanks to the
air gap between the skin and the ice
crust, the walls of the house did not
melt. The needle was heated using
grease lamps. It was warm inside:
even in a forty-degree frost, the
temperature in the house reached
+20°C.

4.

History
Their everyday culture is extremely adapted to the
Arctic. They invented a rotating harpoon to hunt sea
animals, a kayak, an igloo snow house, and special deaf
clothing made of fur and hides. The ancient culture of
the Eskimos is unique. The XVIII-XIX centuries were
characterized by a combination of hunting for sea
animals and caribou, living in territorial communities.
In the 19th century, the Eskimos did not have (except,
perhaps, the Bering Sea ones) a generic and developed
tribal organization. As a result of contacts with the
foreign population, great changes have taken place in
the lives of foreign Eskimos. A significant part of them
moved from sea fishing to arctic fox hunting, and in
Greenland — to commercial fishing. Many Eskimos,
especially in Greenland, became indentured labourers.
The small local bourgeoisie also appeared here. The
Eskimos of West Greenland were formed into a separate
people-Greenlanders who do not consider themselves
Eskimos. East Greenland Eskimos-Angmassalik. On
Labrador, the Eskimos have largely mixed with the oldtime population of European origin. Everywhere,
remnants of traditional Eskimo culture are rapidly
disappearing.

5.

In Russia, the Eskimos are a small
ethnic group (according to the 1970
census, 1,356 people, according to
the 2002 census, 1,750 people) living
mixed or in close proximity to the
Chukchi people in a number of
localities on the eastern coast of
Chukotka and on Wrangel Island.
Their traditional occupations are sea
St. John's wort, reindeer husbandry,
and hunting. The Eskimos of
Chukotka call themselves-yuk —
"man", yit, yugyt, or yupik — "real
man".

6.

Culture
Traditionally, Eskimos are animists. Eskimos
believe in spirits living in various natural
phenomena, see the connection of a person
with the world of objects and living beings
around him. Many believe in a single creator of
Forces, who controls everything that happens
in the world, all phenomena and laws. The
goddess who bestows the riches of the sea on
the Eskimos is called Sedna. There are also
representations of evil spirits that appeared to
the Eskimos in the form of incredible and
terrible creatures. The shaman who lives in
every Eskimo village is an intermediary who
establishes contact between the spirit world
and the human world. The Eskimo tambourine
is a sacred object. The traditional greeting,
called the "Eskimo kiss", has become a worldfamous gesture at ta.

7.

Kitchen
The Eskimo diet consists mainly of
meat and fish, mostly raw, as well as
a small amount of herbs, berries and
seaweed. Cooking and eating food is
accompanied by a variety of rituals.
The cooking ritual:

8.

Languages
The Eskimos speak the languages of
the Eskimo branch of the EskimoAleutian family. It includes the Inuit
languages (or Inupik) spoken in
Canada, Greenland, and northern
Alaska, 4 Yupik languages in Alaska
and Chukotka, and the extinct Sirenik
language.
The Eskimos of Canada use their own
written language based on the
Canadian syllabic script