Amauti
Encyclopedia
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
parka
Anorak
An anorak or parka is a type of heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur or fake fur, so as to protect the face from a combination of freezing temperatures and wind...
designed to carry a child in the same garment as the parent so that the child is warm and safe from frostbite
Frostbite
Frostbite is the medical condition where localized damage is caused to skin and other tissues due to extreme cold. Frostbite is most likely to happen in body parts farthest from the heart and those with large exposed areas...
, wind and cold. The amauti can be made from a variety of materials including seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
skin, caribou
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
skin or duffle (a thick wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
len cloth) with a windproof outer shell. Children continue to be commonly carried in this way in the eastern Arctic communities of Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
and Nunavik
Nunavik
Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec...
, but the garment is sometimes seen in the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
, Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, Labrador
Labrador
Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. Traditionally the mother or female care-giver wears an amauti, but the garment may also be worn by fathers or male care-givers. A male who wears an amauti is said, in the south Baffin tradition, to be probably more successful when next hunting for certain species of animals.
Many external viewers think that the child is carried in the hood of the amauti, and this erroneous depiction can be seen in many works of art. This is not the case. The hood is enlarged in an amauti to permit both child and mother to be covered together, while the child is actually carried in the enlarged and extended back of the garment. The child rides with his or her belly against the mother's back and with knees bent. The garment is secured at the waist with a tie or belt which prevents the child from slipping down from the pouch. The weight of the child is carried across the shoulders of the garment although this weight is typically re-distributed by two more ties which form a "v" from the collar bone, with the base secured by the tie at the waist. A final tie attaches to the front edge of the hood, permitting the mother to either open the hood for a curious child to emerge and take in the surroundings, or to pull the hood across closing the child away from the wind and elements.
There are usually two styles of amauti: angajuqtaujaq, like a dress (shown on the right, with the 2 women); and akulik, a longer back with a stylized tail-like hem at the back (shown on the left picture-white). Hood shape, decoration and tail shape all speak to the region of origin of an amauti. The sleeves and hem on a winter amauti are trimmed with solid colour stripes which emphasize the feminine/maternal cut, and the swing of the "tail". The winter amauti is classically seen with a white cotton cover (silapak), but also in other solid colours, with an inner duffle inner layer, also trimmed, in a darker solid colour.
In the past, the longer amauti tails were decorated with talisman
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
s such as beads, shells and pierced coins, although dispproval of these talismans as "heathen" by the church reduced the frequency within which they were used. The talismans were said to attract spirits to the swinging tail and thus protect the ovaries
Ovary
The ovary is an ovum-producing reproductive organ, often found in pairs as part of the vertebrate female reproductive system. Ovaries in anatomically female individuals are analogous to testes in anatomically male individuals, in that they are both gonads and endocrine glands.-Human anatomy:Ovaries...
(and fertility), located at the front, from attracting spirit attentions.
Not shown are the more modern summer amauti which have no sleeves, less insulation, and permit a child to be carried while berry picking or in other summer occupations.They are also used during the winter months of the year, used with a over sized parka covering both mother and baby. The summer amauti is typically made from quilted cloth in any number of patterns.
Recently an amauti beaded by Ooloosie Ashevak, the daughter-in-law of well-known Inuit artist, Kenojuak Ashevak
Kenojuak Ashevak
Kenojuak Ashevak, is regarded as one of the most notable Canadian pioneers of modern Inuit art.-Life:Kenojuak Ashevak was born in an igloo in an Inuit camp, Ikirasaq, at the southern coast of Baffin Island. At three years old, she lost her father. In 1952, she had to be treated for three years...
, sold at auction for $19,200 at Waddington's after being estimated at $4,000 to $6,000.
The garment is unique in being clothing, art, childrearing tool and living tradition.
External links
- Inuit Women’s Traditional Knowledge Workshop on the Amauti and Intellectual Property Rights (PDF)
- http://www.atanarjuat.com/art/amauti.phpAmauti used in the film AtanarjuatAtanarjuatAtanarjuat is a 2001 Canadian film directed by Zacharias Kunuk. It was the first feature film ever to be written, directed and acted entirely in Inuktitut...
] - http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M5836?Lang=1&accessnumber=M5836Amauti from the mid-19th century at the McCord MuseumMcCord MuseumThe McCord Museum is a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, study, diffusion, and appreciation of Canadian history...
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