Eskimos

General information:

"Eskimo" is an American Indian word which means "eaters of raw meat". People we call Eskimos originally came from Asia across a land bridge into Alaska. They spread across the Arctic regions and now they live in five countries: the Soviet Union, Alaska, Kanada, Greenland, Far North.

Eskimos do not use the word "Eskimo" when they speak of themselves. Instead they use a term that simply means "people". In Canada that word is "Inuit", while in Alaska Eskimos refer to themselves as "Yupik".

Eskimos live in some of the world`s coldest areas. They live in the tundra, which means that there is nothing but flat, treeless, frozen ground. Surviving is a struggle, a constant battle with the elements.

Traditional Eskimo subsistence patterns are closely geared to the annual cycle of changing seasons. It depends on the season whether they hunt caribou herds, seals, birds, polar bears, foxes or hares. But above all the cold waters of the Arctic provide Eskimos with a great deal of their food (salmon, whales.)

Nearly all parts of animals that Eskimos kill are used. Eskimo clothing is made from skins of birds and other animals. Of course, these clothes have to be well adapted to cold and wet climatic conditions. Skins are also processed into tents and boats and bones are used for weapons. Everyone wears the same combination: a hooded jacket, trousers or leggings, boots and mittens.

Generally there are two kinds of means of transport: boats and dogsleds. The "umiak" is a large open boat used to transport people and goods and to hunt whales. The kayak is used for hunting because it glides silently and so enables the hunter to move very close to his prey.

Dogsleds are a mode of winter transportation over land and frozen sea. The sled is drawn by 2 to 14 hunkies and is usually made of wood and where wood is unavailable dried salmon is sometimes used. In recent years snowmobiles have replaced dogsleds as the Eskimo`s primary mode of transportation.

Eskimos have to live a wanderling life in order to find animals for hunting. Groups spend the winter together but disperse into smaller, family-sized bands during the summer. So in summer they live in animal-skin tents. In winter they build sod houses or igloos (from an Eskimo word meaning "home"). It consists of blocks cut from the snow.

Eskimo religion is animistic. That means that they impute spirits or souls to most animals and important features of the landscape. To avoid their hostility animals are propitiated through extensive honorary customs. For example, one of the most widespread customs id for a hunter´s wife to offer a dead seal a drink of water as a sign of hospitality when the husband brings the carcass to the house.

Eskimos believe in a life after death. They think human beings have spiritual substances, one of these is the name. After death the name and the personality of its bearer will enter the body of a newborn infant given the same name. They also put tools and other items next to the bodies to use in the next life.

Eskimos think that spirits control the wind, weather, sun, waters and the moon. One of the most important spirits is the sea goddess Sedna. She rules over all sea animals and lives at the bottom of the ocean. Each Eskimo community includes one person who has the power to communicate with these spirits. This person is called "shaman". His functions are to bring good weather, heal the sick and to increase the supply of the game.

Eskimos live together in groups of several families which might contain several hundred people. Generally a family consists of a husband and wife, unmarried children, and married sons with their families. The leader of such a group is the eldest male still capable of hunting.

Eskimos have an old-fashioned role allocation: The man`s role is to hunt food, drive the dogsled, row the boat and build shelters. A wife`s most important duty is to make the family`s clothing, look after the children, cook and sometimes help her husband. But Eskimo men and women treat each other as equals, so women are not "second-class citizens".

Eskimos have no laws, just "rules of conduct":

All members should help each other in the struggle for life

Each person should live peacefully with the others.

Anyone who refuses to do his part of the work is despised. A disagreement can be settled by a fight. A more peaceful solution is a contest in which the opposing parties throw insults at each other. The first one who gets upset has lost. A person who commits murder can be executed, but that order has to come from the older men of the group.

The language Eskimos speak is also called Eskimo and there are just two major dialects of Eskimo: "Yupik" spoken in Seberia and "Inupik" spoken in the other countries. The only language known to be related to Eskimo is the Aleut language.

Eskimos are now much involved in the modern world. They have adopted much of its technology and they also use imported food, clothing and house forms. Instead of kayaks and dogsleds they use motorboats and snowmobiles. Furthermore their traditions and institutions have been heavily influenced by the dominant European, Asian, Canadian and American cultures.

In the Soviet Union Eskimos were encouraged to produce goods for sale. After the second World War many Eskimos worked in the urban areas of Alaska, lived in substandard housing and the children could not finish High School.  In Canada the search for oil and minerals, and greater government consciousness of the need for education, medication and social development have resulted in changes in traditional life. Most Canadian Eskimos have settled down in towns and take advantage of modern facilities. Greenland`s Eskimos still follow the traditional life although fishing has been commercialised and programs have been established to aid the Eskimo. Eskimos of the Far North have been forced to battle weather and the influence of white man to survive.