Buijs, C.C.M.; Buijs C.C.M.
Citation
Buijs, C. C. M. (2004, May 26). Furs and fabrics : transformations, clothing and identity in
East Greenland. Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde. CNWS Publications,
Leiden. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/56410
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dissertation
Author: Buijs, Cunera
Proefschrift ter verkrijging van
de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Dr. D.D. Breimer,
hoogleraar in de faculteit der Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen en die der Geneeskunde,
volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op woensdag 26 mei 2004
te klokke 14.15 uur door
Cunera Cornelia Maria Buijs geboren te Hengelo
Prof. dr. R. Schefold
Referent: Dr. C.W.H. Remie
Editorial board: P.J. ter Keurs (chairman) / Prof.dr. R.M.A. Bedaux / P.L.F. van Dongen / Prof.dr. M. Forrer / Dr. D.J. Stuart Fox
CNWS publishes books and journals which advance scholarly research in Asian, African and Amerindian Studies. CNWS Publications is part of the Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS) at Leiden University, The Netherlands. All correspondence should be addressed to:
Drs. Margarita Winkel Editor-in-Chief CNWS Publications c/o Research School CNWS Leiden University PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands. Cunera C.M. Buijs ISBN: 90-5789-094-1 Subject headings:
Furs and Fabrics, Transformations, Clothing and Identity in East Greenland. Printing: Ridderprint, Ridderkerk
Cover design: Arnoud Bernhard Design: Johanneke Oosten
Cover illustration: Batsheba (photo: Jaap van Zuylen, Tasiilaq, East Greenland, 1934) Copyright 2004 Research School CNWS,
Leiden University, The Netherlands Copyright reserved.
- voor wat zij mij meegaven – en Tikeraarninni angajoqqaarsiannut Lars aamma Asta Jonathansen-innikkunnut
Introduction 1
Arctic clothing 1
The background of this research 1
Identities 3
Identities and clothing 5
Methods of research 6
The organization of the book 8
Acknowledgements 8
A tradition of furs, clothing in East Greenland at the end of the
nineteenth century 10
Clothing at birth and childhood 13
Children’s garments as protective amulets 17
Children’s clothing according to gender 19
Clothing expressing puberty 23
Clothing at maturity and after marriage 24
The adult women’s’ wardrobe 25
Women’s coats 25 Women’s trousers 30 Women’s boots 34 Women’s adornments 37 Tattoos 39 To be concluded 40
The wardrobe of adult men 41
Men’s coats 41 Specialized waterproof garments 46
Mittens 53
Men’s trousers 53 Men’s boots 56 Headgear 60 Men’s adornments and amulets 64
Clothing for death, and mourning clothes 67
Festive costumes within a ritual context 70
Clothing during drum dances 70 Shaman’s garments 71 Dressing for Uaajeerneq 72 The actors 73
Clothing and disguise during Uaajeerneq 74
Comparison with similar festivities among the Canadian Inuit 77
The West Greenlandic and European impact,
East Greenlandic clothing in the first half of the twentieth century 82
Medical care and education 82
The mission 84
The influence of the mission on the East Greenlanders’ clothing 84
Childbirth and baptism 85 Children’s clothing according to gender 89 Chances in clothing adopted at adolescence 92 Marriages and the Lutheran church 94 Funerals, clothing for the dead, and mourning clothes 98 Festive clothing worn on Sundays and Christian holidays? 99
New religious clothing 105
Dressing up for Uaajeerneq or Mitaarneq 106
Economic developments and trade 108
The impact of the new economy and trade on the East Greenlandic clothing 111
The disappearance of East Greenlandic skin clothing 112
Continuity in sealskin clothing 119
Textile clothing 123
Textiles in children’s clothing 124
Textiles in women’s clothing 126
Textiles in men’s clothing 130
Beads from Europe 135
Change in political and social organization 136
Continuity in East Greenlandic social and political organization 136
Danish colonization and political development 136
New politics and new transformations in clothing 138
European and West Greenlandic influences on clothing 138
Conclusion 148 Economic developments and its influence on clothing 148 A new religion and new clothing 150 Social and political implications, change and continuity in clothing 150 Transformation and integration, East Greenlandic clothing in the second half of the twentieth century 153
Demographic developments and health services 153
Economic developments and trade 154
Hunting and fishing 155
New employment and additional sources of income 157
Workshop for handicraft 158
The sewing atelier ‘Skæven’ 159
viii Furs and Fabrics
The Lutheran church 164
New education 165
The interface between politics and economy 166
Change in political and social organization 168
Change in political structure 169 Greenlanders and Danes 169 West Greenlanders and East Greenlanders 170
Towards a new identity 171
Transformations in clothing 174
Inside and outside, indoors and outdoors 174
Shopping 174 Home-made clothing 178
The sewing workshop Skæven 178
Maintenance 179 Sharing clothes 180
Infants and pre-school children 181
Schoolchildren and youths 184
Adults and elders 185
The hunters’ clothing 188
Working clothes 189
Clothing at political meetings 191
Festive costumes 195
Festive clothing and rites of passage 197
Marriage 199 The invention of East Greenlandic festive dress 199
The aesthetics of the national costume 208
Playing with clothes 210
Tattoos and adornments 213
Clothing for special purposes 213
Danes, West and East Greenlander’s clothing and ethnic groups 213
Clothing, Greenlanders and tourists 215
Considerations and conclusions 217
Conclusions 219
The nineteenth-century clothing 219
Function 219 Capacity and success 220
Rites of passage 220
Spirituality and protection 220 Spirituality and exchange relationships 221
The clothing of the first half of the twentieth century 222
Economic development and its influence on clothing 222
Social and political implications, change and continuity in clothing 223
The clothing of the second half of the twentieth century 224
Age, fashion and status 225 Developments in festive clothing 225
Clothing and identity 226
Changing relationships 227
Notes 229 References 252 Appendices 265
Appendix 1, List of Greenlandic terms 265
Appendix 2, List of Danish terms 270
Appendix 3, List of abbreviations of Institutions 272
Eqikkaaneq (Conclusions translated in the West Greenlandic language) 273
Indices 283 Index 1, Index of garments and (clothing related) subjects 283
Maps and figures
Map 1. Map of Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) and the Tasiilaq (Ammassalik) district. Figure 1. Woman with an infant in her amaat. (Photo: Thalbitzer, Ammassalik, 1906,
Arctic Institute, Copenhagen, AI 7778.)
Figure 2. Group of Tunumiit, some infants and small children included, wearing dif- ferent type of dress. (Photo: Krabbe, Ammassalik 1906, Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC L 117.)
Figure 3. Children’s cap dating from the end of the nineteenth century.
(Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC L 5063 b.) Figure 4. Dress of an almost adult girl, dating from the end of the nineteenth centu-
ry. (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, RMV 2085-3-6.)
Figure 5. Pattern of a dress for a nearly adult girl dating from the end of the nineteenth century. (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, RMV 2085-3.)
Figure 6. Decorated girl’s boots made of seal leather, dating from the end of the nine- teenth century. (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, RMV 2085-6.) Figure 7. Pattern of decorated girl’s boots made of seal leather, dating from the end of
the nineteenth century. (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, RMV 2085-6.)
Figure 8. Woman’s inner breeches, naatsit, decorated with leather strips. (Buijs and Vogelsang-Eastwood, 1993:37.)
Figure 9. Pattern of a woman’s outer coat, tattulaq. (Buijs, NMC Nr. Ld 129.2.) Figure 10. Different types of women’s coats.
Figure 11. Pattern for a woman’s short outer trousers (qarterpaat). (Buijs and Vogelsang-Eastwood 1993:54.)
Figure 12. Different types of decorated and undecorated trousers for women.
Figure 13. The first East Greenlanders to be baptized by Pastor Rüttel in Ammassalik, in April 1899. (Photo: Rüttel, Ammassalik, 1899, Arctic Institute, Copenhagen, AI 50.)
Figure 14. Pattern of woman’s breeches naatsit. (Buijs and Vogelsang-Eastwood 1993:53.)
Figure 15. Different types of women’s long outer boots.
Figure 16. Two types of ear decorations (tusaammit) from East Greenland.
Figure 17. Man’s outer coat (alatsik) made out of seal fur. (Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC Ld 119.)
Figure 18. Pattern of a man’s outer coat (alatsik) made out of seal fur. (Hatt 1969.) Figure 19. Pattern of a man’s outer coat (nani uliivia alatsik) made of polar-bear fur.
(Hatt 1969.)
Figure 20. Two different shoulder patterns, and corresponding bottom edgings, on the back of men’s inner coats made of seal fur.
Figure 21. Gutskin coat, ikkiaq. (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, RMV 1071- 2.)
Maps and figures xi
Figure 23. Short kayak anorak qaaloqqoq. (Grønlands Landsmuseum og Arkiv, Nuuk, NKA 1418 Ld 66.)
Figure 24. kayak skirt, agivilisaq, (back).
Figure 25. Whaling suit qarlippaassalik (Drawing: Frans Stelling).
Figure 26. Pattern of a man’s relatively short pair of seal-fur trousers. (Buijs and Vogelsang-Eastwood 1993:48.)
Figure 27. Various types of men’s trousers in East Greenland at the end of the nine- teenth century.
Figure 28. Man’s inner breeches, naatsit , made of seal fur: East Greenland, end of the nineteenth century. (Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC L. 1536.1.)
Figure 29. Man’s boots made of seal fur, kamiit meqqilit, East Greenland, end of the nineteenth century. (Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC L. 5024.)
Figure 30. Decorated man’s boots made of seal leather, East Greenland, end of the nine- teenth century. (Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC L. 4401.)
Figure 31. Decorative patterns made out of skin mosaic on waterproof men’s boots of East Greenland at the end of the nineteenth century.
Figure 32. Cap with peak made out of eider-duck skin. (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, RMV 1020-29.)
Figure 33. Storfangerkasket. (Grønlands Landsmuseum og Arkiv, Nuuk, NKA 515.) Figure 34. Angakkeq Maratsi wearing a storfangerkasket. (Photo: Krabbe, Ammassalik,
1904, Arctic Institute, Copenhagen, AI 50.692, No. 65.)
Figure 35. Different types of snow goggles, ittaat (above), and eye shades, inniikkilat (below).
Figure 36. An East Greenlander wearing an amulet strap, hair band and armlets. (Photo: Krabbe, Ammassalik, 1906, Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC. L. 120.)
Figure 37. Mourning hood of an East Greenlandic woman, dating from the end of the nineteenth century. (Grønlands Landsmuseum og Arkiv, Nuuk, NKA 1396.)
Figure 38. Song duel with drums at Ammassalik. (Photo: Thalbitzer, 1906, Arctic Institute, Copenhagen, 7656.)
Figure 39. Wooden mask with leather thong stemming from Ammassalik. Probably dating from the end of the nineteenth or beginning of the twentieth centu- ry. (British Museum London, BML 1944 AM 2.1.)
Figure 40. The celebration of Shrove Tuesday (‘Pancake Day’), 12 February 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF. 94.)
Figure 41. Julietta, sister of Lars (a boy who died), wearing a cap, to protect a child whose brothers and sisters had died, Kuummiit, Spring 1933. (Photo: Tinbergen, Museon, The Hague, no. 33.)
baptized, and wears a christening dress. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. Af 196.) Figure 43. Two small children, wearing non-gender specific clothing. Ammassalik,
August, 1937. (Photo: Jette Bang, Arctic Institute Copenhagen, no. 3186.) Figure 44. Two small girls, Batsheba and Magdalene in Ammassalik, March 1933.
(Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 112.)
Figure 45. A daughter of Konrad, wearing an adult’s tattulaq, probably borrowed from her mother, to take care of a younger brother or sister, Kungmiut, spring 1933. (Photo: Tinbergen, Museon, The Hague, no. 79.)
Figure 46. Small girl in the female costume that developed into a festive dress for girls and women. East Greenland, August 1937. (Photo: Jette Bang, Arctic Institute Copenhagen. no. 3144.)
Figure 47. Maala Boassen with her son Tolua (Torvald) , on Sunday 29th April 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 137.)
Figure 48. Biliam and Sigrid Jonathansen after they married in the church of Ammassalik, on Whit Monday, 21st May 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen no. AF 168.)
Figure 49. Picture of a young East Greenlandic woman wearing her hair tied up in a topknot, with several bead ornaments, such as a (probably) red cloth hair ribbon. Depicted by Kaarali Andreassen in 1932-1933. (Museon, The Hague.)
Figure 50. The West Greenlandic Catechist Salo Boassen and his East Greenlandic wife Mala, dressed beautifully on a Sunday, 14 May 1933. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF. 44.)
Figure 51. The celebration of Christmas, 25 December 1933. (Photo: Van Zuylen, NR. AF. 77.)
Figure 52. A group of young East Greenlanders in festive costumes in the school at Ammassalik, 30 December 1933. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF. 78.)
Figure 53. Nala (Nathan) Maratse in Ammassalik in 1934, wearing a white anorak, black trousers and black sealskin boots. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF. 203.) Figure 54. Hendrik Lund and his family in Sydprøven in 1911. (Photo: F.C.P Rüttel,
Arctic Institute Copenhagen, AIC 31.)
Figure 55. Wooden mask dating from the 1930s. The mask depicts a white man, pos- sibly one of the Dutch expedition members. (Museon NR. 48234.)
Figure 56. Boy’s anorak made out of seal fur, Ammassalik, dating from 1932-1933. (Museon, The Hague, Tinbergen collection, no. 48183, photo: Christiaan Raab.)
Figure 57. People in front of a winter house, Tiniteqilaaq, 31 May 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 158.)
Figure 58. The East Greenlandic hunters Andreas, Kârale (Karl Andreassen) and Vitus, seal hunting at a breathing hole at Qinqorssuaq, in spring 1933. (Photo: Tinbergen, Museon, The Hague, no. 16.)
Figure 60. East Greenlanders making a new sealskin cover for a kayak. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 38.)
Figure 61a and b.Watertight gut-skin coats (ikkiat). (Museon, The Hague, photo: Christiaan Raab, no. 48186 and no. 57655.)
Figure 62. Watertight kayak anorak (qajarsiit) made out of brown seal leather. (Museon, The Hague, Photo: Christiaan Raab, no. 48072.)
Figure 63. Seal-fur women’s outer coat (tattulaq). (Museon, The Hague, no. 48180.) Figure 64. Kundine Ignatiussen (wife of Hans Ignatiussen) with an amaarngut. She is carrying her child on her back. Ammassalik, March 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 104.)
Figure 65. Woman breastfeeding her child, Ammassalik, August 1937. (Photo: Jette Bang, Arctic Institute Copenhagen, no. 2970.)
Figure 66. Woman breastfeeding her child, sitting next to a man working on a bladder float, Kangerdlugssuaq, August 1937. (Photo: Jette Bang, Arctic Institute Copenhagen, NR. 2915.)
Figure 67. White cloth anorak with bead strings on top of the hood, 1930-1940. (Ammassalik Museum no. AM n4c 002-91.)
Figure 68. An East Greenlandic family builds a kayak, Ammassalik, May 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, nr. AF 167.)
Figure 69. Two East Greenlandic women (left), the daughter (Eliza Maqe) and wife of the catechist Kârale or Karl Andreassen (middle), wearing the latest fashion in East Greenland in the 1930s. (Photo: Tinbergen, Museon, The Hague.) Figure 70. Short white outer boots (nakatalat or kamisat) for women. (Rijksmuseum
voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, no. 5924-3.)
Figure 71. East Greenlandic family eating while making a kayak. Ammassalik, May 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 66.)
Figure 72. Salo and Tobias with a dog sled out on the ice, hunting or ice fishing. They both wear cloth anoraks as an outer layer, probably on top of woolen jerseys. Near Ammassalik, April 1933. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 28.)
Figure 73. Two young hunters paddling in their kayaks, wearing white cloth kayak- anoraks as an outer layer. Sermilik, August 1932. (Photo: Tinbergen, Museon, The Hague, no.6.)
Figure 74. Thomas Jørgensen (KGH formand) wearing a cloth Scotch bonnet, a cloth anorak as an outer layer, and a pair of European type of cloth trousers. Ammassalik, 19 May 1933. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 49.)
Figure 75. Kora, an East Greenland hunter in a settlement between Kuummiit (Kungmiut) and Kulusuk, wearing a knitted cap in the spring of 1933. (Photo: Tinbergen, Museon, The Hague. no. 34.)
Figure 76. Pair of overboots dating from the 1930s. The upper part is made of seal fur, whereas dog fur was used for the lower part. (National Museum of Ethnology Leiden, no. 5924-4.)
kolonibestyrer Rassow). Sømandsfjeld, June 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no.
AF 181.)
Figure 78. Two East Greenlanders standing near the waterside, almost completely dressed in textiles except for their sealskin boots, wearing shirts of a European style, and a European cardigan. Kangerlussuaq, August 1937. (Photo: Jette Bang, Arctic Institute Copenhagen, no. 3044.)
Figure 79. Kaarali Andreassen (left), catechist in Kuummiit (Kungmiut), wearing a European overcoat and jersey, and Salo Boassen (right), overkateket in Nanortalik, with a checked cloth anorak. Ammassalik, 15 December 1933. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 74.)
Figure 80. Three old women in Kuummiit, East Greenland 1933. (Photo: Tinbergen, Museon, The Hague.)
Figure 81. Traditional East Greenlandic outer trousers (qarterpaat) and (inner trousers (naatsit) (left) were replaced by coloured East Greenlandic trousers (seeqqini-
it) (right), influenced by West Greenland, dating from the 1930s. (Museon,
The Hague, nos. 48182, 48181, and 48188 respectively.)
Figure 82. Traditional East Greenlandic women’s boots, dating from the 1930s. (Museon, The Hague, nr. 48201.)
Figure 83. Two women sewing the seal-leather cover for a kayak. The woman on the right is wearing long boots with knee pieces (kamiit ajipertingarartiilit) of West Greenland type. Ammassalik May 1934. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF 164.)
Figure 84. Long, red-painted women’s boots, dating from the early 1930s. (Museon, The Hague, NR. 48188.)
Figure 85. Short red women’s boots from East Greenland, dating from the 1930s. (Museon, The Hague, no. 48202.)
Figure 86. Mrs. Rassow, the wife of the kolonibestyrer, and their children in Ammassalik, 23 June 1933. (Photo: Van Zuylen, no. AF. 179.)
Figure 87. A modern woman’s vest made of harp-seal fur (nalanginnaq; Phoca groen-
landicus) painted orange, one of Skaeven’s new products. (RMV 2001.)
Figure 88. Tobias Ignatiussen, helped by a group of kin, builds a kayak. (Photo: Cunera Buijs, RMV, Tasiilaq 2001.)
Figure 89. Advertisements for sports clothing in a Danish catalogue available in Tasiilaq and Tiniteqilaaq in 1998.
Figure 90. Asta Jonathansen sewing kamiit at her home in Tiniteqilaaq, 1985. (Photo:Cunera Buijs.)
Figure 91. Fancy blouse made from the skin of the harp seal (Phoca groenlandicus), edged with polar- fox fur (Alopex lagopus). It was made by Erna Christensen at Skæven sewing workshop in 2001. (RMV no. 5961-16.)
Figure 92. Mathilde Jonathansen dresses her nephew Aron in white cotton baby clothes, which were shop-bought. (Photo: Cunera Buijs, Tiniteqilaaq 1985.) Figure 93. Asta Jonathansen is trying a homemade fur costume on her grand daughter
Figure 94. Elika Jonathansen during a spontaneous drum dance performance for the Tiniteqilaamiit. Elika is said to be one of the last shamans in Tiniteqilaaq. She is wearing a cotton homemade dress. (Photo: G. Nooter 1968 RMV/MUS. NR. 68-3-51-8.)
Figure 95. Tobias Ignatiussen, tourist outfitter and hunter, driving his motorboat. (Photo: Cunera Buijs RMV, Ammassalik Fjord, summer 1998.)
Figure 96. East Greenlandic children are bathing in the children’s home in Ammassalik in 1961, while two employees, one Greenlandic and the other Danish, each wearing a white dress and white apron, are assisting them. (Photo: Jette Bang, Arctic Institute Copenhagen no. 9143.)
Figure 97. Lodewika Akipe, Jordmor in Tinitelaaq, wearing official medical dress. (Photo: Cunera Buijs 2001.)
Figure 98. T-shirt showing some of Greenland’s national symbols, the national dress, and a mother and child rubbing noses in the Inuit manner. (RMV 2001.) Figure 99. Necklace made of beads depicting the logo of Siumut, Greenland’s social
democratic party (RMV NO. 5905-17).
Figure 100. Seal-fur waistcoat. A type of garment that Greenlandic politicians may wear during seal-fur debates abroad. Made at Skæven sewing workshop. (RMV Nos 5882-36.)
Figure 101. Children of Tiniteqilaaq gathered around the Christmas tree in the Church/School during the Christmas celebrations in 1995. (Photo: Pili Tarkisimat.)
Figure 102. Confirmation in Tasiilaq, summer 2001. (Photo: Cunera Buijs, RMV.) Figure 103. Aviaja and Mads Philbert, wearing a wedding dress and wedding suit dur-
ing their marriage at Dragholmsslot in Denmark, 16 July 2000.
Figure 104. The umiak from the Tasiilaq Museum, being rowed from Tasiilaq’s centre to Ittimiini. (Photo: Cunera Buijs, RMV, 21 June 2001.)
Figure 105. Anna Kuitse, a drum-dance leader and teacher from Kulusuk, and some schoolchildren, performing drum dances in ‘traditional East Greenland dress’ in Tasiilaq. (Photo: Cunera Buijs, RMV, 21 June 2001.)
Figure 106. Fashion show in Tasiilaq’s sports centre on Greenland’s National Day. (Photo: Cunera Buijs, RMV, 21 June 2001.)
Figure 107. Tattulaq made recently from machine-tanned sealskins by Thomasine Umeerineq, Tasiilaq 2001. (RMV no. 5961-1).
Figure 108. Sabine Jonathansen carries a doll inside her white cotton amaat. (Photo: Gerti Nooter, Museon, 1967, no. 67-4-10-02.)
Figure 109. Asta Jonathansen carries her small grandson on her back, inside her cotton
amaat. Sermilikfjord, near Tiniteqilaaq 1985. (Photo: Cunera Buijs, private
collection.)
Figure 110. White cotton anorak in East Greenlandic style.
guised hunter performs with a face made blackish brown with soot. (Photo: Pili Tarkisimat, private collection.)
Figure 113. The East Greenlander Simion Tarkisimat is dressed up as a woman carrying a child on his back. At a meeting in the school of Tiniteqilaaq on the 6th of January 1998. (Photo: Pili Tarkisimat, private collection.)
Figure 114. Football scarve used by fans during football competitions in East Greenland in 1998. (RMV No. 5905-39.)
Introduction
Arctic clothing
Today Arctic clothing is an important research topic. The first European researchers were fascinated by the Greenlander’s sophisticated technology, and they brought clothing, kayaks and hunting equipment back to Europe. Researchers still admire the quality of the techniques used to produce a balanced material culture that was perfectly adapted to the Arctic environment. Fur clothing was much better suited to meet the Arctic challenges than the Europeans’ woolen garments. Nevertheless, Inuit clothing changed rapidly under the influence of European culture. Nowadays, Greenlanders wear baseball caps, military jackets and Nike shoes. Compared to the excellent hand-made fur clothing of the Inuit, European mass-produced fabrics seem to represent a step backwards. Why did the East Greenlanders break with the traditions of their ancestors? Why did they abandon most of their perfectly adapted and beautiful fur clothing, and why did they adopt new styles of dress? This book discusses the social implications of the changes in the clothing of Tunumiit (East Greenlanders)1 in relation to processes of social and cultural change in
the East Greenlandic society.
The background to this research
When I became a curator at the National Museum of Ethnology in 1990, I was struck by the richness of the clothing collections of the museums in The Hague and Leiden. First it was the clothing details, showing evidence of many hidden techniques that captured my attention. The fur contrasts in natural colours, the minuscule stitching, and the aesthet- ic designs bear witness to a rich cultural tradition and a sophisticated civilization. Later on, I began to focus on the religious, social and economic implications of the clothing. What does clothing mean to East Greenlanders? What perceptions and variations are involved?
I was already familiar with East Greenland from several visits, the first to East Greenland being in the summer of 1982. In 1985, I lived among the Tiniteqilamiit for six months. My husband and I were kindly invited to stay with the family of my adoptive parents Lars and Asta Jonathansen, who became real friends and almost foster parents, to whom I owe immense gratitude for their warm hospitality over the years. Our aim was to study the consequences of the European sealskin boycott for the East Greenlanders of Tiniteqilaaq, who still lived mainly from seal hunting.
In my research in East Greenland I could rely on the material-culture studies of Gerti Nooter (1930-1998), my father-in-law and predecessor as a curator at the National Museum of Ethnology. He visited East Greenland for the first time in 1965. In 1967-68, Nooter stayed for one year among the East Greenlanders, accompanied by his wife and their three young children. He frequently returned to East Greenland, and continued his research on continuity and change in material culture. Nooter was inspired by the work of Prof. Tinbergen (1907-1988), who lived with his wife in East Greenland for a year in 1932-33. Tinbergen conducted ornithological research and assembled a beautiful ethno- graphic collection for the Museon in The Hague. Thus there was already a long tradition of Dutch ethnographic research in Tiniteqilaaq and the Ammassalik district.
Map 1. Map of Tasiilaq (Ammassalik) district. Including the village Tiniteqilaaq.
trading post (combined with postal services) and a small shop. In the 1980s, oil lamps were abandoned when electricity was installed in the villages of the Tasiilaq (Ammassalik) District. Motorboats were introduced and modern communication and transport facili- ties were established. During the 1990s, the water supply was improved and Tiniteqilaaq was given a water tank, providing water (instead of ice) during the winter months. Nowadays, tourists from Europe travel to Ammassalik via the airport of Reykjavik, where tourist flights are organized.2 The village of Tiniteqilaaq at the Sermilik Fjord has about
150 inhabitants living in coloured wooden houses on the hills covered with snow. The Sermilik Fjord is said to be the most beautiful fjord of the district, with icebergs drifting slowly to the sea. It means an attraction to the tourists. Tasiilaq, the district’s capital with c. 2000 inhabitants, functions as the economic and cultural center of the area. Here are a hospital, a primary and secondary school, a church, a museum, the trade center and the shopping center of the Pilersuisoq (Greenland trade company) and a harbour. The peo- ple of Tasiilaq live in wooden prefab houses, modern single-family dwellings and in flats. Some of the colonial buildings still exist and are situated in the center.
Social change led to new exchange relations. West Greenlanders and Danes became important exchange partners, and were conceptually integrated into East Greenland society. These new relationships were immediately expressed in new styles and materials in clothing, shaping the new relations and identities
Identities
My studies of East Greenland identity began with Barth (1969), Cohen (1988; 1994) and Dorais (1994). In ‘Ethnic Groups and Boundaries’ (1969), Barth was one of the first to emphasize the circumstantial or situational character of ethnicity. This attitude toward ethnicity contrasts with theories with a primordial emphasis relating ethnicity to race. In the circumstantial view, ethnic distinction is not maintained by isolation, rather by con- tacts between different groups; by crossing the boundaries.
“The critical focus of investigation becomes the ethnic boundary that defines the group rather than the cultural stuff that it encloses. The bound- aries to which we must give our attention are of course social boundaries, though they may have territorial counterparts. If a group maintains its iden- tity when members interact with others, this entails criteria for determin- ing membership and ways of signaling membership and exclusion.” (Barth 1969:15)
articulated in terms of exchange relations. The nature of the exchange relation informs us about the identities that are involved.
In his article ‘À propos d’identité’, Louis Jacques Dorais (1994) distinguishes between cul- tural identity and ethnic identity. Cultural identity is based on culture, is stable, durable and continuous, and can be identified in terms of language, lifestyles, norms and values. Ethnic identity is functional, based on classifications that are not cultural, such as phys- ical appearance, race and origin. Ethnic identity has political connotations. Anthony Cohen argues that ethnicity can be seen as: “the politicization of culture: ethnic identity is a politicized cultural identity” (1993:199; see also Hobsbawm and Ranger 1989). Political strategies of intellectual and political elites come to the fore in defining ethnic identity. Yet the notion of ethnicity is problematic where Greenland is concerned. Greenlanders do not conceive of the contrast between distinct groups within Greenland (for example the contrast between West and East Greenland) as ethnic contrasts. Greenland identity at large (often contrasted with that of foreigners or foreign countries) is valued as a national identity. Local groups are more or less defined as regional identi- ties. Jenkins (2002) emphasized the symbolic dimensions of identity as a construction of differences and similarities between communities: the concept of ‘belonging’ or ‘commu- nity’ is in his view symbolically constructed by people in respond to “their social catego- rization by outsiders” (Jenkins 2002:112).
Regional identities in Greenland have a strong symbolic value, but cannot be interpret- ed as ethnic identities. However, relationships between Greenlanders and Danes may be labeled as ethnic relationships.
In 1999, inspired by the work of Dorais, the Dutch Research Group Circumpolar Cultures (RGCC) published a study on identity: ‘Arctic Identities, Continuity in Inuit and Saami Societies’, edited by Oosten and Remie. The contributors to this publication deal with arctic identities in a contextual way:
“As people can identify themselves in different ways, they have to make choices in presenting their identities. They have to assess which identity is relevant in a particular context and which particular aspect of an identity has to be emphasized in that context. (…) Identities are valorized and they relate to values. They are of utmost importance in social interaction as rel- ative positions are determined in terms of perceptions of identities. Even though perceptions of identities may appear relatively stable, they are usu- ally dynamic and negotiable and imply continuous processes of construc- tion and deconstruction.” (Oosten and Remie 1999:1-2.)
political identities. Inge Kleivan (1990;1991) analyzes Greenland identity topics in her articles on the development of Greenland’s national flag and other national symbols. Discussion of identity began in Greenland as early as the 1930s to 1950s period, when the country was in the process of gaining independence. During the 1990s there was a renewed interest, not only among western scientists but also among Inuit themselves (see Petersen 1985,1995,2001; Lynge 1981; Kublu 1999).
“Greenlanders have changed their food habits, their traditional dress, and their conventions. Education and advanced schooling opportunities, resi- dence, sense of community, and daily work have changed out of all recog- nition. Religion and faith, (world) view, reading and interests, contacts with the outside world, all have been revolutionized. And yet Greenlanders are in no doubt that they are, and remain, the same people who, according to Poul Egede in 1734, said that they could not understand that any other peo- ple besides themselves could have a claim on the property of Kalaallit Nunaat.” (Lynge 1981:58, translated from Danish by C. Buijs.)
Nowadays, Inuit deal with the question of how to valorize the traditional Inuit culture as hunters in a modern political context, and how to implement ‘being Greenlandic’ in a modern European-based society. (See Robert Petersen 1985;1990;1995;2001, on Greenland’s identity, especially ‘Colonialism as seen from a former Colonized Area’ (1995).) Today cultural identities, regional identities which have not yet been politicized, and a new Greenlandic identity with strong political connotations, are all expressed through various forms of clothing.
Identities and clothing
This study explores categories and concepts of identity materialized and expressed in clothing of the end of the nineteenth century until modern times. It deals with the spir- itual culture, material culture, naming and social behaviour that all contributed to cul- tural identities, as well as to the religious and political identities shaped in the interaction between Danes and Greenlanders.
In the past, studies on Arctic clothing focused on the technical and adaptation aspects. Researchers were fascinated by and admired the Inuit who made this excellent material culture. Little attention was paid however to the semantics of Greenlandic clothing. There was not much information available on social, symbolical and spiritual aspects of the clothing of East Greenland.
ticularly relevant to the study of clothing, since amulets were sewn onto coats, armlets and breast ornaments. Several studies have devoted attention to clothing and the expression of native identities in the Arctic (Svenson 1992; Issenman 1997b; Zorgdrager 1997). In 2000, recent developments in Arctic clothing were discussed at the Inuit Clothing Conference organized by the British Museum in London (see Paukstadt, at press). The development of festive dress in the context of Christian celebrations, notably baptism and marriage, have been discussed (see Anne Bahnson, at press; Buijs and M. Petersen, at press). Birgitte Sonne (at press) has studied the contextual aspects of kamiit, the Greenland sealskin boots. These comprehensive studies of clothing items examine details that are deeply rooted in Greenland culture, and explore the identities that are relevant to Inuit themselves in specific contexts and periods.
Identities are fluid, flexible and connected to ever changing contexts. The studies of cloth- ing mentioned above have demonstrated that clothing is an excellent medium to express visually different relationships and identities. A white anorak worn in church during a wedding may be suited as a garment worn during a rite of passage, but that same anorak worn during the celebrations of Greenland national day may express a Greenlandic (national) identity. Age, gender, status and region, may all be expressed in the same gar- ment and different aspects become relevant in different contexts. Functional specializa- tion and social distinctiveness are combined in a variety of ways in clothing.
In this book, I assume that differences in clothing inform us about the social differences that mattered to the East Greenlanders themselves.
The aim of this research is to explore which identities were important to the Tunumiit (East Greenlanders), how they were expressed in their dress and how the developments in clothing reflect new identities in East Greenland.
In order to chart the various identities expressed in clothing, and the interplay between them, we need to study in detail the differences in clothing and the contexts in which they are used.3
Methods of research
The development of clothing in East Greenland has been studied over a period of 120 years.4 Research on the nineteenth-century clothing of East Greenland has been carried
out by examining the clothing collections in the Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allaga (National Museum and Archives) of Nuuk, in the Tasiilaq Museum, in the National Museum in Copenhagen, and in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. These collections are a rich and valuable source for studies of material culture. The monographs by Thalbitzer and Holm (1914) on the spiritual and material culture of East Greenlanders are a source of inestimable value. These studies provide descriptions of many aspects of East Greenland culture at the time of the first contacts with Danes.5
International Polar year.6 Tinbergen and his co-member Van Lohuizen, collected ethno-
graphical objects for the Museon in The Hague. Both Tinbergen and Van Zuylen, the leader of the meteorological expedition, took many photographs depicting clothing worn by the East Greenlanders. Jette Bang’s photographs of the 1930s have been studied at the Arctic Institute in Copenhagen. Since these photograph collections reveal many clothing details, they have proved to be of great value for this research. The photographs from the 1930s show a remarkable discrepancy with the museum collections of the same period. Whereas garments collected by the museums were made of sealskin, the East Greenlanders on the photographs were already wearing many textiles in their dresses, skirts, anoraks, shirts and trousers. Clothing collections dating from the period 1965 to 1986 have been studied in the Museon in The Hague and in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
Photographs of garments in these collections and of nineteenth-century garments from East Greenland have been shown to East Greenland informants in Tasiilaq and in Tiniteqilaaq. Additional information was collected in open interviews, during my field- work. Modern clothing was studied by means of open interviews, participant observation, and by collecting new garments for the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. Modern mail-order catalogues and catalogues issued by the Greenland firm ‘Great Greenland’, which produces ‘designer’ sealskin fashion, were a useful aid in conversations with East Greenland informants during my field research in East Greenland. The sewing workshop Skæven, the Tasiilaq Museum, the Tasiilaq Municipality, the Tourist Agency, local and regional shops and the Trading Company, all contributed to the research. Although research methods were combined to gain as much as possible information, it was not always possible to collect sufficient information on many details of nineteenth- century clothing. The oldest women and men I interviewed were between 65 and 85 years old. They could not always provide many details, especially where religious and spiritu- al ideas connected with clothing were involved. According to Mariane Petersen of the Nunatta Katersugaasivia in Nuuk, who had the same experience, the people were educat- ed and indoctrinated by Danish, and later on by West Greenland ministers.
“They simply wanted to forget. They wanted to be good Christians and to be modern and Danish, therefore they hesitated to talk about the old ways. Only now is interest in the culture of the past increasing, when so much knowledge has been lost.” (M. Petersen, personal communication 2002.)
It seems that the women anthropologists, who began their research on clothing in the last decades, asking for detailed information on clothing, came too late. Fortunately the ethnographic data collected by Holm and Thalbitzer provides a great deal of valuable information on pre-Christian ideas and values.
The museum collections and the photograph collections do not provide an even cover- age of the period under study.7 There are gaps, especially in the periods 1910-1930 and
good grasp of the development of clothing in East Greenland in the twentieth century.
The organization of the book
In the first chapter, the traditional clothing dating from the period when Holm arrived at Ammassalik, is studied synchronically. The garments stem from one period in time. By analyzing and interpreting the clothing details mentioned and explained by older East Greenlanders, I discovered the identities that were relevant to the Tunumiit at the end of the nineteenth century. The data in this chapter are mainly structured in terms of the var- ious stages of human life, from birth to death.
The second chapter deals with clothing of the first half of the twentieth century. The majority of the data stem from the 1930s, a period in which many foreigners, amongst them French, Dutch and Danish researchers, were conducting research in Ammassalik. Data on the clothing of the period 1900 to 1930 is almost completely lacking. In this peri- od, textiles began to dominate the wardrobes of men, women and children. West Greenlandic clothing and European clothing were adopted, resulting in the partial dis- appearance of East Greenlandic clothing. New religious contexts connected with the Lutheran faith required new clothing habits in church. This chapter deals with the ques- tion of how traditional identities changed, and of which new identities developed. This chapter is structured according to the major changes in the society caused by the devel- opment of trade, Christianization, and new political structures.
The third chapter presents clothing developments in the second half of the twentieth cen- tury. Festive dress developed. Professional dress for workers in firms and institutions was introduced. New identities required new forms of clothing. Social identities from the past were reshaped, and gained new significance. Rites of passage are still important in East Greenland society. New political identities, nation building and the process of ‘Greenlandization’, have produced developments in Greenland national costume. The third chapter is structured according to major changes in East Greenland during this peri- od.
In the final chapter the results of this research are presented.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the people of Tiniteqilaaq and Tasiilaq, especially Lars and Asta Jonathansen, Martha Jonathansen, Silpa an Tobias Ignatiussen, Aviaja en Mads Egede, Thomasine and Christian Umeerineeq, and Anna Kuku-Kuitse, who ‘adopted’ me into their families and provided me with a great deal of help and assistance.
I also received a great deal of support from various institutions in Tasiilaq, notably the Municipality of Tasiilaq, Skæven Tasiilaq, Tourist Agencies, Red House Tasiilaq, Hotel Ammassalik Tasiilaq, the Alderdomshjem, and the Church.
Furthermore I wish to thank the Arctic Institute in Copenhagen for granting me access to, and information on their photograph collections, Søren Thuesen and Birgitte Sonne of the Institute of Eskimology University of Copenhagen, and Helene Risager from the Grønlændernes Hus.
Ammassalik I would like to thank Ole G. Jensen and his wife Bodil (Buuti) Petersen; Mariane Petersen for our ongoing e-mail discussions on Inuit clothing matters and orthography of the Greenlandic terms, and Emil Rosing in Nuuk; Birte Haagen and Anne Bahnson in Copenhagen; Pierre and Bernadette Robbe from the Musée de l’Homme in Paris; Ronald Kerkhoven at the Museon in Den Haag; Jonathan King from the London British Museum; and Mireille Holsbeke from the Antwerpen Ethnografisch Museum. Many friends and colleges have contributed in variety of ways to this study: Robert Petersen, Bodil Kaalund, Birgit Paukstadt, Noortje Nooter, Betty Issenmann, Peter and Erik van Zuylen, Van Schouwenburg, Elisabeth van Blankenstein, Ronald Kerkhoven, Frans Buijs and Annie Buijs-Eberson, Fifi Effert, members of the Dutch Research Group Circumpolar Cultures (especially Cor Remie, Nellejet Zorgdrager, Nicole Stuckenberger, Barbara Miller, Lea Zuyderhoudt), the professional photographers Ben Grishaver and Christiaan Raab, Enid and Frank Perlin for correcting my English, Helene Risager for translating the conclusions into the West Greenlandic language, and my ‘paranimfen’ Oda Buijs and Ronald Kerkhoven for their support. Moreover I would like to thank the direc- tor Steven Engelsman and my colleagues from the National Museum of Ethnology for their ongoing interest in the subject of my thesis, and for their patience.
Financial support for the research project has been provided by the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, the Research School CNWS at the University of Leiden, and the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). I am grateful to the Scientific Commission of the Danish Polar Centre for granting me permission to carry out research in East Greenland.
A tradition of furs,
Clothing in East Greenland at the end of the nineteenth century
At the end of the nineteenth century, the civilization of the East Greenlanders (Tunumiit) was still based on hunting, fishing and gathering. In winter, the time of almost total dark- ness in the Arctic, hunters lay in wait for seals at their breathing holes in the ice of the fjords, and hunted polar bears with the assistance of their dog teams.
Hunting in winter required perfectly made fur clothing of high quality. In March and April, when the darkness gradually receded, the hunters set out to catch the qatsimalit, seals basking in the sun on the ice. When the ice began to break up in spring, the hunters would set out in their kayaks to catch seals, and to fish in the open waters.
In June the families of East Greenland travelled to the fishing grounds in the Sermilik Fjord. Here they camped near the sapulit, stone weirs that fall dry at low water, where they caught salmon with three-pointed harpoons. Ammassaat (capelin) were caught in dip nets. Summer was a time of abundance, of pleasure at being out on the land, with long days, and the sun setting for only one or two hours a night. In autumn women and children gathered large quantities of berries, some of which were eaten, while others were stored in seal oil for the winter. In August the first hunters and their families left the fishing grounds, and returned to their stone houses in the small, scattered settlements. The first snow fell in September, and winter would soon set in. During the nights new ice formed on the surface of the fjords, but for two or three months it would break up again because of the strong current. Under normal conditions it was therefore only possible to travel by dog sledge from December to April. Then the hunters were able to set out by sledge, tak- ing a kayak with them to cross open water (Nooter 1984:127-129; Petersen 1984a). The Inuit of the east coast lived a semi-nomadic live, which was influenced by the sea- sonal variations among the animal species they hunted and fished.1 Mauss and Beuchat
functioned as a kind of communal house in which people gathered. (See Gulløv 1988.) The individual compartments within the winter house divided the relatives into nuclear families. Mauss and Beuchat’s interesting and stimulating dichotomy does not do justice to the flexibility and dynamics of East Greenlandic social organization. 2
Within the settlements there were no permanent leaders or chiefs, but in the event of con- flicts, or of decisions to be taken, the eldest male could be the ultimate authority (Robbe 1994b:324).
“No head of a family is subordinate to any other head of a family. In this sense the society is egalitarian. But by various abilities and various degrees of support from their families, some achieve more prominent status than others, for example, the one to whom others turn.” (Petersen 1984a:637.) Outside the village during hunting trips, a person could assume the leadership where this was necessary for survival. This type of leadership is known as ‘situational leadership’.3
Hunting equipment, tents, boats, sledges, dogs, sewing materials and clothing were con- sidered to be private property. Principles of communal ownership were revealed in exchange patterns and meat-sharing systems. The prey was divided among various hunters or hunting partners or, on arriving in the settlement, among villagers. A complex system of meat sharing had developed, with specific persons receiving well-defined parts. Since meat sharing conformed to the patterns of kinship and naming, it constituted a connec- tion to the ancestors, the spirits and their descendants. Naming and kinship shaped social memory.
The extended family formed the basic social unit of social life, and constituted a house- hold. It might consist of a couple and (some of ) their married sons and their families. Various household groups lived together in the winter houses. Each household had its own blubber lamps, cooking area, and place on the sleeping platform. A bilateral type of kin- ship prevailed, characterized by a stress on non-exclusive viri-locality. Marriages were arranged without special rituals. Labour was divided according to gender. The men would go out on the land or the sea to hunt polar bears, seals and narwhals. Wives and mothers divided the catch, prepared the skins, sewed the fur clothing for their families, and took care of the children. Community structures and many aspects of daily life were very flexible, and there were always exceptions to the unwritten rules. Therefore there could easily be changes in gender patterns, patterns of co-operation and so on (Petersen 1984a; Nooter 1984; Robert-Lamblin 1981).
During the winter months various festivals were celebrated, for instance during the win- ter solstice. On the shortest day mothers might sew new garments for their eldest sons (Holm 1914). Rituals were subtle in East Greenland, a number of these being performed at birth, at the naming of a newborn child, and at death. Taboos had to be observed at a birth or death. Shamans travelled to the world of the spirits, aided by their helping spir- its during seances. They examined the reasons for misfortune, the absence of game, bad weather, sickness and death.
and started its journey to one of the lands of the dead.4 A human being also has a name
soul, ateq. The name soul is connected to the name which a person receives at birth. After death, the name soul continues to live in the body of the first baby born after that death. A person not only receives the name of a deceased ancestor, but also inherits some of the characteristics and capacities of his or her deceased namesake, or of former bearers of the name. Another kind of soul, the inuuseq or inua, was the keeper of life processes, such as breath and warmth (Petersen 1984a:631).
“A person has many inuas distributed over the whole body. Each element has its own inua and each inua exists in the guise of a person, a tiny person as big as a thumb. These inuas gather together all the person’s vital force, which radiates through the mouth. When a person dies, he therefore stops breathing. (…) Animals and humans have the same inuas in the same large joints. These are often marked with a cross. The whole skeletal ornamen- tation can be interpreted as an expression of the marking of the inuas.” (Møbjerg, Rosing, Jorn, Francheski s.a.: 23-24.)5
If a person lost his or her soul, through black magic, the person would fall sick, and if the soul did not return to its body, the person died. There were phases in life:
“in which the soul was more loosely connected to the body than usual: at birth, death, or the transition from one phase of life to another, for exam- ple, at the onset of menstruation. Any act that could disturb the transition of the soul from one phase to another was taboo.” (Petersen 1984a:632.) There were different rules and taboos connected to the spiritual life and the game hunt- ed, since animals, just as human beings, were owners of souls.
used, one of them being a watertight stitch used for kayak clothing. Decorative techniques such as avittarneq or avittat were used (Buijs 1993).6
At the end of the nineteenth century, the clothing worn by the Tunumiit expressed prin- ciples of social organization. The very stages of life were the basis for the differentiation of individuals into different social categories. This chapter is therefore divided into cat- egories or sections linked to birth, adolescence, marriage and death, events marked by means of specific garments or clothing details.
Clothing at birth and childhood
“When a birth is impending, all the men and big children go out of the house, if the weather permits of it. Those who remain in the house put on their old garments, ‘in order that the child may be a boy’. An elderly woman assists at the birth, during which the pregnant woman lies on her hands and feet, sometimes on her back. The navel string is either cut with a sharp shell or is bitten in two by the mother herself. The baby is then washed in urine, after which the mother passes her finger, which she has previously dipped in water, over the baby’s mouth, at the same time nam- ing the names of the dead after whom the child is to be called, beginning with the last person who has died in the district. The child is not actually called by these names, but receives a nickname. The significance of the mouth being touched with water (which takes place by the ring-finger if it is a boy, and with the first finger if it is a girl) is that the child is to gain its livelihood from the sea. The first time the mother eats after the birth, the baby receives a small share. If the food eaten is a sea-animal or sea-plant, the mother uses henceforward some salt water in cooking the food; if, on the other hand, it is a land animal or land plant, the food is cooked exclusive- ly in fresh water. When the birth is over, all furs, and all wall- and platform- skins are washed, and all the gutskins are removed from the windows. If the child is ill, the skins are taken off and are washed out-of-doors.” (Holm 1914:62.)
There is not much information available on the clothing worn by very young children. A newborn baby was probably wrapped in soft furs, and was kept close to its mother on the platform. It is not known when a child received its first garments. A newborn baby or a small child was carried in the amaat7 worn by the mother or a female relative. First,
the body of its mother encompassed the unborn child, while after birth the mother and child were encompassed by the mother’s garment. At this early stage of life, the personal identity of mother and child were linked.
stumbling half-naked through the house stimulated the process of learning cleanliness. Receiving the first garment was probably an important event in life. Holm describes this vividly:
“The first time a child is dressed in an anorak, the mother receives gifts from her house mates; and when the anorak is taken off, she presses her mouth to the child’s breast, shoulders, hips and navel with a sucking kiss ‘in order that the child may be healthy’. This is repeated every time the anorak is taken off, until the child is able to walk; sometimes however, the practice is discontinued before this.” (Holm 1914:63.)
This fragment suggests that only for a short period, possibly ending within three months, the child did not have its own dress. The length of this period may have corresponded to the period in which the proper name of the child was not pronounced. In an article on the East Greenlandic amaarngut8 Bernadette Robbe (1993:137) wrote that the mother
and the relatives of an unborn child tried not to become too attached to this child. Often children died during birth or in the first months of life, and death among women in labour was not uncommon.
Even before the child was able to walk it had its own dress. 9 Thus, what did the first gar- ment of a child in East Greenland look like? “As long as the child is carried out-of-doors, in the hood on its mother’s back, its dress consists merely of a long frock.” (Holm 1914:34). In literature, a child’s first garment was described as ‘ anorak’ (Holm 1914:63), ‘længere anorak’ (Gustav Holm Samlingen 1983:18), or as ‘a long frock’ (Holm 1914:34). Almost without exception, young children are portrayed with covered heads in the pho- tographs at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth centu- ry. The hoods they are wearing are probably part of their children’s anorak, either a long one for small children or an anorak of the ‘normal’ grown-up type. (See Christensen and
Ebbesen 1985:55,95.)10
Holm observed in 1884 that when a baby was dressed for the first time, the mother received gifts from her house mates (1914:63). The first baby anorak was not only a pro- tective garment. It was also a sign that the child had reached a new phase in life. The moth- er received these gifts, as the personal identity of the child was still very much connected with that of its mother. By receiving its first clothing, the child became a social person; an individual with certain names deriving from deceased persons or relatives. The child is welcomed into the society through gifts, and thus becomes part of the community. The child will be a social partner with who objects, meat, future wives, clothing, or coopera- tion in hunting can be exchanged.
Figure 2. Group of Tunumiit, some infants and small children included, wearing different type of dress. (Photo: Krabbe, Ammassalik 1906, Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC L 117.)
When the children were no longer carried in the mother’s pouch, clothing became important. A seal-fur anorak and sealskin boots were the first garments for children.12 Small children probably received winter boots as well, made of seal fur turned outside, with inner boots made of sealskin, or dog-fur, dog fur with the hair side turned inwards. It is not known whether soft furs, such as polar fox, bird skin, or the furs of young ani- mals, were used for making children’s garments in East Greenland. This type of material was used in other Arctic areas, as was shown by the clothing of the mummified children, aged between six months and four years, found in the graves in Qerrortuat on the island Uunartoq in South Greenland, and at Qilakitsoq in West Greenland. These children were dressed in anoraks made of seal fur, bird skin and gutskin. The elder children had not only an inner anorak but also an outer coat. Their trousers were made of seal fur. The youngest child probably wore trousers to which the boots were sewn. The other children had boots of sealskin (Hart Hansen, Melgaard, and Nordqvist 1985:157,203). Materials such as dog fur, and the fur of young or unborn seals (Phoca hispida, Christophora cristata) are still used for making children’s garments in East Greenland, and were probably also used at the end of the nineteenth century.
in Tiniteqilaaq mentioned both the absence of trousers with an opening at the back and front to facilitate urination, and proper (closed) children’s trousers. Boy’s trousers made of polar-bear fur and sealskin, with an opening in front, are known from West Greenland (coll. nos. RMV 4850-38 and RMV 360-1905). Children’s clothing with an opening over the backside is known from the Canadian Inuit (coll. nos. RMV 5738-2).
Children’s garments as protective amulets
Protection of the body against cold, humidity and wind, is one of the major functions of clothing, and is essential for survival in the Arctic (see Stefansson (1958), Delaporte (1978), Oakes (1988) and Buijs (1997). Garments also protected the wearer against other threats, such as evil spirits. As children were thought to be especially vulnerable, they were protected against dangerous spirits, sickness or death by means of amulets or by the use of garments especially made for protection against evil influences. Taboos connected with clothing were common in East Greenland in the nineteenth century, and amulets were sewn in to garments or in to the amulet strap worn by men.14
“When a woman is with child an amulet is inserted right above her vulva in order to protect the child; as an amulet may be used e.g. a round stone (kalilerneq) [kiliilarnaq]. When a girl is born, an amulet is placed on the anorak of the baby either on the hood or on the flap, e.g. a carved wooden figure of a man, in order that she may in course of time give birth to male children.” (Thalbitzer 1914:627-628)
Giving amulets to infants shortly after they were born provided protection against evil spirits and ilisiinneq, black magic, which often caused the death of children and adults. These were fastened on to an amulet strap, sewn into the child’s first garments, or fastened to the bed cloth on the sleeping platform. These amulets were often kept during one’s entire life (Chr. Rosing 1946:66). Occasionally a small wooden doll was carved and placed as a button on the hood of a child’s anorak. It was made from a piece of rowan wood (Sorbus), because this tree grows faster than others. A child with such an amulet would grow faster, and would become a tall man, who would not be afraid of other men (Chr. Rosing 1946:70; E. Rosing 1994). Christian Rosing mentioned another type of amulet. Parents, who had lost many children, provided their surviving small children with different kinds of buttons on their clothing, or with specially made clothing. Children wearing such clothing or amulets were called
piaaqqusiat (Chr. Rosing 1946:101).15 This category also encompassed children dressed
in an uncommon way, such as wearing two different types of kamiit, one made of water- proof leather used in summer, and the other made of seal fur for winter. Rosing saw also a child who was dressed in a common anorak of which the front was split and complete- ly covered with sewn-on buttons. “Others drag a dog-tail along, that is sewn on the back of their clothing, and some girls are dressed in boy’s clothing.” (Chr. Rosing 1946:102.) These children were dressed like this to protect them from death, which would not rec- ognize a child dressed this way. 16
Children sometimes received garments from deceased persons, probably especially from their namesakes.17 Dressing children and naming them, were of crucial importance in pro-
Figure 3. Children’s cap dating from the end of the nineteenth century. (Nationalmuseet, Etnografisk Samling, Copenhagen, NMC L 5063 b.)
In particular, children with many brothers or sisters who had died, had to be protected. Wearing the hood of one’s anorak or amaat up had a protective effect.18 The children’s cap, made of seal fur or dehaired seal leather, and decorated with white fur or leather and skin mosaic, was made by a mother who had already lost many children. This loose cap cov- ered not only the child’s head, but also its shoulders and chest. It was called piaaqqusiaq, according to Thalbitzer and Amdrup, who collected a cap of this kind. Christian Rosing, Lutheran minister of the church in Ammassalik from 1904 to 1921, however, used this term in a slightly different way, to refer to children with many brothers or sisters who had died.19
“It is a so-called piaarqusiaq-hood used to protect a child whose sisters and brothers have died as infants or babies. In order to prevent the last-born child from dying like the others, the mother gives it this or some other spe- cial garment as a kind of amulet to avert death from the child. This helmet- shaped hood is tied with double strings passing under the shoulders of the child; enclosing thus the shoulders, back and breast so that only the face is free, it forms such a magic remedy, averting attempts against the spirit of the child.” (Thalbitzer 1914:588-590.)
Children’s clothing according to gender
According to Holm, at a very early age children were dressed according to their sex. The clothing they received after their first long anorak was probably already of the adult type.
“When they are too old to be carried on the back, their dress is like that of the grown-ups, only without naatsit, and the girls have no head-dress.” (Holm 1914:34.)
Besides the gender-oriented clothing there may have been, small girls as well as small boys were dressed in an anorak made of seal fur, probably until the age of five or six years. These garments may have been the same for children of both sexes, although an anorak is a typ- ical male garment.
Boys usually wore inner anoraks made of seal fur, similar to those of their fathers. In win- ter, they had seal-fur anoraks with the hair side turned outside over their inner garments. The boy’s trousers were made of seal fur in winter, and their boots were also made of seal fur or seal leather. Their boots consisted of inner boots, fur-side turned inwards, and outer boots, fur side turned outwards in the case of winter boots. Summer boots were made of seal leather, sometimes decorated with skin mosaic, like those of the adult males. Especially when boys accompanied their fathers or uncles during hunting trips in win- ter, special garments were made for them, such as trousers made out of polar-bear fur and a dog-fur anorak. In summer, boys would wear kayak anoraks and gutskin anoraks, espe- cially when practicing kayaking or summer hunting.
“At what age the boy gets his kaiak, depends very much on how well-off the parents are; but the usual age seems to be about twelve. Before they get their kaiaks they take part in all kinds of hunting on the ice, and on land in the hunting of white grouse, foxes and ravens. A thirteen year old boy Kakartok had already caught thirty seals, the first one at the age of ten, and most of them in the spring, when the small ringed seals have crawled up on the ice, where they lie basking in the sun.” (Holm, 1914:63-64.)20
All these boy’s garments were shaped and sewn in conformity with the garments of adult males. Besides these garments, there was a hoodless anorak for small boys, made of seal fur, which was combined with a loose cap, and was probably used especially in summer. Instead of a hood sewn on, this anorak had a triangular incision at the neck opening (NMC L 5063A). A loose cap may have provided protection against evil spirits, and may have had some connection with the piaaqqusiat mentioned earlier. Amulets were sewn into a boy’s clothing to protect and procure good hunting results. Sometimes parents added a small piece of polar-bear sinew to the armlets their sons wore on their upper arms, so they would become as strong and brave as this predator. This provided a good protec- tion against enemies, and the boys’ arms would grow strong enough to cast a harpoon suc- cessfully (Chr. Rosing 1946:68,70).
Figure 4. Dress of an almost adult girl, dating from the end of the nineteenth century. (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, RMV 2085-3-6.)
Small girls, up to five or six years old, would wear seal-fur anoraks of the same shape as those for boys. While children were very young, there was not much difference in cloth- ing for boys and girls. Some of the girls aged between three and six years old pho- tographed at the end of the nineteenth or the beginning of the twentieth century, were already dressed according to their gender. These girls wore long cotton anorak-like skirts. These garments appeared under the influence of the Danish colonizers at the end of the nineteenth or beginning of the twentieth century. Girls could wear also short anoraks made of cloth (like those worn by boys).
East Greenlandic girls received their first amaarngut or tattulaq (inner and outer coat to carry a child) probably at an age of five or six years. Small babies’ or children’s amaarngut are lacking in museum collections, as well as in early photographs. The smallest preserved garments fitted children of approximately five years old.21 Small girls usually had dolls (Holm 1914:646-649), which they probably carried inside their first amaarngut, just as adult women did with babies and small children. A girl was able to carry a small child in an amaarngut at the back, at an age of approximately seven years. She could not only use her own amaarngut, but also borrow an amaarngut from her mother, elder sister, aunt or niece in order to carry a child for a short period. The smallest tattulat in museum collec- tions are all undecorated, lacking the two white decorated fur stripes at chest height.22 Receiving one’s first amaarngut or tattulaq, e.g., when a girl was big enough to take care of smaller children and carry them on her back, may have been a special social event. For girls, there were coats made out of gutskin. Sometimes the shape of these coats resem- bled that of the amaarngut. Gutskin coats with small hoods also existed.
