The Art's and Game's
The Inuit did not spend a lot of time together in a vast group and so when they did have a special get together it was full of surprizes and a wide range of art that varied throughout every family. There were many sculptures made of ice that were held in great value and represented families crest of sometimes a sacred animal in which to honor them. Also prints began to come alive that were instegated by their surroundings and the coming of the white people. Most, if not all of the art made by the Inuit were created from bone, ivory or even just regular stone scraped from the mountain side. Dancing was not as obvious of an art as sculptures were, but the main way of dancing is to drum dance where the people would dance while the others would bang on drums in a sort of rythm. The music encouraged at these gatherings were a form of giving thanks and once again the drums were the bases of music. The men and children played the games in their homes. Lacrosse was actually made from the ideas of the Inuit where children tossed a minature rabbit skull into the air and then would try to spear it with a piece of bone. The games played with a ball were molded from sealskin suffed with moss. Also after a successful hunt the men would wrestle, compete in tests of strengths, and race. The favourite game of the people of the ice is the cat's cradle which is still played all over the world today.
Ceremonies/Beliefs
The people of the ice were capable of many large festivals and ceremonies but did not oblige to incorporate these large reunions into their lives. Although the Inuit did not do very many happy festivals they did indeed did a burial ceremony where the people of the household and the surrounding iglu's would come and do their final blessings and prayers for the deceased. Although they performed this dead ceremony they were not able to alway's do it as to the frost a long snow storms during the winter in which the corpse would stay with them until they were able to bury it. If the agonizing winters were too long to wait for the end of them the dead were somtimes buried in a box, a pile of driftwood or a burial platform. If they were able to overcome the winter they would be bureid in a heap of stones so that the animals would not catch its scent. They also performed sacred rituals and spoke prayers for the Gods to watch over them and give them the right conditions for a good hunt.
Social Organization
A regular Inuit family consisted of the parents, children, grandparents,aunts/uncles and any other relatives who do not have a hunter to provide essential amounts of food for them to survive. This whole family live together in a solitary shelter. An Inuit man was able to mary when he could provide enough food through hunting to sustain a wife. The couples were promised to each other at birth by their parents but if the children were not promised to eachother ther were no special rules or courtship. Once the couple were married the man visited the parents of his chosen bride to see if her father approved of him in which the bride had little say in the matter. There was no formal wedding and the man was able to have a multiple amount of wives if he was of high standards. Children were also important as havings sons meant that the parents had someone to look after them when they grew old and weak. The children were taught the life-saving survival skills of the Arctic wilderness at around eight. During this time the girls learned how to set traps and make and tend to clothing and the shelter. Meanwhile the boys learned how to make iglus, identify animal traps, imitate hunting calls and hunt with weapons.
The Inuit put time and effort into hunting and having a protection against the harsh environment so there was little time to develop a permanent government. There were no official chiefs who ran the groups but the strong reliable hunters usually held the most power and ran the camp. During this time the Inuits found it difficult to organize relationships with other native groups such as the Iqaluit. Once the white men showed up the Inuits began to get invloved politically at a local, national, and international level. This created a Inuit government that was elected by the surrounding communitites.
The Inuit put time and effort into hunting and having a protection against the harsh environment so there was little time to develop a permanent government. There were no official chiefs who ran the groups but the strong reliable hunters usually held the most power and ran the camp. During this time the Inuits found it difficult to organize relationships with other native groups such as the Iqaluit. Once the white men showed up the Inuits began to get invloved politically at a local, national, and international level. This created a Inuit government that was elected by the surrounding communitites.