Inuit Culture

The Inuit culture can be broken down into multiple different components: Religion, Ceremonies, Art, and Clothing.

Religion
The Inuit practiced animism; the belief that all living and nonliving things contained a spirit. This includes people, animals, forces of nature, and inanimate objects.

They believed that when a spirit died, it continued to live, albiet in a new world, known as the spirit world.

The only people that the Inuit believed had enough power to control the spirits were their powerful religious leaders called the Shamans or 'Angakoks'. The Inuit Shamans used charms and dances as a means to communicate with the spirit world. The Shamans would wear carved masks-mostly representing animals- while performing their rituals. They had believed that these masks gave them powers that allowed them to communicate with the spirits. To appease the spirits the Shamans would make 'recommendations'. They would suggest offering gifts to the spirits, moving away, and sometimes would fine the person for breaking the rules and angering the spirits.

The Spirits
Illness, bad weather, and unsuccessful hunts were all believed to be the results of a displeased spirit. In order to avoid this, the Inuit were supposed to follow in order to keep the spirits happy. They had rituals for hunting and eating meant for the spirits that lived within animals. They had to pay a deep respect to the spirit of the animals that they hunted, so that the spirit reappeared in another animal that could sacrifice its life again. If they did not pay their respects to the spirit, the spirit would reappear as a demon. Humans also had souls that could be lost or stolen (causes of illness and madness). The belief was that humans were made of three parts: a body, a name, and a soul. When a person died, it was only the body that died, the spirit and name could continue living in a new body. The names of dead relatives were given to babies, ensuring that the soul and name could continue living.

Rules of the Spirit World
In order to appease the spirits, the Inuit maintained the following rules:
 * Women were not allowed to sew caribou skins inside igloos on sea ice during the winter.
 * The Inuit people did not eat sea mammal and land mammal meat at the same meal.
 * A knife used for killing whales had to be wrapped in sealskin, not caribou skin.
 * After killing a seal, melted snow had to be dripped into its mouth to quench the spirit's thirst.
 * The Inuit saved the bladder of the hunted animals, because the belief was that the spirit was found inside.

Ceremonies
The Inuit had different kinds of ceremonies for different aspects of life.

Music and Dancing
The main instrument of Inuit ceremonies and dances was the shallow, one-sided drum. Most drums were made from caribou skin, or walrus stomach or bladder stretched over a wooden hoop. Drum dances usually occurred inside large snowhouses (igloos) with up to 60 people. In song and dance they told stories of the spirits. Some dances were religious in nature, while others welcomed travelers or celebrated a successful hunt. Throat singing, performed by two women in competition, used different sounds made in their throats and chests. One woman would set a short rhythmic pattern; then the other woman would set her own pattern.

Religious Ceremonies
Shamans (angakoks) performed many of their healing rituals in ceremonial houses called 'Kashims'. Kashims were sometimes partially buried in the ground, and only the Shaman knew where the entrance was.

Special Ceremonies
A ceremony known as a 'Bladder Dance' was often held in a large hut. This is because the Inuit believed that the soul of the animal was found inside the bladder, so if the bladder was honored and returned to sea, then the animal's spirit would be able to find a new body.

Art
To the Inuit, art played an important role in their culture. They utilized any resources available to them, such as parts of animals, stone, and driftwood.

Carvings
Carvings were made of stone, bone, and ivory (from whales and the tusks of walruses). Most of these carvings were made of Arctic animals, people, or spirits.

Masks
Masks, were a vital part of the Inuit culture. They were used in ceremonial dances. Most masks were made out of driftwood or whalebone. Yup'ik masks represent encounters with the spirit world. They were made to show what spiritual leaders, like the Shamans, saw while they were in a trance.

Inukshuk
Inukshuks were large rock Cairns made from balancing rocks that were heaved to the surface by the frozen earth (permafrost). The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path." An inukshuk can be small or large, a single rock, several rocks balanced on each other, round boulders or flat. Some are known to vaguely resemble the human body. Built from whatever stones are at hand, each one is unique. The arrangement of stones indicates the purpose of the marker. The directions of arms or legs could indicate the direction of an open channel for navigation, or a valley for passage through the mountains. An inukshuk without arms, or with antlers affixed to it, would act as a marker for a cache of food.

Clothing
Clothing of the Inuit people was mostly made out of animal skins and furs. They usually wore many layers of clothing as protection from the cold weather. Caribou skin was the most common choice for clothing, because it provided good insulation and was relatively light. Usually the Inuit wore clothing with two layers of caribou skin: an inner layer with the fur facing the skin, and an outer layer with the fur facing out.The Inuit people also made clothing from other animal skins, including dog, squirrel, marmot, fox, wolf, polar bear, bird skin, feathers, and sealskin. They sometimes used sea mammal intestines instead of hides, because they provided more resistance to water.