The girl whose grave marker I had sought would be the first to die. Not all the Inuit would survive this odyssey. This was the first of many shows in a trip that would, for most, last almost three years and take the Inuit to France, Spain, North Africa and Italy, before they crossed the Atlantic again for a major exhibition in Buffalo, New York. The show they were a part of was a grandiose presentation called “Briton, Boer and Black in Savage South Africa.”īizarrely, it featured an “Esquimaux Village,” almost as an afterthought. The Inuit arrived in Europe aboard the Hudson’s Bay Co. Their first show would be at the well-known exhibition venue of Olympia, in London. He enticed Inuit from Zoar, Davis Inlet, Nain and Hebron to accompany him to England. In 1899, Ralph Taber, the promoter who seven years earlier had recruited Labrador Inuit for the Chicago World’s Fair, returned to that coast to take Inuit for another ethnographic exhibition, this time in Europe. Almost immediately, in the row of markers closest to the office, I found the lonely grave. While the minister dealt with an interruption, I returned to the graveyard and began my search. To the clergyman’s surprise, it showed “Eskimo Child” in the northeast section, Row 10, Number 2, very close to the hedgerow outside the chapel. In the minister’s office, we examined the plan of the graveyard. Indeed, a 1795 publication explained succinctly that one quadrant is “appropriated to male infants and single brothers a second, to female infants and single sisters a third, to married brothers or widowers and the fourth, to married sisters and widows.” There are no standing tombstones-grave markers are all flat and of two sizes, “a smaller for children, and a larger for grown persons.” In fact, as I soon learned, there is a young Inuit man buried there, but that’s a story for another time.Ī Moravian graveyard is laid out in quadrants, the minister explained. My information was that the cemetery had the grave of a female Inuit child. When a man was old enough to be a productive hunter, they were expected to marry.This was news to me. They are taught to hunt from a young age. A child who loses his parents carries no stigma in Inuit society. This fluidity of bonds between adults and children extends into adoption practices. How does authority work in an Inuit family?Īny adult can exercise authority in terms of discipline, instruction and disapproval for inappropriate behaviour, though the responsibility for children generally rests with the immediate family. In some societies, boys were raised by an uncle, not by their father. They were expected to conform to the ways of the tribe. What was the role of children in Native American Society?Ĭhildren were often taught at a young age to be strong and not show emotion. They certainly did not want colonists to find out how happy the Inuit were before the Europeans arrived to take the lands and natural resource’s. Tales like that were probably started by Missionaries in their continued effort to force people into fearing the Tribe. Why are children so important to the Inuit?Ĭhildren and family are sacred to the Inuit as they are to all native Americans. Polyandry was not as well-known in Eskimo communities, but wife-swapping could be considered a form of the practice. Polygamy Was Common For Some Wealthy Eskimos Having more than one wife was a sign that a man could afford to provide for numerous women, a testament to his wealth. It is of great concern that nearly 60 per cent of Inuit across the four Arctic regions have less than a high school education. Literacy levels are well below the national average in elementary and secondary schools alike. Inuit leadership was represented by National Inuit Leader Natan Obed, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, President Johannes Lampe of the Nunatsiavut Government, President Jobie Tukkiapik of Makivik Corporation, President Aluki Kotierk of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, President and CEO Duane Smith of the Inuvialuit … In Inuit culture, it was believed that the women’s respect for the animals killed during hunting trips, and subsequent care when butchering them, would ensure successful hunts. Women were traditionally responsible for the butchering, skinning, and cooking of animals taken by the hunters. Two out of three children participate in seasonal activities and two out of three go hunting, fishing, or camping. Two out of three 2- to 5- year-old Inuit children participate in traditional activities. Young Inuit children can learn about their culture from participating in traditional and seasonal activities.

Why are children so important to the Inuit?.

Eskimo iunit kid