Title centered
  • Home
  • The Collections
  • People and Places
  • Conversations
  • Learn
  • Media Galleries
  • About
  • News
  • Welcome
  • Explore by Type
  • Explore the Collections
  • Explore "A Case of Access"
  • Natural History Collection

Related Content

Thumb 7777537mfz3tdzxr
18 related items
Thumb 777890eed6dr964g
18 related items
Thumb e1707 1
18 related items
Thumb 785362plh67m9prv
18 related items
Thumb 070992 000
18 related items
Thumb 059554 000
18 related items
Thumb 070994 000
18 related items
Thumb 071004 000
18 related items
Thumb 070991 000
18 related items
Thumb e1732
18 related items
Thumb e2051 1
18 related items
Thumb e1731 1
18 related items
Thumb e1710 1
18 related items
Thumb 070993 000
18 related items
Thumb 070999 000
18 related items
Thumb e1073a 1
18 related items
Thumb 071004 000
18 related items
Thumb 071247 000
18 related items
Thumb isp stewart ics nov2009 151
11 related media
Thumb isp stewart ics nov2009 150
11 related media
Thumb isp stewart ics nov2009 147
11 related media
Thumb isp stewart ics nov2009 146
11 related media
Thumb isp stewart ics nov2009 145
11 related media
Thumb isp stewart ics nov2009 144
11 related media
Thumb isp stewart ics nov2009 143
11 related media
Thumb isp hennessy ics 19nov2009 228
11 related media
Thumb isp hennessy ics 19nov2009 229
11 related media
Thumb isp hennessy ics 19nov2009 230
11 related media
Thumb isp hennessy ics 19nov2009 232
11 related media

ParkaBack

Large e1073a 1

Siglitun Terms

Qusungaq

Description

In winter men, women and children wore skin parkas (qusungat) over an inner garment (atigi). They were skillfully tailored using many individual pieces of skin (usually caribou) chosen for the thickness of the hide and qualities of the hair. Men's and women's parkas each had their own style, evident in the shape of the hood and the hem, and children's clothing mirrored the clothing of adults. Each parka was made to fit one particular individual, with the seamstress measuring with hand and eye and following complex patterns that were handed down from generation to generation. Parkas were decorated by incorporating pieces of skin with shorn hair and contrasting colours, and were sometimes coloured with dyes. The hood, cuffs and hem of the parka were usually trimmed with wolverine fur, which kept the cold out and because frost was easy to brush off the thick and stiff fur.

Community Interpretations

No community interpretations provided

Add your Knowledge

Historical Information

"(…) he wore (a) smock of summer-killed caribou skin with short, silky hair of beautiful chestnut colour. This outer garment (…), with fur outwards, was trimmed with several alternate black and shite skin borders, fringed with long and stiff tawny hair of wolverine fur." "(...) the main distinguishing feature of the woman's costume is the design of the hood. Since it has to enclose the coil or hair, it is frequently of enormous size (...) and looks even larger than it actually is because of its triple border of black hide, white hide and its fringe of long, stiff dung coloured wolverine hair. The hair fringe stands out like an aureola." "A five or six year old child had been dressed as a reindeer calf, with upright ears and bidding horns." (Émile Petitot, quoted in Savoie, 1971)

Siberian reindeer skins in small numbers came as far east as Baillie Island . . . before the whaling ships first came. They were considered much more “stylish” than caribou because of their rarity and cost much more. (Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1914, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 14: p. 344)

Thumb p man parka Thumb p woman parka Thumb siglit%2bwomen%2band%2bchid
Irc gray
  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Copyright
  • Admin