Eskimos

*Population estimates for 1994

The Eskimos have lived on Chukot Peninsula, along the Bering Sea coast, and on Wrangel Island since 1926. By their culture and way of life, they are very much like their neighbors, the Chukchi. The majority of the Eskimos live along the Arctic coast of America from Alaska in the west to Labrador in the east, and also in Greenland.

By anthropology the Eskimos are referred to as the Arctic type of Mongoloids.

The Eskimos developed about four to five thousands years ago in the region of the Bering Sea and settled to the east up to Greenland having reached it long before AD. The Eskimos have wonderfully adapted to the life in the Arctic. They invented the rotary harpoon for hunting sea animals, kayak-boat, a snow dwelling called igloo, special fur clothes, and others.

The distinctive features of the original culture of the Eskimos during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the combination of sea-animal and deer hunting, considerable remnants of primitive communal system ideas, and life in territorial communities.

The religious ideas of the Eskimos had much in common with those of the Chukotka peoples. The Eskimos believed in good and evil spirits. The last category (“tuch’nycn’st”) was thought dangerous for people. It was common to worship some animals and birds which were forbidden for hunting. Among them were wolves, ravens, and killer whales. The Eskimos used amulets for keeping the evil spirits away. The ritual festivities were accompanied by drama performances and dances. These festivities were mainly connected with the cult of the animals for hunting. The religious beliefs were reflected in their art and mythology. There existed wooden sculptural images of guard-spirits. Some items of ritual garments were decorated with special ornaments.

The Eskimos used to wear clothes and boots made of sea animals skins and of deer fur. Men’s clothes consisted of special pants of seal skin, a shirt of deer fur, and fur trousers. Women used to wear special skin pants and fur overalls. The models of women’s footwear were very similar to the men’s but the women’s boots were higher than the men’s. It was common to wear fur hats and mittens only on journies. Usually, even in spite of severe frosts and winds, they went bare-headed.

The present way of the Eskimos life has been considerably changed. The equipment of industry with modern machinery and appliances has provided a substantial increase in sea trapping. The Eskimos live in the houses with modern amenities; while children get secondary and higher education.

Like the Chukchi, the Eskimos have been famous because of their skills in bone carving. They carved animal figures from walrus fangs. Today, engraving on fangs is being enriched with new motifs, while at the same time preserving its original national coloring. Women’s crafts of embroidering with deer hair and colored thread of girdles, mittens, rugs, shoes is being developed.