Monday 28 March 2016

ABC Wednesday, L for Life in the cold Arctic Climate


 Glaciers are getting smaller and smaller all over the world.

 This is the Supphellebreen  in Norway on

                                           the northern hemisphere.

                                         

New Zealand , South Island,

Franz Jozef Glacier

 on the southern hemisphere.



On a glacier in New Zealand


Several years ago  I went to Leiden to the Museum for Cultural Anthropology, to see an exhibition about the Arctic regions.The residents of the Arctic live in Alaska, Siberia, Canada, Greenland, and Lapland. The people are called the Inuits ( Greenland), the Unangan ( Alaska), the Sámi (Lapland). They are now called First Nations, as Leslie remarked.

Clothes made of intestines are waterproof and wind-tight




They used to live from fishing and hunting. Everything of the animal was used either for food but also for clothing, and the oil of course among other things, for lamps.
 






The animals in these areas are the polar bear, the snow fox, sea lions, the seal, the walrus. Their skins, and intestines were also used for clothes. Their bones were important for the production of tools. Nowadays many of these people live like we do with clothes of the same material we have. I found the clothes made of intestines of animals, very strange, but interesting .
These clothes were waterproof , because the seams were sewn with a waterproof stitch. Prepared intestines of sea lions, seals, walrus, otters, or bears were sewn in horizontal strips to each other.


 The kamleika has its strips in a vertical direction.
 A kamleika is an Aleut robe made from sea mammal (mostly sea otter) intestine, which was light and waterproof. They also sometimes had robes to protect against threats such as heavy wind and rain. They were sewn with grass, and each took around a month to make.
 It was worn by men as an outer layer of clothing while kayaking. In the village also a jacket made of intestine protected the fur or bird skin clothing underneath against snow and rain. Intestine kamleikas fell out of use in the early twentieth century.



Even windows were made of intestines.


The Arctic is warming up quickly, faster than other places on Earth. People who live there have been noticing the change. Because their culture is adapted to the Arctic’s cold climate, global warming is making it difficult for them to continue their traditions. 

Therefore it is time to try and stop the rapidly change of climate.



ABC is created by Denise Nesbitt.For more lovely and interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the
 sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with "I".


The arctic regions


11 comments:

Leslie: said...

Children in the 4th grade here (9 year-olds) study the Inuit in Social Studies as they are part of Canadian heritage. Great photos!

Leslie
abcw team

Leslie: said...

hi again Wil. In answer to your question, we never refer to "Indians" anymore - not considered politically correct. They (ALL of the various types) are called "First Nations" now. This is to indicate and honour that they were all here before the Europeans so-called "discovered" this new land.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

We saw those animals 'in person' when we went to Alaska and also sadly, the first-hand evidence of climate change with the melting glaciers. You are righit, we do have to.

carol l mckenna said...

What a delightful post and awesome photos ~ hope we can do something about the climate changing so fast ~

Wishing you peace in each day ~ ^_^

Anonymous said...

Brrr...It certainly looks cold. It's great that they could create clothing to help protect themselves from the frigid weather...

Photo Cache said...

I want to experience artic cold.

My ABC WEDNESDAY

Rajesh said...

Beautiful shots of the place. Very coll. Thanks for sharing.

Roger Owen Green said...

Very informative. The Daughter was writing something on climate change just last night; are we in trouble!

ROG, ABCW

Trubes said...

Interesting and most informative Wil, such creative people too.
I like that they are now referred to as 'First Nation'people.
Most respectful and true.
Fabulous pictures too.
Best wishes,
Di.
ABCW team.

photowannabe said...

Very interesting and informative post Wil. I do like the respectful name First Nations.

Ira said...

Informative post! The illustrations emphasize the writing!