I had a most interesting committee meeting last night. Without getting into a lot of details, I’m on a committee for the local DEA (District Education Committee) dealing with an important aspect of education in Nunavut. An exercise that we worked on last night was building a timeline for schooling in Arctic Bay. An incredible subject on its own, that post will have to wait for another time. Given that there are two elders on the committee and we were dealing with a topic dear to my heart – local history, we got off topic on several occasions. Guilty as charged, it was always me that led us astray.
There were a number of old photos on the wall, and not seeing one that I had long wanted to know about I asked. Years ago I’d seen a photo of an elder with facial tattoos and I had wanted to know more, so I asked the elders about her. It turned out there were pictures of her on the photo montage but in those the tattoos weren’t really visible, not like the fairly modern photo I had seen of her.
Attua was one of the last women in Arctic Bay to sport traditional tattoos. Those of you who have seen Attanarjuat; The Fast Runner would be familiar with the traditional tattoos, a series of lines on the woman’s face. The tattoo’d lines, it turns out, are not just on the face but all over the woman’s body. It was done as a symbol that the woman was a "grown woman". When I learned how it was done, I don’t think I’d ever want to grow up.
The tattoos were made with a "very sharp brass needle" and thread. (If I understand correctly from previous reading that the "ink" was soot and some form of fat). Essentially the tattoo was sewn on to the woman with the needle pulling the thread through the skin. Attua spent seven days in bed recovering from the tattooing and her face and body were swollen. If I understood some of the conversation in Inuktitut, the lines at the bottom of the lip and beside the nostrils were especially painful.
Almost a year ago I tried to lure the makers of Miami Ink up here to film an episode. I thought that given the connection with the traditional tattooing and the concept of a bunch of people from the opposite end of North America, tropical Florida, coming to the High Arctic would have been tempting for them. Apparently it wasn’t as I never heard back from them at all.
But in case you’re at all interested, here is my "Audition Tape"
and application for a tattoo on the show. How could they have possibly resisted?
Comments
11 responses
That’s a cool post Clare. I enquired about that old custom when I was living up the coast with our local historian. She couldn’t offer much on the subject because she just didn’t know why it was done. It was the same thing when I enquired about the shamanistic religious beliefs. Little was remembered about it because, it was assumed, Christianity had been a part of the people for so long.
Hi Clare,
Auta was my grandmother.
Yes she had tatoo from head to toe.
Hi-
I’m so pleased to meet you. I’ve been interested in Arctic and Northern cultures for a while now, so I was particularly pleased to find your blog. Thanks!
Kathryn
http://www.outwithari.blogspot.com
Thanks gary. We had fun at our meeting talking local history. It whetted my appetite for more. It is truly sad that, even worse than losing the history from many’s memories, some is being destroyed. I was quite saddened to read this past year of ancient pictographs being defaced in Nunavik for being demonic or un-christian.
Hi Ida, sorry I spelled your grandmother’s name wrong. I should have asked someone. And if you have a photo of her email it to me and I’ll post it as an example of the tattoos.
Pleased to me you also Kathryn (and Ari) welcome to the House.
I would send you a picture but I dont have a scanner. The pictures of Atua can also be ound at the on line Library of Archives in Manitoba. Or you can ask Joanna Koonoo or Hannah Aola to see a picture of Atua.
There’s also this website you can look at.
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/inuit/index-e.html
tattoos in borneo are done in somewhat similar way. thing sharp needle and tapped on the skin with a light wood that acts as a hammer. from what i heard, after a few taps, you feel completely numb. a friend of mine got it done traditionally. here’s the link
http://macamacam.wordpress.com/2006/04/14/borneo-tattoo/
Thanks Ida,
I’ve posted the picture in a new post.
Aida, that’s a great tattoo of your friend’s. I don’t think my description of the inuit tattooing was very good. If I understand it correctly, the tattoo was made in a manner similar to sewing. The “ink” is on a thread and the needle is put under the skin and pulls the thread through, under the skin. This, opposed to putting ink on the needle and puncturing the skin repeatedly with the needle.
my mistake clare, i miss that part. i need to stop skim reading posts! sorry!
Ouch! That sounds terribly painful! I’d take a modern day tattoo parlor any day instad of that…
Hi Dennis,
Yeah, I think it would be pretty painful. Atua, the woman who is the subject of the post, spent 7 days in bed afterwards recovering. She probably would have been a young teenager when it was done.