Thursday 15 March 2012

TODAY'S IMAGE: MARCH 15, 2012

INUIT BOY IN SEALSKIN AND BONE
By Kyle Marquaret, Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic


Here are is a more detailed close up of this Inuit boy. This has much more details on the bone slit eye wear to prevent snow blindness. A very effective solution to cut out all the radiation in the arctic that I would most definitely use if I wasn’t privy to adequate sunglasses.

The people here are mainly Inuit, they are also Canadians, and for the most part they dress just like me. But for the sake of preserving history and traditions, for special occasions they will put on traditional clothing.
 
The intricacy and beauty of this traditional wear is stunning. Made entirely of seal skin, every piece of the animal has been used for something. A close look at the crafting and stitching reveals how much work has gone into the making of these. Thousands of years of trial, error and Inuit ingenuity has gone into the design of these beautiful, functional and life preserving attire. 

Another danger out here is the harsh glare of the arctic sun, it’s magnified by the amount of high albedo snow and ice of this landscape. The Inuit have developed visors made of bone, with tiny slits letting in just enough light to see but not so much to get snow blindness.

2 comments:

  1. groovy story

    Vitamin C
    very interesting fact about Inuit and similar peoples of arctic regions - prior to introduction to "western" diet - was the ability of their bodily systems to self produce vitamin C

    (think about it - there are little to no sources of fruit, vegetables, etc. that provide vitamin C in the Arctic)

    scientists of earlier eras who studied these people, who subsisted mostly on raw and dried animal, fish flesh - discovered that their bodies self-produced necessary levels of vitamin C

    once the "western" diet was adopted - which provided the vitamin - the Arctic peoples bodies production of the C vit was interrupted - permanently

    a good example of vit C self producing animals is the dog

    this is why dogs - generally - will immediately reject any citrus fruits (or those containing C vit); their bodies will lose ability to self-produce, which in turn will lead to many problems for the dog ...

    (this is in no means a comparison of Inuit to dogs, versa vice, ...)

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  2. Traditional Catholic Prayers: The Justice of God: Europa & Palestine News « Kawther Salam

    Pray for and support the suffering innocents in the Holy Land where Our Lord Jesus Christ walked, Palestine, and the region and throughout the world.

    The Justice of God: Europa & Palestine News « Kawther Salam

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