Piqpagi

beds and household things

There are many things that were once commonplace but are now somewhat forgotten many of these things consist of common household items such as bedding cooking utensils and instruments.

To start out with similarly to Japanese beds all traditional Inuit beds were on the floor but our beds were separated from the dirt or stone floors of our tents or sod houses by thick carpets and then by a layer of twigs then grass and Moss then finally animal pelts.

the person within lay on the final layer of pelts and they would usually have some fur and some quilts to keep them warm now pillows are kind of a complicated story since there are many varieties.

Typically most commonly people would just use their shoes or the clothes that they would plan on wearing next morning which sounds a little weird but it was a way to keep your head comfy and to keep your clothes warm so you didn't have to put on cold clothes the next morning other than that we had leather pillows that were filled with buckwheat or really small fine stones or even saw dust.

We also had pillows made of wood which again sounds a little bit uncomfortable but in my personal experience they do a lot for helping with headaches.

it was also common to heat up special flat or smooth Stones in the fire to they were hot enough to burn you but not hot enough to start a fire and it was common for people to sometimes put those under some of the layers of their beds.

People also liked to have their dogs sleep with them especially young puppies.

Also typically while having a single bed was not unheard of communal sleeping was common especially since a house was typically multiple families living together, typically spouses didn't always sleep together normally the husband would sleep with the grandparents or other members of the family while the women would usually sleep with the children however it all depended upon the personal family's preference typically though beds were quite large and whole families or as much as could fit but all sleep together.

communal sleeping is not unique to the Inuit in fact it's actually the most common form of sleeping in the world for multiple reasons depending upon where you're from in the case of the Inuit it helped to keep people warm but it also provided a lot of comfort not to mention the fact that in traditional Inuit culture personal space is not exactly something that exists and wanting to spend as much time with someone as possible snuggling and holding them close is a sign of affection especially with family so it makes sense that they would want to keep each other warm at night.

even today with some Inuit people living in modern houses and even having their own rooms communal sleeping between mothers and their children or even children and grandparents is commonplace.

Also men and women sharing the same bed is not necessarily considered innately sexual especially back in old times.

Anyway enough about bedtime now it's time for breakfast!

Besides having certain mats for eating on traditionally most Inuit people didn't exactly have cutlery or dishes with the exception of bowls and pottery, we also didn't really have forks or really spoons except for when needed to stir things or eat soup so most of our food we just ate with our hands and with the assistance of knives however we had all sorts of pans and pots and whatever else for cooking stuff in.

As for instruments probably the most famous is obviously going to be the hand-drum which is held in one hand while it is hit by a stick held in the other but there was and is a whole variety of so many other instruments!

Such as the jaw harp which is very common amongst many different cultures and goes by many different names but is typically a small device held between the teeth and played by applying different pressure and clicking a metal wire.

The hanging xylophone which was planks of hollowed out rounded wood that was hung off of a board kind of like a wind chime and it would be hit with bone and wood sticks.

Shakers or maracas that were typically hollowed out seashells filled with old beads or even teeth and then covered up with something.

Flutes of many different kinds and varieties and also the tautirut which is a zither or violin it has a very similar almost identical sound to the erus played by the Mongols but highly resembles fiddles from Scandinavia since it is very long and very thin and also incredibly small.

The base violins would have two strings and the ones that were of a higher note typically only had one.

The violins were typically made out of precious ivory very light wood and sometimes we're highly adorned with precious things.

The strings are made out of dried tendons typically of seal or moose and the bows used to play them were made out of the thin hair like material found on baleen.

Typically they were stationed on an axis placed on one's lap or occasionally on the lower part of one's rib held just at their side.

With the increasing influence of Christianity as well as the modern world many forms of Inuit life were pushed to the side sometimes willingly and other times by force Inuit language and music were usually pushed out in fact in some parts of Canada newspapers published advertisements saying that Inuit instruments needed to be burned because they were "instruments of satanism" 😑

Now today very few of our traditional instruments are still played very few even know how to still play them or even make them.