#Inuit culture

[startheskelaton]

Muktuk

[lazygoat]

Inuit miku sketch

[a-little-lost-in-my-own-head]

Guys, I found the perfect Sokka creature.

So we all know the dragon Zuko au, where he turns into a dragon, right? And I thought "hey, what if other nations have that too?" So I started my research.

The first creature I thought of was Tangie, because it's perfect for a fanfic. It's a water horse beast, that can appear as either a horse or a handsome man. When someone mounts it in horse form it's pretty safe until Tangie smells water. Then the back becomes adhesive and human can't escape. Tangie takes human to water and eats it.

Zukka fanfic where Zuko wants to put himself in danger (again) with no consideration for his own safety (again) and self sacrifice for others (again), but Sokka in horse form turns on his adhesive trait and literally carries him to safety like "no you stay right here"? Yes please.

BUT!

I thought, why force our western mythology here? So I searched for Inuit creatures, since you know, water tribe is based on Inuit culture. There aren't a lot of them on Wikipedia, so it didn't take long to look through every single one and guys

Guys.

Akhlut.

Do you guys know what an akhlut is? You probably don't, so let me tell you. Akhlut is an orca that becomes a wolf once it steps on land. It also has a merge form.

Do you know what looks an awful lot like it was inspired by orca, or at least has orca colors?

THAT'S RIGHT!

Do you guys know what was definitely inspired by wolves?

EXACTLY!

He already is an orca wolf! What's more, most of ATLA animals are merged from two animals, so it even fits lore! Tangie is perfect for fanfics, but akhlut is perfect for Sokka.

Why isn't this common in fanfics? Why isn't it popular? Besides, look at this good boy.

Baby Sokka akhlut.

EDIT: okay so maybe Sokka's war paint doesn't look all that orca-ish, but not having it in front of my eyes I thought it fit so I kept it in the post even after I double checked it. It has the colors. That's enough for me.

Art source:

Tangie from Bailee on Deviantart

https://www.deviantart.com/tag/bailee?page=5

Big Akhlut from Scorching Kami on Deviantart

https://www.deviantart.com/scorchingkami

Baby Akhlut from Hburton on Deviantart

https://www.deviantart.com/hbruton/art/Akhlut-Pups-895973610

[eelhound]

"The best response to anyone who wants to take seriously Nietzsche's fantasies about savage hunters chopping pieces off each other's bodies for failure to remit are the words of an actual hunter-gatherer — an Inuit from Greenland made famous in the Danish writer Peter Freuchen's Book of the Eskimo. Freuchen tells how one day, after coming home hungry from an unsuccessful walrus-hunting expedition, he found one of the successful hunters dropping off several hundred pounds of meat. He thanked him profusely. The man objected indignantly:

'Up in our country we are human!' said the hunter. 'And since we are human we help each other. We don't like to hear anybody say thanks for that. What I get today you may get tomorrow. Up here we say that by gifts one makes slaves and by whips one makes dogs.'

The last line is something of an anthropological classic, and similar statements about the refusal to calculate credits and debits can be found through the anthropological literature on egalitarian hunting societies. Rather than seeing himself as human because he could make economic calculations, the hunter insisted that being truly human meant refusing to make such calculations, refusing to measure or remember who had given what to whom, for the precise reason that doing so would inevitably create a world where we began 'comparing power with power, measuring, calculating' and reducing each other to slaves or dogs through debt.

It's not that he, like untold millions of similar egalitarian spirits throughout history, was unaware that humans have a propensity to calculate. If he wasn't aware of it, he could not have said what he did. Of course we have a propensity to calculate. We have all sorts of propensities. In any real-life situation, we have propensities that drive us in several different contradictory directions simultaneously. No one is more real than any other. The real question is which we take as the foundation of our humanity, and therefore, make the basis of our civilization. If Nietzsche's analysis of debt is helpful to us, then, it is because it reveals that when we start from the assumption that human thought is essentially a matter of commercial calculation, that buying and selling are the basis of human society — then, yes, once we begin to think about our relationship with the cosmos, we will necessarily conceive of it in terms of debt."

- David Graeber, from Debt: The First 5,000 Years, 2011.

[m00nb04rd5]

Sokka (ATLA)

[eywaseclipse]

Spent some time working on this. Got inspired by @thewarmblanket snow clan post and watching informational videos on Greenland lol. I love learning. And this snow na’vi is based off Inuit culture. Including the traditional tattoos called Tunniit. Did I mention this is a free draw with my non dominant hand? 🤗

“The process and method of making Tunniit is called kakiorneq in West Greenland and kagierneq in the east (both can be translated as "sewn with a needle").

The tradition of making and wearing Tunniit has mainly been passed on by Inuit women, as a sign of their spiritual responsibility and sewing skills. The kakiorneq and kagierneq techniques traditionally involve the use of a needle and sinew thread (thread made from the muscle of the reindeer's hind legs) dipped in a mixture of soot, oil and urine to create a line under the top layer of the skin. An alternative method involves the use of a sharp tool to make a small hole in the skin, followed by the application of a sooty substance to create a distinctive dot.”

[aroacespacerock]

I looove that they put the story of Sedna the Sea Goddess in dead boy detectives smmm! It’s one of my favorite Inuit stories (highly recommend looking into their culture, it’s so beautiful!)

[thunderbirdsera]

Lady Penelope Is Go!

After Fab-1 breaks down outside of a barren Inuit wilderness, Lady Penelope, Parker and I set off on an epic adventure to get back to the mansion. Travelling by foot, we encounter the beauty and wonder of the Inuit culture and the natural world around us as we try to find our way back home.

[thenuclearmallard]

Women throat singing.

[ichigoohinatsuma]

Inui pink

[victusinveritas]

Map showing languages and dialects of the Eskaleut language family in North America and Russia.

[sh3nlong-promakh0s]

Sketched two ocs and Azula tonight :3 so basically this will be part of a fic I'm writing called Tales of the Kazan, which would mostly be Azula-centric but also focusing on a lot of OCs that show how the Fire Nation and Water Tribes reconcile, as well as the population of dragons rehabilitating, energy bending and benders having the ability to bend more than one element without being the Avatar... and many more concepts I wanna fit it omg but lmk what u think if Ur interested ~

On the left is Kasumi Attagutaluk and she's meant to be a waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe who has a Fire Nation father. Obviously she's similar in appearance to Katara, I decided this bc she is probably like a close relative of Katara's, maybe a first or second cousin or something. I wanted to give her kakiniit which are traditional Inuit tattoos for women, bc I was inspired by how a lot of ppl on here draw them on art involving Katara.

The guy in the middles name is Jin Homura of Kagemusha. He's a bastard from one of the Fire Nation noble families who was orphaned, and found his way to the Serpent Isle. That's basically my version of the Fire Sage temple in LOK where all these characters meet and learn the art of multiple bending styles at once.

Azula's family name is Kazan in this world, which is still the royal family of the Fire Nation, but she gives up her royal title of crown Princess to follow in the footsteps of the Fire Sages and the original firebenders...

[shamandrummer]

Music Born of the Cold

Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq won the Polaris Prize in 2014 for Canada's best album of the year. Animism contained sounds never heard before in Canadian pop music: breathy throat singing, screeches, roars and other human sounds for which the English language has no names. Tagaq's music was ambiguous. She seemed a shamanic figure.

Suddenly, she and other throat singers were everywhere. Indigenous artist Caroline Monnet incorporated Tagaq soundtracks into her hypnotic art videos. Some touring rock groups hired throat singers as opening acts. For a time, no television variety program was complete without a guest spot for throat singers.

Tagaq may have seemed like a new and unique voice. But she had basically jazzed up a genre of Inuit music that has been performed on the land we now call Canada for thousands of years. Inuit throat singing, or katajjaq, is a distinct type of throat singing uniquely found among the Inuit. It is a form of musical performance, traditionally consisting of two women who sing duets in a close face-to-face formation with no instrumental accompaniment, in an entertaining contest to see who can outlast the other. One singer leads by setting a short rhythmic pattern, which she repeats leaving brief silent intervals between each repetition. The other singer fills in the gap with another rhythmic pattern.

The sounds used include voiced sounds as well as unvoiced ones, both through inhalation or exhalation. The first to run out of breath or be unable to maintain the pace of the other singer will start to laugh or simply stop and will thus be eliminated from the game. It generally lasts between one and three minutes. The winner is the singer who beats the largest number of people.

Originally, katajjaq was a form of entertainment among Inuit women while men were away on hunting trips, and it was regarded more as a type of vocal or breathing game in the Inuit culture rather than a form of music. Katajjiniq sound can create an impression of rhythmic and harmonious panting. Inuit throat singing can also imitate wind, water, animal sounds and other everyday sounds.

Notable traditional performers include Qaunak Mikkigak, Kathleen Ivaluarjuk Merritt, as well as Alacie Tullaugaq and Lucy Amarualik who perform in the katajjaq style. Several groups, including Tudjaat, The Jerry Cans, Quantum Tangle and Silla + Rise, also now blend traditional throat singing with mainstream musical genres such as pop, folk, rock and dance music. 

Tudjaat (Madeleine Allakariallak and Phoebe Atagotaaluk) performed on the song "Rattlebone" from Robbie Robertson's 1998 album Contact from the Underworld of Red Boy. The album is composed of music inspired by Aboriginal Canadian music (including traditional Aboriginal Canadian songs and chants), as well as modern rock, trip hop, and electronica, with the various styles often integrated together in the same song.

To learn more, watch this video of Inuit throat-singing sisters Karin and Kathy Kettler from Canada. The sisters carry on the traditions of the elders from their mothers' village in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik, which is located in northern Quebec.

[asiamarianelli]

Unpublished version of the variant cover for "Myths and Constellations", illustrated by me and written and published by Meet Myths! I really like this version! 🌙

You can find the book on Amazon in the following languages: ENG , ITA

You can also find all my useful links and contacts HERE.

[bpod-bpod]

Plants Against Parasites

From traditional knowledge to modern drug discovery, the natural world is a constant source of inspiration for medicine. Plants have proven especially useful in combating malaria, a disease caused by Plasmodium parasites and transmitted by mosquitoes: the widely-used antimalarial artemisinin was extracted from sweet wormwood, a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine, and promising candidates may yet emerge from a different culture. Dwarf Labrador tea (Rhododendron subarcticum, pictured) is traditionally used by Inuit and First Nations people in Canada to treat a wide range of ailments. Studying the composition of its essential oil uncovered 53 different molecules, dominated by ascaridole, a compound also found in other medicinal plants. Laboratory tests revealed both the essential oil and isolated ascaridole were toxic to Plasmodium falciparum, suggesting potential for antimalarial activity. As Plasmodiumbecome increasingly resistant to current treatments, drugs inspired by this tough northern plant could add useful weapons to our arsenal.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Image from work by Jean-Christophe Séguin and colleagues

Département de chimie and PROTEO, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Published in ACS Omega, May 2023

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[junkyarddemento]

NALUJUK NIGHT

Krampus gets all the attention for terrorizing kids during the holidays, but have you heard of the Nalujuk? Masked, dressed in animal furs, and carrying spears, these terrifying characters appear out of the night to give gifts to the good kids, while also chasing and beating the bad kids. This beautiful and stunning mini-doc is a look into this little known fascinating cultural tradition of the Inuit communities. This felt like part horror movie, part docu-mystery series ala In Search Of, which I really love.