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Girls

A story about how girls used to play before and after the arrival of Qallunaat.

Before Qallunaat

In the wintertime, girls played in a child-sized igloo that their parents made for them. Sometimes the girls would sleep in the playhouse igloo; it was like a real miniature home. The inside of the igloo was equipped with regular houseold items, and might include an alliaq [twig mat] and a pretend qulliq [soapstone lamp] .Sometimes parents would make a real, small soapstone qulliq for their daughter.

Inside the playhouse igloo, the older girls boiled seal meat or water to make Labrador tea. Sometimes the boys would bother the girls in their play snow houses.

Artist: Thomassie Kudluk In the summertime, girls used to play outdoors. They played ball with caribou skin bean bags, filled with sand. Mothers made small tents for girls out of an old ulipakaaq [shawl] or an old tent. The parents made sure their girls had a place to play and have fun, and to have sleepovers with their cousins. The girls used caribou skin for sheets and goose down comforters for blankets.

As in the winter, they made boiled seal meat and other food. Sometimes when the girls were preparing food, the dogs would bother them by entering the tents and stealing the food.

The girls used rocks as toys. They used rocks to build dollhouses. The girls even used rocks as pretend babies, carrying pretend baby rocks in small ulipakaat [carrier shawls].

The children played hide-and-seek behind big rocks. Sometimes if a person remained unfound, that person would whistle to help the seekers locate him/her.

The girls played other games like never ending jumping. The last person still jumping at the end was said to be pisitik [smart].

After Qallunaat

Many things changed for Inuit children after the missionaries and fur traders came to the Inuit homeland in the Arctic. The missionaries preached and shared Bible stories. The fur traders brought flour and tea and sugar, foods which the Inuit children had never tasted before. The traders traded the flour and tea and sugar for the furs of fox, marten and other animals that Inuit hunters trapped.

Life changed. Now the girls used empty cans to make toys. Sometimes they would place empty cans all around the inside and outside edge of their play tent. They would make a pretend qulliq [lamp] using the screw-top of a jar. Sometimes the girls would stand behind a steep rock and play pretend trader or cashier, using pebbles as pretend money.

One thing that didn’t change – the boys still pestered the girls when they played. Very often the boys would steal the cans they used as toys.

Excerpt from: Unikkaangualaurtaa (Let's Tell a Story)