{"id":43,"date":"2012-12-07T09:38:57","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T16:38:57","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2022-08-23T03:00:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T09:00:10","slug":"gifts-whale-inuit-gift-giving-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/gifts-whale-inuit-gift-giving-101","title":{"rendered":"Gifts of Whale: Inuit Gift Giving 101"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The Inuit people are the original people who inhabited Siberia, Greenland, Northern Canada, Labrador and regions above the tree line in Alaska. Though European and Christian missionary influence has changed the culture and molded many original Inuit customs to mimic Christian ones, there are still remnants of the Inuit culture in these parts of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Since these arctic regions can be so brutal, the Inuit culture was centered on survival. Men hunted most of the year while women prepared meals and took care of the homes and children and thus gift giving and celebrations were small components of the culture. Nonetheless, gift giving was a part of the culture since it\u2019s one of the most ancient and reliable ways to strengthen social bonds and show appreciation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Animism was the religious view of the Inuit people. They believed that everything and everyone had a spirit and that these spirits hung around and could influence the outcomes of events. These religious beliefs paired with the fact that these humans could not survive without the hunting of whales formed all of the Inuit celebrations and gift giving occasions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Gift Wrap and Presentation:<\/strong>\u00a0Gifts were not traditionally wrapped or concealed in anyway. They were simply given.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Go to Gifts:<\/strong>\u00a0Traditionally gifts of food, primarily whale meat because it comprised 70% of the Inuit peoples diet, were given.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Gift Giving Occasions:<\/strong>\u00a0Gift giving occasions revolved around hunting season and successful hunts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>* Weddings:<\/strong>\u00a0Traditionally the Inuit people had no formal marriage ceremony. The couple would just begin living together and they also were not typically in a \u201ccontractual relationship.\u201d So, no wedding gifts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">However, modernity has morphed the Inuit culture and now Christian weddings are quite common. The ceremony and gifts mimic European tradition so common wedding gifts include things for the couple\u2019s home and money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>*Naluqatak:\u00a0<\/strong>A hunting celebration that takes place in June to honor the spirits of hunted whales. Captains and crews who have\u00a0successful whale hunts gift whale meat to the community. The celebration consists of a whole day of feasting, singing, dancing and a blanket toss in which people are bounced on a walrus skin trampoline.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>*Christmas:<\/strong>\u00a0Christmas was not traditionally celebrated in these Artic regions but is now very popular among the Inuit peoples.\u00a0Since the Arctic Tundra doesn\u2019t produce evergreen trees, they have to be imported from Europe. If a family cannot afford to import a Christmas tree, they will often decorate a piece of driftwood.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>*Messenger Feast:<\/strong>\u00a0This tradition is more of a thing of the past though some Inuit people are trying to bring it back in a cultural preservation effort. Two \u201cmessengers\u201d would travel to neighboring villages and invite them to a big feast in their own village. This would occur because the host village had a successful whale hunting season and would gift members from nearby villages a large feast. Traditionally small gifts (jewelry, tools or food) would also be exchanged between villages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"blog-experience-finder\" id=\"experience-finder-9NN7IY28\">\n    <div class=\"form-group form-group-regions selectric-theme-flydown\">\n        <label> Region:<\/label>\n        <select class=\"finder_regions\" name=\"finder_regions\" required>\n        <\/select>\n    <\/div>\n            <div class=\"form-group selectric-theme-flydown form-group-categories\">\n            <label> Categories:<\/label>\n            <select class=\"finder_categories\" name=\"finder_categories\">\n            <\/select>\n        <\/div>\n        <button type=\"submit\">\n        Go!\n    <\/button>\n<\/div>\n\n<script type=\"application\/javascript\">\n  $j(document).ready(function () {\n    var htmlId = \"9NN7IY28\"\n    var showCategories = \"true\" === 'true'\n\n    var categories = _.sortBy(Cloud.getConfig('categories'), 'name');\n    var regions = _.filter(Cloud.getConfig('regions'), function (region) {\n      return region.name.toLowerCase() !== 'national'\n    });\n\n    var regionsOptionsMarkup = _.map(regions, function(region) {\n      var stateCode = '';\n      if(typeof region.state_code !== 'undefined') {\n        stateCode = region.state_code + ' - ';\n      }\n      return '<option value=\"'+ region.name +'\">' +\n        stateCode + region.name +\n        '' ;\n    });\n    regionsOptionsMarkup.shift()\n    regionsOptionsMarkup.unshift('<option disabled selected value=\"\"> Select a region');\n\n    \/\/ Add the options to the select\n    $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .finder_regions').append(regionsOptionsMarkup);\n\n    $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .finder_regions').selectric({\n      \"arrowButtonMarkup\": '<i class=\"fa fa-angle-down selectric-button\">',\n      onChange: function (element) {\n        removeError();\n      }\n    });\n\n\n    if (showCategories) {\n\n      var categoriesOptionsMarkup = _.map(categories, function (cat) {\n        return '<option value=\"' + cat.url_key + '\">' +\n          cat.name +\n          '';\n      });\n      categoriesOptionsMarkup.unshift('<option disabled selected value=\"\"> Select a category');\n      $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .finder_categories').append(categoriesOptionsMarkup);\n      $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .finder_categories').selectric({\n        \"arrowButtonMarkup\": '<i class=\"fa fa-angle-down selectric-button\">'\n      });\n    }\n\n    function renderError() {\n      $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .form-group-regions').addClass('invalid');\n      $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .form-group-regions').append('<small class=\"error\">Please select a region.')\n    }\n\n    function removeError() {\n      $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .form-group-regions').removeClass('invalid');\n      $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .form-group-regions small').remove();\n    }\n\n    $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' button').click(function (evt) {\n      evt.preventDefault();\n\n      var regionText = $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .form-group-regions .selectric p.label').text();\n      var categoryText = showCategories ? $j('#experience-finder-' + htmlId + ' .form-group-categories .selectric p.label').text() : null\n\n      var region = _.find(regions, function (region) {\n        return region.state_code + ' - ' + region.name === regionText;\n      })\n      var category = _.find(categories, function (category) {\n        return category.name === categoryText;\n      })\n\n      var url = '';\n\n      \/\/ If no region, render an error and don't change url\n      if (!region) {\n        renderError();\n        return false;\n      } else {\n        \/\/ If region exists, change url!\n        url = Cloud.getUrl(region.url_key);\n        if (category) {\n          url = Cloud.getUrl(region.url_key);\n          if(category.url_key) {\n            url = Cloud.getUrl(region.url_key + \"\/\" + category.url_key);\n          }\n        }\n\n        window.location.href = url;\n        return false;\n      }\n    })\n  })\n<\/script>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Inuit people are the original people who inhabited Siberia, Greenland, Northern Canada, Labrador and regions above the tree line in Alaska. Though European and Christian missionary influence has changed the culture and molded many original Inuit customs to mimic Christian ones, there are still remnants of the Inuit culture in these parts of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":9852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[244,243],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-culture","tag-fun-facts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gifts of Whale: Inuit Traditions &amp; Gift Giving<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about Inuit customs &amp; traditions involved with Inuit gift giving - what to do, what not to do, etiquette, history, &amp; more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gifts of Whale: Inuit Traditions &amp; Gift Giving\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about Inuit customs &amp; traditions involved with Inuit gift giving - what to do, what not to do, etiquette, history, &amp; more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/gifts-whale-inuit-gift-giving-101\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Virgin Gifts Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VirginExperienceGifts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-07T16:38:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-23T09:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.virgingifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Screenshot-2020-03-26-at-10.14.12-AM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Shelley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@VirginExpGifts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@VirginExpGifts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Shelley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/gifts-whale-inuit-gift-giving-101\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/gifts-whale-inuit-gift-giving-101\",\"name\":\"Gifts of Whale: Inuit Traditions & Gift Giving\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/gifts-whale-inuit-gift-giving-101#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/gifts-whale-inuit-gift-giving-101#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.virgingifts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Screenshot-2020-03-26-at-10.14.12-AM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-07T16:38:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-23T09:00:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.virgingifts.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c470d99e1cc4f6de93f119a2da800ef\"},\"description\":\"Learn about Inuit customs & traditions involved with Inuit gift giving - 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