Sealskin Mittens
‘One Viking’s Journey above the Arctic Circle’
In the ninth month in the year 1001 I traveled to the faraway region known as Grønland (Greenland). The native people there call this place Kalaallit Nunaat. We traveled from Reykjavik, Iceland after many days spent on the sea from Denmark, my home. I journeyed to this far away land after I heard a story told by my cousin one night sitting around the fire in the long house. He spoke of a place where the sun shines day and night in the summer and never comes into the sky during the winter. He talked of magic green lights that sparkled in the sky. The land is full of seal, walrus, caribou, giant hares, a long-haired ox, little white fox everywhere and great white bears that chase you down without fear (Counter, 6). There is a strange people who live there. They are very small and seem friendly. Even though there are no trees and they have no sheep, they keep warm and make clothes from these strange animals that live there (. When I heard his story I knew I had to travel to see this magic place myself to see these strange things and mystical creatures.
The first part of our journey took us to the Western Settlement. My great Uncle, Erik the Red, had a farm there. I stayed with a distant cousin and was amazed at how much the long house reminded me of my home in Denmark. We gathered a few supplies after just spending a day and a night then sailed north as snow slowly floated in the air around us. I was amazed at the giant icebergs jutting up from the dark, cold water. It was so quiet, like the icebergs had taken all the sound from the air. As we traveled farther north, the air got colder. I kept my wool cloak tightly wrapped around me. When I looked down in the water, I occasionally caught a glimpse of an animal that looked like half fish and half dog. I didn’t know it at the time but this was the ‘seal’ that my cousin spoke of in his stories. The local people, the Inuits, hunted these creatures and use their hides to make garments that both repel water and insulate.
We finally arrived at a camp called Umanak in the Thule district. I left the ship feeling the cool, dry air upon my face and a feeling of exhilaration overwhelmed me. I could not believe I was really here. The sun hung low in the sky and I saw my first Arctic fox as it fearlessly trotted by. The encampment was primitive, but met our needs. Wood, most was driftwood found floating in the water, was rare so we burned clumps of dried moss (Kent, 70). Needless to say it was very smoky inside the makeshift hut. I was anxious to meet the local people and was told that I would meet some the next day when they came to hunt and trade. My fellow Danes were enchanted but also feared these local peoples. They were so different from any cultures we had ever encountered. The Inuit people had a village a little way up the coast.
The next day I met the people from the north coast. They were very small in size. They all had smiles on their face and were very friendly. They were very glad to see a woman. I immediately made friends with two of the Inuit women. They set up a house of whale skin (Pastore, 7) in preparation to camp for a number of days. They were hunting seal and I was fascinated by their little one man boats made from skin called ‘kayaks’(Pastore, 5). They used a spear with a long leather rope tied to one end(Pastore,5). The men went out in their kayaks and soon they were bringing in dead seals. It was the women’s job to skin and tan the seal hide (Counter, 16). The women were waiting with their ‘ulu’s’, a round, sharp slate knife used to skin the seals(Ccccounter, 14). Every part of the animal was used. The animal fat was considered a delicacy and was the basis for their survival in the cold arctic winters. They not only ate the meat and blubber, they used the oil to seal the hides and make them waterproof (Kent, 13 ). The hides were immediately stretched then ‘cold tanned’ (Counter, 174). This was a lot of work. The next day, Mar, one of the women, started making a pair of mittens. They marked pattern pieces on the hide by scratching the outline with the edge of their ulu’s. I watched and soon I was cutting out the pieces from one of the many sealskins. There were three parts to the mitten, the palm of the hand, the top part of the hand and the thumb (see pattern on display). It was important to cut the hide so the sealskin fur lay down pointing away from the body. I asked Mar how she knew the pieces of the mitten pattern, and she said her mother had taught her, and her mothers mother had taught her mother, and so on. I asked why they did not have longer cuffs like some of my fellow Danes leather gloves and Mar answered that a long cuff would make it difficult for them to wear the mitten with their coat and it would be hard for them to take the glove off and put it back on quickly. It would also not fit well in their pockets. The walrus hide coats came down to the wrist and was fur lined and close to the body (please see picture). The mitten was just to cover the hand when the hand wasn’t being used and a short cuff allowed easy removal and replacement.
Seal fur is a perfect insulator and water repellent. The Inuit boots especially are made with double seams soaked with seal oil and are impervious to cold and wet, two elements that can kill quickly in this region. The Inuit women skillfully used their ulu’s to cut out the mitten pattern from the flesh side of the hide. In this way, they did not disturb the valuable waterproof fur leaving more for the outside of the mitten. I could not master the use of the ulu, but I used my very sharp knife to cut only the skin from the flesh side and achieved the same result. They thought I was funny and laughed at me. I laughed too, for my ways must have seemed very un-natural to them. Another animal they hunted those days of hunting in the Arctic, is the large Arctic hare. This hare is twice the size of the little white fox who seem to be everywhere. The hide of the arctic hare make an excellent lining for the sealskin mittens. I watched as the Inuit women used caribou sinew and ivory needles to sew the pieces of seal skin and hare together ( Pastore, 32). The stitch they used appeared to be a buttonhole stitch. I was not used to using this sinew and type of needle, so I used some linen thread and metal needles I had stowed away on my journey. I used the roundseam stitch instead of the buttonhole stitch because that was the stitch I had used many times to sew gloves and it seemed (no pun intended) to work well with both the seal and the rabbit. To allow the linen thread to pass smoothly through the seal hide, I coated it with some beeswax candle wax from the candles in my hut. I, too, lined my mittens with arctic hare fur. I did this by duplicating the seal skin pattern and sewing it to the cuff and pushing the rabbit fur, fur side out, to the inside of the sealskin. The rabbit fur kept my hands warm while the sealskin insulated them against the cold and wet.
The Inuit people stayed only a few weeks. The sun was now so low in the sky you could not see the whole orb of the sun. Soon it would not rise in the sky at all. It was sad to say goodbye to my new friends, but I will always remember them when I wear my sealskin mittens. The winter was soon upon us and our group had to journey back south before the snow blowing down off the icecap trapped us forever.
My journey to the far reaches of the north was over. I must return to home and hearth where wood was more available to make a fire for warmth and to cook. I bring with me my sealskin mittens knowing my hands and heart will never be cold. The mittens will keep my hands warm; memories of my new Inuit friends will keep my heart warm.
************************************************************************
The story above is based on my true experiences while I lived in Thule Greenland. The real time period was September through November 2001. My persona is 11th century Viking, so I thought it would be nice to parallel the experience. I lived there for almost three months and during this time I met two wonderful Inuit girls who really taught me how to make sealskin mittens. The seakskin used is a legal hide tanned by the Inuit peoples in Qaannaq, a village not far from the Thule Air Force base I worked at. Uummannaq was a true 11th century village near the location the Thule Air Force base was created. It was not called the Thule district until the late 19th Century, but I wanted to call it this to link to modern day and my experience there.
American Customs did not take the seal hide when I declared it upon my return into the states. The Inuit tribes are allowed to legally hunt seal. A few years before I went to Thule, Greenpeace succeeded in preventing the Inuits from hunting the seal. This ban almost destroyed a whole village. Since that time, Greenpeace is not so hard on the village peoples.
Much of what is in the story relating to the Viking settlements and Inuit ways of old have been researched. It fascinates me that the Inuits have only been exposed to civilization since the late 19th Century ( ). Prior to that time, the way they lived and the customs they held dear had survived for centuries without influence from the outside world. There is much study going on today in this part of the world relating to the Vikings and Inuit interaction in the 11th Century. Many experts believe the Viking settlements died out because they didn’t adapt to the ways of the Inuit but tried to continue to live European style. The environment is harsh and is not conducive to European life style. A minor Ice Age during the Viking visit is also to blame but whatever the reason, the Inuits were again left alone until Knud Rammudson discovered them again in 1867.
The sealskin was a gift from my two Inuit friends, Maria and Tina. Sealskin was used in the 11th Century as is it today. The climate dictates the Inuit clothing needs and not much has changed over the centuries. It’s only in the large towns and around the military base that modern clothes are bought and worn.
I met Maria and Tina in the sewing group I belonged while living in Thule. Most of the women were Danish. The Inuit girls taught all of us how to make mittens in the Inuit way. I really did ask the two questions posed in the story above. As far as they know, the pattern has been handed down as far back as they can remember. There is no cuff for the reasons mentioned in the story above. They still use ulu’s to cut the sealskin. The picture is a picture of Maria using a modern day ulu to cut her sealskin in the sewing group. The other picture demonstrates how they held the seal skin between their legs for stability. This method has not changed for centuries. The ulu’s today are of stainless steel and wooden handles and back then they were a sharpened slate blade with an ivory handle as illustrated in the picture from a dig in Canada. They did use sinew to sew their mittens together, but I chose to use waxed linen since that is what I was used to. I left a whole bunch of linen with them when I left Greenland. The Danish ladies were using dental floss to sew their gloves. They now use linen and have asked me to send some more.
I believe that if the Vikings allowed themselves to adapt to the ways of the Inuit back in the 11th century through the 15th century, the settlements that died out would have survived longer in the western part of Greenland. The mittens on display are an example of what the Vikings could have adapted to as part of that survival. Today, the Danish and the Inuit (Greenlanders as they are called by the Danish) live side by side and there are many inter-marriages. As a matter of fact, Maria is married to a Danish man, named Denny. They own a house in Qaanaaq, an Inuit village 2 hours travel time beyond Thule. I have an open invitation to visit her anytime I want to go back. If I can get on with one of the excavations that are currently going on in the Thule area, I will.
The mittens are a very simple item and relatively easy to make. They are made with period materials. Even though I used linen thread and the Inuit people use caribou sinew, I believe I did what a Viking women would have done if she too, had encountered the Inuit’s in this manner. I would have survived.
I hope you enjoyed the way I wrote the documentation. I tried to make it a little more interesting than the dry material a judge usually reads.
Elements covered:
What is the item? Sealskin Mittens
Who used them? The Inuit’s during the time of the Vikings
Where were they worn? Greenland
When? The 11th Century
How were they made? Described pattern and how the lining is sewn in and with what materials were used.
Why did they make them then and why did I make them now? I made them to keep my hands warm and water proof in frigid cold climates, as a Viking should.
The first part of our journey took us to the Western Settlement. My great Uncle, Erik the Red, had a farm there. I stayed with a distant cousin and was amazed at how much the long house reminded me of my home in Denmark. We gathered a few supplies after just spending a day and a night then sailed north as snow slowly floated in the air around us. I was amazed at the giant icebergs jutting up from the dark, cold water. It was so quiet, like the icebergs had taken all the sound from the air. As we traveled farther north, the air got colder. I kept my wool cloak tightly wrapped around me. When I looked down in the water, I occasionally caught a glimpse of an animal that looked like half fish and half dog. I didn’t know it at the time but this was the ‘seal’ that my cousin spoke of in his stories. The local people, the Inuits, hunted these creatures and use their hides to make garments that both repel water and insulate.
We finally arrived at a camp called Umanak in the Thule district. I left the ship feeling the cool, dry air upon my face and a feeling of exhilaration overwhelmed me. I could not believe I was really here. The sun hung low in the sky and I saw my first Arctic fox as it fearlessly trotted by. The encampment was primitive, but met our needs. Wood, most was driftwood found floating in the water, was rare so we burned clumps of dried moss (Kent, 70). Needless to say it was very smoky inside the makeshift hut. I was anxious to meet the local people and was told that I would meet some the next day when they came to hunt and trade. My fellow Danes were enchanted but also feared these local peoples. They were so different from any cultures we had ever encountered. The Inuit people had a village a little way up the coast.
The next day I met the people from the north coast. They were very small in size. They all had smiles on their face and were very friendly. They were very glad to see a woman. I immediately made friends with two of the Inuit women. They set up a house of whale skin (Pastore, 7) in preparation to camp for a number of days. They were hunting seal and I was fascinated by their little one man boats made from skin called ‘kayaks’(Pastore, 5). They used a spear with a long leather rope tied to one end(Pastore,5). The men went out in their kayaks and soon they were bringing in dead seals. It was the women’s job to skin and tan the seal hide (Counter, 16). The women were waiting with their ‘ulu’s’, a round, sharp slate knife used to skin the seals(Ccccounter, 14). Every part of the animal was used. The animal fat was considered a delicacy and was the basis for their survival in the cold arctic winters. They not only ate the meat and blubber, they used the oil to seal the hides and make them waterproof (Kent, 13 ). The hides were immediately stretched then ‘cold tanned’ (Counter, 174). This was a lot of work. The next day, Mar, one of the women, started making a pair of mittens. They marked pattern pieces on the hide by scratching the outline with the edge of their ulu’s. I watched and soon I was cutting out the pieces from one of the many sealskins. There were three parts to the mitten, the palm of the hand, the top part of the hand and the thumb (see pattern on display). It was important to cut the hide so the sealskin fur lay down pointing away from the body. I asked Mar how she knew the pieces of the mitten pattern, and she said her mother had taught her, and her mothers mother had taught her mother, and so on. I asked why they did not have longer cuffs like some of my fellow Danes leather gloves and Mar answered that a long cuff would make it difficult for them to wear the mitten with their coat and it would be hard for them to take the glove off and put it back on quickly. It would also not fit well in their pockets. The walrus hide coats came down to the wrist and was fur lined and close to the body (please see picture). The mitten was just to cover the hand when the hand wasn’t being used and a short cuff allowed easy removal and replacement.
Seal fur is a perfect insulator and water repellent. The Inuit boots especially are made with double seams soaked with seal oil and are impervious to cold and wet, two elements that can kill quickly in this region. The Inuit women skillfully used their ulu’s to cut out the mitten pattern from the flesh side of the hide. In this way, they did not disturb the valuable waterproof fur leaving more for the outside of the mitten. I could not master the use of the ulu, but I used my very sharp knife to cut only the skin from the flesh side and achieved the same result. They thought I was funny and laughed at me. I laughed too, for my ways must have seemed very un-natural to them. Another animal they hunted those days of hunting in the Arctic, is the large Arctic hare. This hare is twice the size of the little white fox who seem to be everywhere. The hide of the arctic hare make an excellent lining for the sealskin mittens. I watched as the Inuit women used caribou sinew and ivory needles to sew the pieces of seal skin and hare together ( Pastore, 32). The stitch they used appeared to be a buttonhole stitch. I was not used to using this sinew and type of needle, so I used some linen thread and metal needles I had stowed away on my journey. I used the roundseam stitch instead of the buttonhole stitch because that was the stitch I had used many times to sew gloves and it seemed (no pun intended) to work well with both the seal and the rabbit. To allow the linen thread to pass smoothly through the seal hide, I coated it with some beeswax candle wax from the candles in my hut. I, too, lined my mittens with arctic hare fur. I did this by duplicating the seal skin pattern and sewing it to the cuff and pushing the rabbit fur, fur side out, to the inside of the sealskin. The rabbit fur kept my hands warm while the sealskin insulated them against the cold and wet.
The Inuit people stayed only a few weeks. The sun was now so low in the sky you could not see the whole orb of the sun. Soon it would not rise in the sky at all. It was sad to say goodbye to my new friends, but I will always remember them when I wear my sealskin mittens. The winter was soon upon us and our group had to journey back south before the snow blowing down off the icecap trapped us forever.
My journey to the far reaches of the north was over. I must return to home and hearth where wood was more available to make a fire for warmth and to cook. I bring with me my sealskin mittens knowing my hands and heart will never be cold. The mittens will keep my hands warm; memories of my new Inuit friends will keep my heart warm.
************************************************************************
The story above is based on my true experiences while I lived in Thule Greenland. The real time period was September through November 2001. My persona is 11th century Viking, so I thought it would be nice to parallel the experience. I lived there for almost three months and during this time I met two wonderful Inuit girls who really taught me how to make sealskin mittens. The seakskin used is a legal hide tanned by the Inuit peoples in Qaannaq, a village not far from the Thule Air Force base I worked at. Uummannaq was a true 11th century village near the location the Thule Air Force base was created. It was not called the Thule district until the late 19th Century, but I wanted to call it this to link to modern day and my experience there.
American Customs did not take the seal hide when I declared it upon my return into the states. The Inuit tribes are allowed to legally hunt seal. A few years before I went to Thule, Greenpeace succeeded in preventing the Inuits from hunting the seal. This ban almost destroyed a whole village. Since that time, Greenpeace is not so hard on the village peoples.
Much of what is in the story relating to the Viking settlements and Inuit ways of old have been researched. It fascinates me that the Inuits have only been exposed to civilization since the late 19th Century ( ). Prior to that time, the way they lived and the customs they held dear had survived for centuries without influence from the outside world. There is much study going on today in this part of the world relating to the Vikings and Inuit interaction in the 11th Century. Many experts believe the Viking settlements died out because they didn’t adapt to the ways of the Inuit but tried to continue to live European style. The environment is harsh and is not conducive to European life style. A minor Ice Age during the Viking visit is also to blame but whatever the reason, the Inuits were again left alone until Knud Rammudson discovered them again in 1867.
The sealskin was a gift from my two Inuit friends, Maria and Tina. Sealskin was used in the 11th Century as is it today. The climate dictates the Inuit clothing needs and not much has changed over the centuries. It’s only in the large towns and around the military base that modern clothes are bought and worn.
I met Maria and Tina in the sewing group I belonged while living in Thule. Most of the women were Danish. The Inuit girls taught all of us how to make mittens in the Inuit way. I really did ask the two questions posed in the story above. As far as they know, the pattern has been handed down as far back as they can remember. There is no cuff for the reasons mentioned in the story above. They still use ulu’s to cut the sealskin. The picture is a picture of Maria using a modern day ulu to cut her sealskin in the sewing group. The other picture demonstrates how they held the seal skin between their legs for stability. This method has not changed for centuries. The ulu’s today are of stainless steel and wooden handles and back then they were a sharpened slate blade with an ivory handle as illustrated in the picture from a dig in Canada. They did use sinew to sew their mittens together, but I chose to use waxed linen since that is what I was used to. I left a whole bunch of linen with them when I left Greenland. The Danish ladies were using dental floss to sew their gloves. They now use linen and have asked me to send some more.
I believe that if the Vikings allowed themselves to adapt to the ways of the Inuit back in the 11th century through the 15th century, the settlements that died out would have survived longer in the western part of Greenland. The mittens on display are an example of what the Vikings could have adapted to as part of that survival. Today, the Danish and the Inuit (Greenlanders as they are called by the Danish) live side by side and there are many inter-marriages. As a matter of fact, Maria is married to a Danish man, named Denny. They own a house in Qaanaaq, an Inuit village 2 hours travel time beyond Thule. I have an open invitation to visit her anytime I want to go back. If I can get on with one of the excavations that are currently going on in the Thule area, I will.
The mittens are a very simple item and relatively easy to make. They are made with period materials. Even though I used linen thread and the Inuit people use caribou sinew, I believe I did what a Viking women would have done if she too, had encountered the Inuit’s in this manner. I would have survived.
I hope you enjoyed the way I wrote the documentation. I tried to make it a little more interesting than the dry material a judge usually reads.
Elements covered:
What is the item? Sealskin Mittens
Who used them? The Inuit’s during the time of the Vikings
Where were they worn? Greenland
When? The 11th Century
How were they made? Described pattern and how the lining is sewn in and with what materials were used.
Why did they make them then and why did I make them now? I made them to keep my hands warm and water proof in frigid cold climates, as a Viking should.