Yup'ik clothing (Yup'ik aturaq sg aturak dual aturat pl, aklu, akluq, un’u; also, piluguk in Unaliq-Pastuliq dialect, aklu, cangssagar, un’u in Nunivak dialect, Cup'ik clothing for the Chevak Cup'ik-speaking people of Chevak and Cup'ig clothing for the Nunivak Cup'ig-speaking people of Nunivak Island) refers to the traditional Alaska Native-style clothing worn by the Yupik people of southwestern Alaska.
The traditional clothing systems developed and used by the Yup’ik, Inuit and Nuniwarmiut peoples performs similarly to the most effective cold weather clothing developed to date. Yup'ik women made clothes and footwear from animal skins (especially hide and fur of marine and land mammals for fur clothing, sometimes birds, also fish), sewn together using needles made from animal bones, walrus ivory, and bird bones such as the front part of a crane's foot and threads made from other animal products, such as sinew. The multi-functional ulu (semilunar woman's knife) is used to process and cut skins for clothing and footwear. Women made most clothing of caribou (wild caribou Rangifer tarandus granti and domestic reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus) and sealskin. Yup’ik clothing tended to fit relatively loosely.
Wastefulness being disrespectful, Yup'ik elders made use of every last scrap from hunts and harvests: seal guts, skins of salmon fish, dried grasses such as Leymus mollis (coarse seashore grass). Traditionally, skins of birds, fish, and marine mammals such as seal and walrus, and land mammals were used to make clothing. Hunting clothes were designed to be insulated and waterproof. Fish skin and marine mammal intestines (guts) were used for waterproof shells (as gut parka) and boots. Dried grass was used to make insulating socks, and as a waterproof thread.
In the Yup'ik culture, parkas are much more than necessary tools for survival in the cold climate of Alaska; they are also pieces of art that tell stories about the past. Many story knife (yaaruin) stories of the storytelling dictated the story of the traditional Yup'ik clothing, such as atkupiaq or fancy parka.
The Russian fur traders or promyshlennikis of the Russian-American Company during the Russian America encouraged the Eskimos to adopt Western-style dress in order to release more furs for trading.
The English word kuspuk adapted from the Yup'ik word qaspeq (a lightweight parka cover or overshirt worn by both Yup'ik and Iñupiaq women and men). Also, the word mukluk (Yu’pik/Inuit boot, a soft knee-high boot of seal or caribou skin) which is derived from the Yup'ik word maklak meaning bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus). That the word maklak has been borrowed into English as mukluk as the name for Inuit/Yu’pik skin boots (kamguk, kameksak, piluguk, etc., in Yup’ik), probably because bearded-seal skin is used for the soles of skin boots.Jacobson, Steven A. (2012). Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition. Alaska Native Language Center. The village of Kotlik derives its Yup’ik name Qerrulliik (dual form of qerrullik "a pair of pants, trousers"), from its location, where the Yukon River splits apart nearby like the legs on a pair of trousers.
Eskimo clothing Both Yup'ik (and Siberian Yupik) and Iñupiat clothing are also known as Eskimo clothing in Alaska.
Clothing details differs between northwestern Iñupiaq and southwestern Yup'ik Eskimo clothes. Also, among the Yup'ik regional or socioterritorial groups (their native names will generally be found ending in -miut postbase which signifies "inhabitants of ..."), like those of north Alaska, were differentiated by territory, speech patterns, clothing details, annual cycles, and ceremonial life.Elisabeth F. Andrews (1989), The Akulmiut: territorial dimensions of a Yup'ik Eskimo society. Technical Paper No. 177. Juneau, AK: Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Subsistence. Four basic designs are used for women's fancy parkas among the Yup'ik, with some regional variations, including one style adopted from Iñupiaq skin sewers.
Native peoples have flourished in the extreme cold of the Arctic for millennia. Arctic people living throughout the circumpolar region have time-tested their caribou (or reindeer) skin clothing ensembles for 3000 to 8000 years. During that time, their clothing has evolved, so that today they are able to live comfortably within the region, in spite of the bitter weather.Aline J. Cotel, Raymond Golingo, Jill E. Oakes, Rick R. Riewe (2004), "Effect of ancient Inuit fur parka ruffs on facial heat transfer". Climate Research 26: 77–84
Bodywear
Parka
Parka (atkuk sg atkuuk dual atkuut pl in Yukon-Kuskokwim, Bristol Bay and Hooper Bay-Chevak dialects, atekuk in Unaliq-Pastuliq dialect, atkug in Nunivak dialect) is the most common Yup'ik clothing. Parkas were made from a wide variety of materials including reindeer, squirrel, muskrat, bird, and fish skins, as well as intestines. Yup'ik men from the Yukon Kuskokwim area wore knee-length (or longer) hooded parkas with straight hemlines. Women wore slightly shorter parkas with U-shaped front and back flaps.
The researchers had previously shown that there were differences in parka design between Akulmiut (in the present-day tundra villagers of Nunapitchuk, Kasigluk, and Atmautluak), the coast (Caninermiut), lower Kuskokwim (Kusquqvagmiut) and lower Yukon (Pastulirmiut, Kuigpagmiut) river areas, and natives could identify villages that shared a design. The Akulmiut woman's parka typically featured a design along the bodice or culuksugun (also known as culuksuk; hanging decoration on a parka; spine, backbone) or qemirrlugun (piece of calfskin in the middle of a traditional Yup’ik parka with three tassels hanging from it, often having a “drawn bow and arrow” or a fish-tail design stitched on it; smaller plate below the large front and back plates on parka) which represented the tail of an Alaska blackfish (Dallia pectoralis). Occasionally the blackfish tail design in the early part of the 20th century was seen on women's parkas of the Nelson Island people (Qaluyaarmiut) and lower Kuskokwim but were never seen, as one elder woman reported, for example, on parkas of Hooper Bay (Naparyaarmiut) or Chevak (Qissunarmiut) women.
Another Akulmiut design, less commonly used, was the "bow and arrow" design. The parkas of lower Kuskokwim women were also distinguished by the use of the "pretend drums" (cauyaryuak) design across the bust or the qaliq part of the parka. Men's parkas were distinguished as well by the pattern but did not have the decoration detail of the women's parkas.
Women's parkas in the Yukon River area were longer than men's, with rounded hems and side splits that reached almost to the waist. Farther south along the Kuskokwim River, parkas of both sexes extended to the ankles and were usually hoodless, requiring that a separate fur cap or hood be worn. Kuskokwim styles of parka decoration were far more elaborate.Learning Experiences 1. Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center
A characteristic feature of Yup'ik parkas was elaboration of the ruff on the hood framing the face, on the cuffs, and, in recent times, the border around the bottom of the garment.James W. VanStone (1989), Nunivak Island Eskimo (Yuit) technology and material culture. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1989. Fieldiana, Anthropology, New Series, No. 12. 108 p.
Sleeve (aliq sg aliik dual aliit pl in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, amraq in Egegik Yup'ik, alir in Cup'ig) is the part of a garment that covers the arm.
Parka ruff (negiliq, atkuum negilia, asguruaq in Yup'ik, legiliq, ayguruaq in Cup'ik, amraq in Egegik Yup'ik;, ulganaqin Cup'ig, but negili in Cup'ig, as means "edge of hood where ruff is attached; edge of kuspuk hood; halo around the sun") is parka's ruff, but not Western style ruff collar. The kumegneq is parka ruff edging near the face. Yup'iks use wolverine skins for parka ruffs.
Fancy parka (atkupiaq sg atkupiak dual atkupiat pl, literally "real parka, genuine parka") is a fur parka made of ground squirrel, muskrat or mink pelts with traditional fancy decorations (such as one style that has a band across the chest area and eight tassels hanging front and back). The tassels, it is said, represent fingers. Among the Yup'ik, traditional style women's parkas are still made and worn on festive occasions. Men's fancy parkas are no longer made, although a few elders still recall their forms and decoration. The atkupiaq is the most popular type of woman's parka among the Yup'ik living along the Kuskokwim River and in the Kuskokwim Bay area. This parka is very long by comparison with Canadian Inuit parkas, with an even lower edge. The border is decorated with a geometric design of black and white pieces of calfskin. On older parkas, the border was lined with a band of calfskin with fine decorative stitching, symbolizing footprints on snow. The hood with its beautiful ruff is much smaller than on a Canadian Inuit woman's amauti, and there is no pouch for carrying a baby.The British Museum: Woman's ground squirrel parka, made by Mrs James Kanuk Some elements (certain stitches, tassels, specific strips of fur, beads and shapes of hide) on a parka represent specific parts of an historic story.Erica Goff (2009), More than garments, traditional Yup'ik parkas tell stories of past Fancy parka a very important component of Yup'ik culture. An atkupiaq is a signifier that tells a story to Yup'ik wievers, much like the robes worn by Alaska Natives of the Northwest Coast (as Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian).Susan W. Fair (2006), Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity, University of Alaska Press Traditional Yup'ik oral stories (qulirat and qanemcit) were embedded in many social functions of the society. Storyknifing (yaaruilta literally "let's go story knife!") stories a traditional and still common activity of young girls and are told by children of all ages in Yup’ik-speaking Eskimo villages in Alaska. These stories are illustrated by figures sketched on mud or snow with a ceremonial knife, known as story knife or story telling knife (yaaruin sg yaaruitek dual yaaruitet pl in Yup'ik, saaruin in Yukon dialect). Stories were told through the use of the yaaruin, the story knife by the women and young girls and most importantly stories were found within the traditionally Yup’ik clothing. The women had to pass this knowledge on to their daughters so that the clothes would reveal the correct story of the family and the men had to recognize these stories on the clothing.Esther Ilutsik (2009), "Eleven Years of Implementing Traditional Yup'ik Oral Stories in the Elementary Classroom." In Collignon B. & Therrien M. (eds). 2009. Orality in the 21st century: Inuit discourse and practices. Proceedings of the 15th Inuit Studies Conference. Paris: INALCO. In the past, dressing in fine fancy clothing was reserved for ceremonial events like festivals in the qasgiq, when animals and spirits (yua) were honored. The tradition of the fancy parka continues there today.
Ilairutaq or Yukon-style parka (ilairutaq in Yup'ik) is a type of traditional Yup’ik parka of a design said to be borrowed from the northern Malimiut Inupiaq people via the Yukon area.
Qulitaq or Kuskokwim-style parka (qulitaq in Yup'ik) is a type of traditional Yup’ik parka with two pieces of calfskin on the back (called by the same name as the parka design), and two calfskin pieces on the chest (called cauyak) worn in the coastal (Canineq?) areas.