Bag made of moose heart or moose bladder
"Many years ago the Indians hunted moose and caribou for food, clothing and tools. One of the first items brought home from the kill was the heart bag (pericardium) and bladder. Moose and caribou bladders were used to carry water, food or to store melted fat. Bear grease was used to waterproof them.
Selina asked her elders how the bags were used. An Eskimo lady said that her grandmother used a caribou heart bag to carry snuff. Once, when she ran out of snuff, she chewed pieces of the bag. Selling’s ancestors used the heart bag for carrying food, like a lunch bag, or for food storage. It was also used to carry precious things, such as a small knife, an awl, needles or anything valuable.
Selina has been making the bags for many years. Her heart bags are tanned with a shoe wax called Snow Seal. The bladder bags are simply cleaned, inflated and dried. She once saw a bag made by an elder, and has learned the assembly technique from her mother in law. She is not certain what the older bags looked like, but she is certain they were not as fancy as the ones she makes today. They are purchased mostly by collectors. She enjoys making them because it gives her a feeling of doing something from long ago.
Special feasts and ceremonies were held to amuse and placate the souls of dead animals. One of these was the bladder festival. The bladder of an animal was believed to contain its soul and so, when an animal was killed, the hunter carefully removed and preserved the bladder until the time came for the festival. Then, with great ceremony, the bladders were inflated and hung in a special feast-house. After much singing and dancing and offering of food, the bladders were taken down and thrust into a hole cut in the ice, so that the souls could return to the sea where they would enter the bodies of unborn animals and return again to be hunted. If these things were not done correctly, the souls of the animals would feel neglected and game would become scarce. At the beginning of the year, before the hunting season began, the Eskimos held another festival, at which animal masks were worn to please the animals and encourage them to return."
( from www.tribalexpressions.com/annex/annex.htm )
The base hospital has some wonderful art in it.
Bag made of moose heart or moose bladder
"Many years ago the Indians hunted moose and caribou for food, clothing and tools. One of the first items brought home from the kill was the heart bag (pericardium) and bladder. Moose and caribou bladders were used to carry water, food or to store melted fat. Bear grease was used to waterproof them.
Selina asked her elders how the bags were used. An Eskimo lady said that her grandmother used a caribou heart bag to carry snuff. Once, when she ran out of snuff, she chewed pieces of the bag. Selling’s ancestors used the heart bag for carrying food, like a lunch bag, or for food storage. It was also used to carry precious things, such as a small knife, an awl, needles or anything valuable.
Selina has been making the bags for many years. Her heart bags are tanned with a shoe wax called Snow Seal. The bladder bags are simply cleaned, inflated and dried. She once saw a bag made by an elder, and has learned the assembly technique from her mother in law. She is not certain what the older bags looked like, but she is certain they were not as fancy as the ones she makes today. They are purchased mostly by collectors. She enjoys making them because it gives her a feeling of doing something from long ago.
Special feasts and ceremonies were held to amuse and placate the souls of dead animals. One of these was the bladder festival. The bladder of an animal was believed to contain its soul and so, when an animal was killed, the hunter carefully removed and preserved the bladder until the time came for the festival. Then, with great ceremony, the bladders were inflated and hung in a special feast-house. After much singing and dancing and offering of food, the bladders were taken down and thrust into a hole cut in the ice, so that the souls could return to the sea where they would enter the bodies of unborn animals and return again to be hunted. If these things were not done correctly, the souls of the animals would feel neglected and game would become scarce. At the beginning of the year, before the hunting season began, the Eskimos held another festival, at which animal masks were worn to please the animals and encourage them to return."
( from www.tribalexpressions.com/annex/annex.htm )
The base hospital has some wonderful art in it.