Quviasukvik. The celebration of an Inuit winter feast in the central Arctic
Quviasukvik. The celebration of an Inuit winter feast in the central Arctic. In this paper we discuss the celebration of Christmas among the Inuit of Northeast Canada. Their adoption of Christianity implied a break with the past. Missionaries as well as Inuit contrasted the traditional life dominate...
| Published in: | Journal de la société des américanistes |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Société des américanistes
2002
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.4000/jsa.2772 http://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2772 |
| Summary: | Quviasukvik. The celebration of an Inuit winter feast in the central Arctic. In this paper we discuss the celebration of Christmas among the Inuit of Northeast Canada. Their adoption of Christianity implied a break with the past. Missionaries as well as Inuit contrasted the traditional life dominated by many ritual rules, with the new Christian life. In practice, the transition was much more complex. Many old ideas and practices did not die as easily as missionaries or Inuit assumed, but returned in a new guise. Using White and Inuit testimonies, we examine here the nature of this transition by comparing the pre-Christian Inuit winter-feasts with the celebration of Christmas after the conversion to Christianity. Many features of the pre-Christian religion returned in the Christmas celebrations but in a new context and provided with new meanings. We have considered temporal and regional variation as well as the differences between the Catholic and Anglican versions of the feast. Central topics are: gifts, food and drinks, games and sexual symbolism. Quviasukvik. La célébration d’une fête hivernale inuit dans l’Arctique central. Dans cet article, nous examinons les fêtes de Noël chez les Inuit de l’Arctique de l’Est canadien. L’adoption du christianisme par les Inuit s’est traduite par d’importantes ruptures avec le passé. Comme les missionnaires, les Inuit eux-mêmes ont souvent souligné le contraste entre les multiples contraintes rituelles de la vie religieuse de jadis et la plus grande liberté que leur procurait dorénavant le christianisme. Au niveau des pratiques, la transition d’un système à l’autre fut néanmoins beaucoup plus complexe. Loin de disparaître, certaines idées et séquences rituelles réapparurent de façon sensiblement différente. À partir de témoignages recueillis par des Blancs et des Inuit, nous analysons de plus près la nature de cette transition en comparant les fêtes d’hiver traditionnelles avec les fêtes de Noël. Des éléments traditionnels connurent une certaine pérennité mais au sein de ... |
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