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Eskimo's and igloos

Bjork67

Bjork67

pfm Member
Are there still Eskimo that live in igloos ? Getting to the crux of the matter doors in igloos ? What's hinge in Eskimo language do they just shove the block out of the way.
 
I think there is a three quarter door and the occupants slide through a small gap at the bottom, maybe half a metre or so.
 
I think that you will find that making one is still valuable knowledge that is passed-on. A lot of Inuit (NOT Eskimos - an insulting name given the Inuit by plains native Americans, referring to their eating of raw meat, which is actually essential to provide certain vitamins) still live a seasonally semi-nomadic, hunter-gatherer life and getting stuck out on a snowfield in bad weather needs knowledge and ingenuity to survive.
 
They don't live in them but they shelter overnight when hunting. Anything will do as a door. Mountaineers use them, or build snowholes. I've dug one, but fortunately not had to use it overnight. I know I could though, and I d survive.
 
My parents often referred to anyone who didn't feel the cold as Nanuk (or Nanook). That was a from a very well-known film from the 50's or 60's. That showed an Inuit family building and sheltering in an igloo - toasty - it will be on YouTube no doubt.

Damned good band as well BTW.
 
Vinny said:
My parents often referred to anyone who didn't feel the cold as Nanuk (or Nanook). That was a from a very well-known film from the 50's or 60's. That showed an Inuit family building and sheltering in an igloo - toasty - it will be on YouTube no doubt.
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1922 you mean! A proper documentary about a real person and family. What's not publicised is that after the film was made Nanook had a bad season's hunting and they starved to death.
 
Bjork67 said:
Are there still Eskimo that live in igloos ? Getting to the crux of the matter doors in igloos ? What's hinge in Eskimo language do they just shove the block out of the way.
Click to expand...

It's the question we've all been wondering about for aeons but no one dared ask and that's for sure!
 
There was a nice programme on the BBC recently, following a guy on his hunting mission.

There was a thread about it here, think it was called The Last Igloo.
 
deebster said:
There was a nice programme on the BBC recently, following a guy on his hunting mission.

There was a thread about it here, think it was called The Last Igloo.
Click to expand...
I saw that, it was very good. He uses a ski-doo rather than huskies but it's still a lonely spot to build an igloo and spend a night in a room at 0 deg C. I also like the docu about the Laplanders who move their reindeer hundreds of miles to spend the summer on an island off the northern coast of Norway/Finland. 2 hours without silly music or voiceovers. Just the sounds of what they are doing, and when they talk to one another there aren't necessarily always subtitles, so you have to work out what they are talking about from the context.
 
Yeah, the Handmade and other non-voiced-over stuff I really like. Long still camera shots rather than this quick cut migraine inducing approach that seems to be so prevalent now.
 
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