The high kick is a traditional Inuit event performed at the Arctic Winter Games, the World Eskimo Indian Olympics and other traditional events.
The high kick is a traditional Inuit event performed at the Arctic Winter Games, the World Eskimo Indian Olympics and other traditional events.
The Inuit one-foot high kick is a traditional competition that is similar to the two foot high kick.
In this competition the competitor stands on one foot, jumps in the air and hits a ball or piece of seal such as a ringed seal, which is suspended from a gallows and then lands on the same foot.
The one foot high kick tests the strength and agility of a hunter. It was also used to signal a successful hunt in some communities. [1]
A short film made by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver shows Arctic Winter Games champion Johnny Issaluk performing a one foot high kick. [2]
The two-foot high kick (akratcheak) is a traditional Inuit jumping event that occurs at many Arctic sports competitions. In the two-foot high kick, athletes must jump using two feet, touch a hanging target with both feet, and land on both feet, maintaining balance. [3] The event is often considered the most demanding Arctic sport. [4]
The event has its origin in subsistence whale hunting: when a whale was taken, a messenger would run to the village and kick both feet in the air once within eyeshot. [3] [5] Villagers would then know to prepare to harvest the whale. [3] [5]
As of 2007, the men's record in the event was 2.64 m (8 ft 8 in); the women's record was 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in). [5]
Balance on one foot while holding the other. Kick a target straight above with the balancing foot to reach a target, then land on the balancing and kicking foot. [6]
Eskimo is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit and the Yupik of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, the Aleut, which inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the Eskaleut language family.
Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the world and the northernmost in the United States, with nearby Point Barrow which is the country's northernmost land.
The Iñupiat are a group of Indigenous Alaskans whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaat, including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough, affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough; and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation. They often claim to be the first people of the Kauwerak.
The Arctic Winter Games are a biennial multi-sport and indigenous cultural event involving circumpolar peoples residing in communities or countries bordering the Arctic Ocean.
An ulu is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and Aleut women. It is used in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cutting food, and sometimes even trimming blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo.
The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First used in Thule times, it has traditionally been used in summer, for moving people and possessions to seasonal hunting grounds, and for hunting whales and walrus. Although the umiak was usually propelled by oars (women) or paddles (men), sails—sometimes made from seal intestines—were also used, and, in the 20th century, outboard motors. Because the umiak has no keel, the sails cannot be used for tacking.
The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics is an annual multi-sport event held over a four-day period beginning the 3rd Wednesday each July, designed to preserve cultural practices and traditional (survival) skills essential to life in circumpolar areas of the world. The WEIO features games or sports rooted in ancestral hunting and survival techniques employed by the Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and other Native Americans, as well as dance storytelling competitions, and an annual cultural pageant, called Miss WEIO, that focuses on cultural knowledge.
Nalukataq is the spring whaling festival of the Iñupiat of Northern Alaska, especially the North Slope Borough. It is characterized by its namesake, the dramatic Eskimo blanket toss. "Marking the end of the spring whaling season," Nalukataq creates "a sense of being for the entire community and for all who want a little muktuk or to take part in the blanket toss....At no time, however, does Nalukataq relinquish its original purpose, which is to recognize the annual success and prowess of each umialik, or whaling crew captain....Nalukataq [traditions] have always reflected the process of survival inherent in sharing...crucial to...the Arctic."
Inuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
The ear pull is a traditional Inuit game or sport which tests the competitors' ability to endure pain, and also strength. In the ear pull, two competitors sit facing each other, their legs straddled and interlocked. A two-foot-long loop of string, similar to a thick, waxed dental floss, is looped behind their ears, connecting right ear to right ear, or left ear to left ear. The competitors then pull upon the opposing ear using their own ear until the cord comes free or the opponent quits from the pain. The game has been omitted from some Arctic sports competitions due to safety concerns and the squeamishness of spectators; the event can cause bleeding and competitors sometimes require stitches.
The Inuit ear pull game is a harsh test of physical endurance....[in which] a thin loop of leather is positioned behind the ears of each of two competitors who then pull away from each other until one gives up in pain.
Historically Inuit cuisine, which is taken here to include Greenlandic cuisine, Yup'ik cuisine and Aleut cuisine, consisted of a diet of animal source foods that were fished, hunted, and gathered locally.
The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America. The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat, and Yupik, and the Aleut who live in the Aleutian Islands of Siberia and Alaska. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn.
Greenlandic cuisine is traditionally based on meat from marine mammals, birds, and fish, and normally contains high levels of protein. Since colonization and the arrival of international trade, the cuisine has been increasingly influenced by Danish, British, American and Canadian cuisine. During the summer when the weather is milder, meals are often eaten outdoors.
An Eskimo yo-yo or Alaska yo-yo is a traditional two-balled skill toy played and performed by the Eskimo-speaking Alaska Natives, such as Inupiat, Siberian Yupik, and Yup'ik. It resembles fur-covered bolas and yo-yo. It is regarded as one of the most simple, yet most complex, cultural artifacts/toys in the world. The Eskimo yo-yo involves simultaneously swinging two sealskin balls suspended on caribou sinew strings in opposite directions with one hand. It is popular with Alaskans and tourists alike. This traditional toy is two unequal lengths of twine, joined together, with hand-made leather objects at the ends of the twine.
The 2016 Arctic Winter Games, officially known with the slogan "Join — Feel — Jump", was a winter multi-sport event which took place in Nuuk, Greenland, between 6–12 March 2016. The elected host city was announced on 14 September 2012 by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee (AWGIC) in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.
Arctic sports or Inuit games (Iñupiaq: anaktaqtuat) refer to a number of sports disciplines popularly practiced in the Arctic, primarily by the indigenous peoples of the region, such as the Inuit. Arctic sports often refer to the sports of Yamal, Alaska, Greenland and parts of Canada, while sports of the First Nations are referred to as Dene games. Traditional Greenlandic sports are referred to as Kalaallit Pinnguaataat. Many of the sports and disciplines are largely athletic in nature, while others lean more towards martial arts or gymnastics.
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril is an Inuk filmmaker, known for her work on Inuit life and culture. She is the owner of Unikkaat Studios, a production company in Iqaluit, which produces Inuktitut films. She was awarded the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, in 2017 in recognition of her work as an activist and filmmaker. She currently works part-time at the Qanak Collective, a social project which supports Inuit empowerment initiatives.
Johnny Nurraq Seotaituq Issaluk is an Inuk actor, athlete, and cultural educator from Nunavut. He is best known for his roles in AMC's The Terror, the film Indian Horse, and in the BBC program The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan. In May 2019 he was named Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Explorer-in-Residence.
Veronica McDonald, participated in Arctic Sports competitions from a young age, and has been a coach in these traditional Indigenous sports. A member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta, Canada, McDonald lives in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She holds two Arctic Winter Games records in kneel jump and triple jump, was a recipient of the Sport North Federation's Junior Female Athlete in 2018, and won both Junior (2012) and All-Around Open Senior Female Athlete in Arctic Sports at the Arctic Winter Games.
Meika McDonald, a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation living in Fort Smith Northwest Territories has won 34 medals while participating in Arctic Sports competitions over ten Arctic Winter Games (1998-2006). She set three Arctic Winter Games records in Alaskan high kick and triple jump. McDonald was a recipient of the Sport North Federation's Mary Beth Miller Memorial Senior Female Athlete of the Year in 1998. She became a director for the Arctic Winter Games International Committee in 2007, and was inducted into the NWT Sport Hall of Fame in 2015 for her athletic accomplishments in Arctic Sports. She was awarded the Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal in 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). World Eskimo Indian Olympics . Originally accessed 2008-04-26.