ALL BUILDINGS ARE IGLOOS: The word “igloo” does not simply refer to a dome house made from ice. In Inuit culture, the word refers to any kind of building. So, technically, you live in an igloo, work in an igloo and your entire neighbourhood is made up of igloos.
HEY, kids! With winter here, we’re all getting out our woolly socks and warm blankets. But do you really know what cold is? Imagine how cold winter must be where the Inuit (“Eskimos”) live. Here are a few facts about Inuit that you probably didn’t know.
THEIR KISSES ARE DIFFERENT: When Inuit kiss, their lips don’t touch. Instead, they rub their faces together and smell each other’s hair and cheeks. The reason they don’t kiss with their mouths is that the cold temperature could freeze their saliva, causing their mouths to stick together awkwardly.A RAW, MEATY DIET: With very little produce growing in icy conditions, the Inuit diets consist mostly of wild meat and fish, including polar bear, reindeer, walrus and narwhal meat, among others. Also, a lot of this meat is eaten raw and frozen. Despite the lack of veggies, Inuit are considered some of the healthiest people in the world.NO METAL NEEDED: Inuit are very handy people. In olden days, they crafted their own clothes, armour and weapons from natural scavenged materials, not metals. The materials they used included animal bones, raw leather and plant materials they could find. And it worked very effectively!DON’T CALL THEM ESKIMOS: Please don’t call anyone an Eskimo! You can call a group of them Inuit, or a single person an Inuk. Inuit have lots of subcultures, as well. Calling them Eskimos is just as offensive as calling a Native American an Indian.
