The end of Toonik Tyme and JJ's birthday

The seal skinning competition was originally scheduled for Friday afternoon, but had to be postponed because the seals were all still frozen. (Ha!)  Happily, it was rescheduled for Sunday. The kids weren't sure what they thought of going to see seals skinned. The way I see it, if they are OK with wearing sealskin mittens and headbands, they need to be OK seeing where those things come from. I thought the seal skinning competitors would be women, but then I remembered that although women scrape the fat off the sealskin to use it for garments, it is the hunters who first butcher the seals and remove the skin in its entirety. During today's competition these hunters would not just be skinning the seals, but also cutting up all the meat for the community feast. The raw seal meat would be transported indoors, and served, uncooked, immediately.

We saw a large crowd gathered when we pulled into the parking lot. In the middle of the crowd there were 3 seals on cardboard on the ground, and three hunters ready to go with knives in hand. The hunters were introduced (in Inuktitut, so I can't tell you anything more than that), we counted down from 3, and off they went!

On yer mark....get set.....

Go!

We were told the smell from the seal skinning would be overwhelmingly bad, but as the competition was held outside it really wasn't..  The kids (who initially were grossed out by the whole thing), really got into it. "OOOooooooh, you can see intestines!" "There's a heart!" "Those balls are kidneys!"

Throughout the skinning/butchering an elder would shout out for everyone to cheer on the hunters, which the crowd did, exuberantly. 

"I'm not sure what I think about this....."

"I'm just kidding, this is AWESOME!"

"No it isn't!"

After roughly 15 minutes of seal skinning/butchering, the winner was declared.  The crowd roared!  The other two competitors finished off their seals.  All the edible meat was placed into a black garbage bag.  All the non-edible stuff (intestines and various organs) were placed in another bag--I'm not sure if this was thrown out or if the Inuit find a use for it. 

Next, everyone headed inside the building for the feast.  For large family meals, Inuit typically put cardboard on the floor, then pile the raw meat on top of it.  They either eat sitting around the cardboard on the floor, or take smaller pieces of cardboard elsewhere to eat. Since there was a huge crowd, it wouldn't be possible for everyone to sit in a circle around the cardboard on the floor, so paper plates were supplied for those who didn't bring their own cardboard. 

Many Inuit brought their own plates: large pieces of cardboard. Makes for easy clean-up!

Captain Jack goofing off with some kids while
waiting for the feast to start.

A mother will brand new infant in her
amauti pouch.

When it was time, hunters came in carrying large black garbage bags. The bags contained the seal meat just butchered outside, and ptarmigan (birds) that were hunted earlier this week. The ptarmigan were served "as is," complete with feathers, feet, heads, etc.

Dumping the seal meat onto the cardboard. (The
ptarmigan are the whiter things.)

Everyone waiting patiently for the go-ahead.

Dinner is served.

And this was dinner. Actually, that's not true.  There was also bannock, and caribou stew. But mostly people used their hands to pick up raw seal meat, and raw ptarmigan, and just went to town. My cultural bias was out in full force--raw meat seems icky to me. 

This was the size of the crowd once food was served.

I'm sure the next question on your minds is:

"Did you actually eat that raw seal? What was it like?"

The answer is.......

No.

But I had a couple of really, really good reason not to.  You see, it was also JJ's birthday.  And every year, for many years now, I make JJ the same thing for supper on his birthday: beef bourguignon.  I only make it once a year, and I wasn't even sure I could somehow get the ingredients to do it here in Iqaluit.  I mean, really, fresh thyme?  However, with a lot of careful planning, I was able to actually do it. So we went home, put some 90's old school DVD's on for the kids (Hercules, starring Kevin Sorbo), and I finished making supper (I had started everything the day before).

The second reason is it wasn't possible to only take a wee sliver of raw seal, just to try it. (This is what JJ wanted to do.) There were no knives available, you had a grab one of the fairly large chunks that a hunter had carved. And I wasn't going to let a chunk of meat that would be appreciated by someone else go to waste being poked at or licked by me and my squeamish children. Many Inuit, especially elders, don't have access to fresh seal meat on a regular basis. Only if there is a hunter in the family, or if you have kind friends or neighbours, is this meat supplied at no or low cost. It is too valuable. (I would have felt extremely guilty wasting it.)

Also, it was RAW seal. I don't even eat sushi.

After we finished our beef bourguignon at home, JJ opened his birthday presents.

Movies, music, and of course, a video game.

Captain Jack always gives his dad jujubes. Coraline made
him a crochet coaster.

JJ also received one more birthday gift, but there is a story behind this one. While Shiree was up we took her to dinner at the Frobisher Inn.  The Frob (rhymes with "strobe") is one of two sit-down "nice" restaurants here in town. Like most places in town, sellers and artists walk through the restaurant hocking their wares to diners. We normally take a cursory look, tell the seller how beautiful the item is, say "Thank you, but no" and go on with dinner. This night JJ was approached by a man who identified himself as an artist from Cape Dorset. He had several pieces of art with him, and JJ was intrigued.  He inquired about the price, which seemed reasonable, but he asked if he could have time to think about it.  The man assured him he would come back in 15 minutes.

While he was gone JJ and I talked about the three pieces of art he wanted to buy: where they would go, if the price seemed reasonable, how we would transport them back to Thunder Bay, etc.  While we continued on with dinner we waited for the man to come back to our table.

He didn't return.

The next day, knowing JJ's birthday was coming up, I put out a post on Facebook asking if anyone had an idea who this man might be.  I immediately got several responses, which were typically blunt (as is the style for Inuit). "Was he really skinny with bad acne?" asked one person. "Did he have a gaunt face?" Eventually I had a whole online discussion happening about various artists who live in the area, physical descriptions of them, and others offering to sell me THEIR art.  For a few days I was approached by various people in town (some of whom I barely know) asking if I had found the artist.

Eventually I found out the man's name.  Let's call him Paul.  Paul was adopted into a family of artists from Cape Dorset. His father was a world-renown artist and carver, and taught Paul everything he knew. Paul eventually settled in Iqaluit, and has found some success as an artist himself. If you google his name a number of websites come up from various art galleries. He is also a member of the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.

A google search revealing work by a local artist.

A few local people informed Paul I was looking for him. As Paul was not on Facebook, a third party arranged for us to meet in the lobby of the Frobisher Inn again, a common spot for artists to sell art to visiting tourists/government officials.

When I met with him in the lobby, he informed me that he had not brought the three paintings as promised, but only one.  His asking price for this one painting was now more than double the price he had been asking for three paintings a few evenings earlier. We haggled until we came to deal we both felt was fair, and I purchased the one painting. He told me he would have the other two available the next day, and I agreed to meet him outside the Legion, a popular spot for people to hang out and drink or play pool.

Now, this was impossible to keep under wraps.  Any hope of keeping this birthday gift a secret from JJ flew out the window as soon as someone at the hospital said "Has your wife found Paul yet?" This is a VERY small town. I think the entire community knew I would looking for this man. JJ and I had a good laugh about it, and he came with me the next day to the Legion.

When we got here Paul was waiting outside as promised.  He did not, however, have any art with him. Instead, he explained that he been too drunk the night before to make any progress on them. He told JJ he would give us the paintings soon, but first he needed $20.  This was very important he said, as he had to play pool and drink this afternoon.  He also smelled strongly of marijuana and cigarette smoke.

I wasn't sure what to do. Now he wanted more money, and for the second time had shown up without the 3 promised paintings.  JJ gave him a twenty dollar bill, and I gave him my cell phone number.  He promised I would hear from him by 5pm.  Of course, I heard nothing.  I'd assumed I wouldn't. JJ and I both decided we would get the one painting we had framed, and we would have an interesting story to tell about it.

Surprisingly, two days later I got a phone call from Paul.  He wanted me to meet him in 5 minutes at the Frobisher Inn again.  I said 5 minutes wasn't enough time, so instead we arranged to meet at the seal skinning competition. He had the art with him, so finally JJ could have all 3 paintings he liked! However, Paul told me that I had only paid half of what I owed him. I reminded him this was NOT the case. He briefly tried to argue with me, then grinned and patted me on the shoulder saying "You're right, I just forgot."  I paid him what I actually owed, wished him well, and took the art for JJ.

One of the pieces of original Inuit artwork.

The whole story makes me a little sad. Paul is obviously a talented artist. Alcoholism and drug use among Inuit is far too common. Access to addiction counselling or other supports are minimal (some might say non-existent). There doesn't appear to be anyone available to help people set up their own business, either working with other local shops or setting up an online store. Even if Paul worked with a local art shop, like Nunavut Carvings, would his reliability be an issue?

On the bright side, all of the money for the paintings went directly to the artist. And we now have 3 original works of art to have framed and put up in our home in Thunder Bay.

Up next: I'll have to let you know.  Coraline and I are off to see Stars on Ice in Ottawa this weekend! This year she has been unable to attend any figure skating competitions, and the figure skating club hasn't really worked out for us the way we'd hoped.  To make it up to her, the two of us are going on a "girl's only" trip to do some shopping and watch some professional figure skaters perform. There is, of course, a blizzard now forecast for the day before we fly out, so fingers crossed we get out of here on time.