2002
Identifying & explaining
Neva Rivers: Kakivik nutaan. Arnat pilitulriit.
(Finally a sewing bag. Women made them.)
John Phillip, Sr.: Important-aalriig atam kankuk alailriik arnaulriani. Aka-gguq nulirniaraqateng nukalpiat yaaqvanek nani uitaluteng arnaq tauna pillruuq, “Ata kakivigka aqvaqaqernaunka.”Uniisngaunaku. Ukurritqataaquvet unisngaunakek kiigkenka aturateng ilait unitengermeng kakivik.
(The important thing for girls just came out. Long ago if a man was getting a wife who was living far away [she] said, “Let me get my sewing bag.” She would not leave without it. If you’re going to [become] a daughter in-law, you never ever leave without the sewing bag even if you leave some of your clothing.)
Joan Hamilton: If somebody comes and gets you in your village to marry you, you just go home and grab this and leave. This is real critical for the woman, that you never leave this. You can just leave everything else, but you need to bring this along.
Neva Rivers: Makut-gguq maa-i kelugkuaraa. Munalriim ukut pillrullinikai. Kelugquayauluteng.
(These are small stitches. A skilled person made this one. It has small stitches.)
Virginia Minock: Tua-i-llu, tua-i-llu-gguq keluakun arnaq cakneq tangerrluki keluun uum angutem cucuknauraa, keluakun.
(And then, a man would want a woman if she had nice, careful stitches.)
Neva Rivers: Uggun-llu tau kenegnarcaareluuku angutem tangllerkaa.
(This is to attract a man [laughs].)
Joan Hamilton: Kelua-qaa una tangerrluku?
(By looking at the stitches?)
Neva Rivers: Munartaciakun.
(By how careful she is.)
Materials
Joan Hamilton: This [bottom, straight edge] is caribou, and then this here [darker skin] is the foot again.
Neva Rivers: Tuntum tukuullekuyugnarqaa.
(It might be caribou foot.)
Virginia Minock: Reindeer.
Joan Hamilton: Mana-mi? Mink-auguq-qaa mana?
(What about this [trim along both sides]? Is this part mink?)
John Phillips, Sr.: Wolverine looks like (outside trim along sides).
Joan Hamilton: Naken, aqsaanek maaken-qaa?
(From where, from here, it’s abdomen?)
John Phillip, Sr.: Ii-i.
(Yes.)
Neva Rivers: Mink-am pamyua melquqaa.
(It [interior trim along sides] is fur from a mink’s tail.)
Joan Hamilton: Makut-mi? Kavirliq cauga? Yarn-aulliuq.
(How about these [tassels]? What is the red? Maybe it’s yarn.)
Virginia Minock: Yes.
Joan Hamilton: Mana-mi?
(What about this [trim on semicircular flap]?)
John Phillip, Sr.: Squirrel-am tua-w’ wani melqurra summertime.
Squirrel, qanganameng pituaput. Wangkuta-wa squirrel-ayagat kavirlitimkut narullginek pituaput.
(Looks like summertime squirrel fur. Squirrel, we call them qanganaq. We call the small red squirrels narullgiq.)
Virginia Minock: Kiagmi-w’ kavirt.
(In the summer they are reddish.)
John Phillip, Sr.: Kiagmi waten ayuqut melqurit. Uskumi-ll’ qatriluteng.
(In the summer their fur is like this. In the winter they get white.)
Aron Crowell: What is this [reddish-brown] skin in here [central rectangular section]?
Joan Hamilton: That’s the same as this [caribou hair side of exterior].
Neva Rivers: Tamana tamirrluku nutaan maa-i uitermeng pillrulliniluku.
(That was all colored with red ocher.)
Virginia Minock: This one [semicircular flap] looks like it’s seal.
Aron Crowell: And this [white bands on semicircular flap] is throat skin? The esophagus?
Virginia Minock: Mm-hmm.
Neva Rivers: This [bag fastener] is just for hooking.
John Phillip, Sr.: [Demonstrates rolling up the sewing bag, wrapping it with the cord, and securing it closed it with the fastener.]
Joan Hamilton: Cauluni mana?
(What is this part?)
Neva Rivers: Iquulqutaq.
(The tip.)
Virginia Minock: Looks like ivory, huh?
Neva Rivers: Ivory-rrau-gguq, yes.
(It’s a piece of ivory, yes.)
John Phillip, Sr.: Tulurraq.
(Walrus tusk.)
Joan Hamilton: Qessaitqapiareluteng [they weren’t lazy]. We were just admiring how much work goes into that, knowing the implements they had.
Using
Aron Crowell: So would the needles and sewing things be in there?
Virginia Minock: Mm-hmm.
Suzi Jones: So do you use something like this made out of cloth today to keep your needles in?
Joan Hamilton: Cloth, yes.
Suzi Jones: Are they fancy or plain?
Virginia Minock: They’re just plain.
Joan Hamilton: Some are fancy. In Chevak, they make really fancy ones. Maa-i-llu elitnaulriit pituut [today students do that]. Tangerrsugnarqelrianek [beautiful ones]. Students make theirs differently. Some of them are really intricate with quilting.
Virginia Minock: I made one for my husband too for traveling, because they have to bring needles.
The traditional kakivik [sewing bag] was made of fish or animal skin, with a rounded flap at one end and a small pouch at the other to hold needles and small sewing implements such as thimbles and needle cases. Contemporary sewing kits are made of cloth. When not in use, the kakivik is rolled up, wrapped several times with the cord that attaches to the flap, and secured by sticking an ivory crosspiece or “bag fastener” into the wrapping. Older ones, like this example, were often embellished with fancy needlework and decorative furs.
Sewing kits were symbolically connected with womanhood and birth. For example, a pregnant woman sat on her sewing kit while cutting meat if she wanted to give birth to a girl. When a girl experienced her first menstruation and “stood up” in the community as a marriageable woman, she unwrapped her dolls (symbolizing children) from her kakivik and gave them away to her younger companions. Young men made bag fasteners as courting gifts, and a sewing kit’s rounded flap resembles the U-shaped bottom of a woman’s parka.
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