Tunumiit

Tunumiit

Total population
(3,000 (2012)[1])
Regions with significant populations
 Greenland
Languages
Tunumiit, Danish[1]
Religion
Inuit religion, Evangelical Lutheran
Related ethnic groups
other Greenlandic Inuit

Tunumiit are Greenlandic Inuit from the eastern coast of the country, known as Tunu. The Tunummiit are a part of the Arctic Inuit people.

Northern and Western Greenlanders call themselves Avanersuarmiut and Kalaallit, respectively. About 80% to 88% of Greenland's population, or approximately 44,000 to 50,000 people identify as being Inuit.[2][3]

Language

The Tunumiit language, or Tunumiisut, is dialect of Greenlandic Inuktitut.

Region

The Eastern Inuit, or Tunumiit, live in the area with the mildest climate, a territory called Ammassalik. Hunters can hunt marine mammals from kayaks throughout the year.[4]

Art

The spiritual healer, or angakoq, Mitsivarniannga from Ammassalik created a figure, tupilaq or an "evil spirit object," for a visiting European in 1905. When no harm befell him for creating and showing this object to an outsider, others began making tupilait, which evolved into a popular art form.[5] Traditional art-making practices thrive in the Ammassalik.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Inuktitut, Greenlandic." http://www.ethnologue.com/language/kal. Accessed 3 Feb 2014.
  2. 1 2 Hessel, 20
  3. Baldacchino, Geoffery. "Extreme tourism: lessons from the world's cold water islands", Elsevier Science, 2006: 101. (retrieved through Google Books) ISBN 978-0-08-044656-1.
  4. Hessell 11
  5. Nacheva, Velina. "An average artistic day in Greenland." The Sofia Echo. November 29, 2001. Accessed 3 February 2014.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, December 19, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.