Introduction-E

Did you stay away from Mittimatalik for long intervals before the ice froze up?
Elisapee: Absolutely. We’d be there around June as there was an abundance of birds on
the island across the bay. There would be a lot of geese. We’d live off the birds on our
way back in July. We’d spend quite a while at our camp. Then we’d move on to another
camp and then they would go fishing up the fiord or go caribou hunting while we were
heading towards what would become our main camp. When we got there, the beach ice
was still intact. We’d stay there all summer, and not go any place where there were
qallunaat. Yesterday, I mentioned the month of news-hearing. Only then we were able to
go for supplies, towards the end of the month or depending on the conditions of the ice.
We, children and our mothers, only went where there were qallunaat in June. It was
always amazing when we arrived where there were qallunaat. Their dumps were full of
cans. They had beautiful paints on them. We would only collect them from the beach in
cracks of the ice when the qallunaat were sleeping. We were afraid that they might say
we were going through the garbage, so we waited until we thought that they were
asleep. We were told by our mothers not to collect them while the qallunaat were awake.
It was not because we were looking for something to eat; it’s just that we wanted a
collection of cans for our own. There was nothing edible, as the edible things were
devoured by the dogs. There was no sewage amongst the garbage either. There were
outhouses where they could go when nature called. The sewage was probably taken to
a flat surface and it was quickly devoured by the dogs. You didn’t even see traces of
human feces anywhere as they were eaten by dogs.
I will ask questions regarding beliefs. I want more information on the
gatherings that took place and on the celebrations of the return of the sun.
What kind of games did you have? Did you have celebrations for the
return of the sun?
Elisapee: Around the Mittimatalik area, there were very few caribou. We were lacking
material for warm clothing, even though there was still some and that’s what our
clothing was made of. We had some sealskin clothing, so some people were probably
worried about the coming winter. At the later part of summer when the sun started
going again, the blueberries were ripe in August. It seemed as if everyone was preparing
for winter. They started to gather plants that would be used for insulation and wicks for
the lamps. One could tell that fall had arrived when preparations for winter were visible
and the heather and grasses were collected that would be used for bedding. The grass
is nice and dry, it stays drier and it is nicer to look at than the heather. The large blades
of grass called kilirnaaluit, they are good too, but they had a higher moisture content and
were used more often for dogs that had puppies. When the ice had just frozen over, the
season to trap foxes began. When the ice just forms, it’s easier to catch seal as there is no
34 Introduction to the Oral Traditions