Introduction-E

Mittimatalik, but that was before I could remember. We would go to Ikpiarjuk with my
grandfather. We used to camp out in the bay of Ikpiarjuk, while our fathers went to
trade. While we were camping on the ice, my father broke the ice by jumping on it. He
caught something yellowish and I did not know what it was. Apparently it was a seal pup.
They put it on top of the qamutik. They used to have a wooden stick that was used to
remove snow from kamiit or skins called a tiluktuut. I was given this stick and used that to
beat the seal pup until it stopped moving, and everybody said I caught my first seal.
And after that, we saw a seal that had wandered away from its breathing hole,
which was called a paarnguliaq. My brother took my hand and brought along the dog
whip which had a wooden handle. He used the handle to beat the seal. I caught a bigger
one. Those are the animals that I recall vividly as the first ones.
Can you tell us about the time you were first aware of a baby being born?
Paniaq: I cannot really answer that as I did not take things seriously. I used to hear about
the babies, but I do not recall which ones they were. I used to hear about women having
children. I would hear about a person who had had a child. When we were told to go
see the baby, we would run over and shake its hand.
The newborn’s?
Paniaq: Yes. They weren’t named right away so we were never told their names.
I guess the newborns were always treated like that long ago?
Paniaq: I don’t know about our ancestors. In our generation, we had to go see the
newborns to shake their hands. I don’t know what our ancestors did. Maybe Elisapee
has more information.
Elisapee: It was just the same. They weren’t named right away. When someone had lost
a relative recently, then the baby had a name. And when we went to see the baby, we
would be told that it had arrived and who it was. And if he were named after a relative,
we would be told what we would call him.
Paniaq: Yes, definitely.
Elisapee: “You have a nephew, a sister-in-law.” That’s how we were taught to address
newborns amongst relatives.
Paniaq: When we were little children, we were taught to address a person in a certain
way, as we were not allowed to call any adult by his/her name. And we would be told
not to listen to people talking. For that reason we have less information than we would
otherwise have. I was naïve and I heard only a little bit. While they were talking, I
Life Stories – Hervé Paniaq 47