Introduction-E

and his adopted younger brother are the only ones who have gone to school. When we
got there, Silasie, my youngest one, went to school for a short while, but then he started
to work.
What kind of games did you play when you were young?
Saullu: We played games like playing house, illunnguaq, illukitaaq, juggling and all kinds
of other things. I can be asked what I know. I state only what I know.
You juggled?
Saullu: Yes, and things like igunaujannguaq. Yes, we did all of them. Playing house was
a lot of fun. We played dolls. We carried someone else’s baby, and we also carried
puppies.
You also played ajaraaq, string games?
Saullu: Yes, we also played string games. I also liked to play with inuujat, the little
wooden dolls. I still have the head of one of my wooden dolls, made of ivory.
Did you play the whole day?
Saullu: No, because we had to carry out errands for our mother. We didn’t play the
whole day. There were things we had to do for our mother.
What were the things you had to do?
Saullu: Things like going and fetching ice, fetching uqsuq, softening skins. These are the
things I grew up with, because we lived in a qammaq.
Who were your mother’s parents?
Saullu: Taunguliqtuq was my mother. Leetia was her baptismal name. My oldest
daughter was named Leetia, which was my mother’s baptismal name. That became her
atiq. That’s how they used to do it back then.
She was baptized Leetia?
Saullu: Yes, my mother’s mother. My mother also had that name because she was the
oldest. That’s how they used to do it. They had Inuit who baptized people, who were
still alive when I became aware, Tulugarjuaq and others. They also performed
marriages.
Life Stories – Saullu Nakasuk 65