WHALE HUNTING
For the Inuit whale hunting was an important part of their life, since the whale’s meat and blubber could ensure the survival of the settlement for a whole season.
The whales were hunted from umiaks rowed by men. When used as a means of transport the women rowed. Since the 1920s more modern types of boat have been used during whale hunting.
The drawing shows hunting of whales and seals 100 years ago. Draw an umiak and provide a caption. Your text must explain if the boat is rowed by men or women and why.
My drawing:
When the fjord freezes over quickly narwhals and beluga whales may be unable to make it to the open sea.
They then gather in holes in the ice. Here they break the thin ice when they need to breathe.
Several hundred whales can be caught in such a hole. This is called a sassat. Once the hunt begins it is a dramatic bloodshed.
Narwhals caught in a hole in the ice (sassat) at Qeqertarsuaq, 1912
Today sassat occurs rarely. Due to climate changes the Icefjord does not freeze over that often, but it happens.
What does the Greenlandic word sassat mean? Get help at p. 41 in the book.
Explain why sassat occurs more seldom today than in the past.
In the next slide you see a picture of a narwhal. Guess how long it is.
For more than four thousand years whales have been hunted in the Disko Bay.
Everything of the whale was utilised. The meat was eaten. The bones were used for tools and roof structures of winter houses. The baleens were used as fishing lines and nets. The blubber, train oil, was used for heating and lighting.
Whalers from Europe came to the Disko Bay in the 17th century. The train oil from the whales they sold on their return. It was used to light the streets of European cities.
For the Inuit whale hunting was an important part of their life, since the whale’s meat and blubber could ensure the survival of the settlement for a whole season.
The whales were hunted from umiaks rowed by men. When used as a means of transport the women rowed. Since the 1920s more modern types of boat have been used during whale hunting.
The drawing shows hunting of whales and seals 100 years ago. Draw an umiak and provide a caption. Your text must explain if the boat is rowed by men or women and why.
My drawing:
When the fjord freezes over quickly narwhals and beluga whales may be unable to make it to the open sea.
They then gather in holes in the ice. Here they break the thin ice when they need to breathe.
Several hundred whales can be caught in such a hole. This is called a sassat. Once the hunt begins it is a dramatic bloodshed.
Narwhals caught in a hole in the ice (sassat) at Qeqertarsuaq, 1912
Today sassat occurs rarely. Due to climate changes the Icefjord does not freeze over that often, but it happens.
What does the Greenlandic word sassat mean? Get help at p. 41 in the book.
Explain why sassat occurs more seldom today than in the past.
In the next slide you see a picture of a narwhal. Guess how long it is.
For more than four thousand years whales have been hunted in the Disko Bay.
Everything of the whale was utilised. The meat was eaten. The bones were used for tools and roof structures of winter houses. The baleens were used as fishing lines and nets. The blubber, train oil, was used for heating and lighting.
Whalers from Europe came to the Disko Bay in the 17th century. The train oil from the whales they sold on their return. It was used to light the streets of European cities.
