A wink at ... the Inuksuk

An inuksuk (plural inuksuit), more commonly spelled inuksuk in English language (prononced in-ook-shook). Many of you have probably seen some either in real or on pictures before, but what are they really. The word literally means ‘’Person substitute’’ – Inuk (Person) – Suk (Substitute). Used mainly as a stone landmark or cairns built by humans. They have many uses depending on the shapes and size in which they were erected. The most commonly seen are in the shape of a human form with legs and arms, these should actually be called ‘inunnguaq’.

The Inuksuk were used has landmark mostly because natural ones were almost nonexistent in the northern lands, where most nature is simple tundra and not many trees grow. These landmarks were often very big and on the side of water and could be used from the sea for navigational uses. They were also used in various form has markers for travel routes, to identify fishing spots, camps and some were even places of veneration.

  Sometimes used in hunting has human substitute (the name says it all), to make deer and caribous believe humans were in the way, that way hunters could lead their prey in the direction they wanted, where other hunters were waiting for them further down with bow and arrows. Inuksuk were also used in some shapes erected with caribou antlers on the head to represent food caches.

Canadian province, Nunavut’s flag is presented with an Inuksuk on, and the image stays for the people to remember the old ways of the Inuit’s. The statues are represented on Nunavut’s flag but they can be seen everywhere in the northernmost provinces, from the East to the West of the Canada, in Alaska and in Greenland. They have even become widespread all over Canada, inuksuk can be seen in many places off the side of many roads. Often used meaning, ‘Someone was here’. In some Canadian National and Provincial Parks, orders were given for people to stop building Inuksuk’s because they were becoming numerous in hiking trails and could often lead on wrong paths because people were following these markers instead of using the official markers used by the parks. And I have seen so many everywhere to personally understand that it could be an issue in some places, but they are quite often useful too.

 Nunavut Flag

These sculptures are among the oldest and most important objects placed by humans upon the vast Arctic landscape and have become a familiar symbol of the Inuit and of their homeland. It is forbidden to destroy inuksuk’s according to the Inuit traditions. Many old inuksuk in the great north still stand that are many centuries old, others have fallen, sign of the passing of time. A familiar inuksuk was a very welcome sight to a traveler on a featureless and forbidding landscape. 

 Inuksuk built of ice in winter (that was fun)

At Enukso Point on Baffin Island, there are over 100 inuksuit. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1969. There are five authentic inuksuit that were donated - wholly or in part - by the government of Canada: in Brisbane, Australia; in Monterrey, Mexico; Oslo, Norway; Washington D.C., United States; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.

 Vancouver 2010 Olympics flag

So if you ever come around an Inuksuk somewhere in South America (once I’ll be there, naturally), it might just be me, saying ‘Hi, I was here’.

Sources : Wikipedia, The Canadian Encyclopedia.