QIMMIARJUK, the (dog) pup

Relations

Item Relations

This Item Transformation of the following string figure: Item: TULUGARJUK, raven
This Item Part of the following string figure series Item: TULUGARJUK, raven
This Item (Often) part of the same series as Item: NUVUJATTIAQ, the cloud
Item: TULUGARJUK, raven (Often) part of the same series as This Item

Graphical representation of this item’s relations

Citation

Céline Petit, “QIMMIARJUK, the (dog) pup,” String figures, accessed February 24, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/246.
  • Overall presentation

  • Name : QIMMIARJUK, the (dog) pup

  • Creator : Céline Petit

  • Contributor(s) : Herve PANIAQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada
    Leetia QAUNAQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada

  • Date : 2005-2018

  • Information on the string figure

    • General presentation of the string figure

    This figure depicting a dog pup (qimmiaq) is part of the string game (or string figure 'series') known as 'the raven', TULUGARJUK. It appears as the second figure of this series, as a result of the transformation of the (first) figure of the 'raven'. The pup is said to come along and make the raven fly away.
    This figure (QIMMIARJUK) is then transformed to obtain the figure representing a big cloud (NUVUJATTIAQ), which is itself transformed into the figure of the pup's excrement (ANARUATTIAQ).
    Among some Inuit groups (like the Arviligjuarmiut), this figure is interpreted as depicting a fox (tiriganniaq), not a dog.

    Construction method (ISFA)

    1. Make the figure of the raven, TULUGARJUK.
    2. Then distally transfer TV 1n to 2. Release R5 loops. Rotate R2 away, down and point R2 toward you, under the figure that forms the pup, QIMMIARJUK.

    See Wirt et al. 2009: 45-47 for detailed step-by-step illustration.

    Accompanying words

    While making this figure, the following words are uttered in the Iglulik area : "Qimmiata tiggivaa" or "Qimmia tatiksivaa" [the dog pup chases the raven].

    Close references (bibliography)

    "The pup", Jenness 1924: 36-39, XXVII, fig. 34 (collected among Siberian Yupiks, Iñupiat, western and eastern Canadian Inuit).
    "The dog", Paterson 1949: 16, 6 (6b, Ubekendt Island, Cape York and Craig Harbour).
    "Teriganiarjuk - le renard" (Arviligjuarmiut, Canada), Mary-Rousselière 1969 : 48, fig. 43.
  • Item references

  • Key words : String figure; String game; Inuit; Iglulik; Eastern Canada; Arctic

  • Publisher : Laboratory SPHERE (UMR 7219, University of Paris & CNRS)

  • Rights : Creative commons / Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

  • Relation : Item original

  • Language : Inuktitut, English

  • Location : Iglulik (Igloolik), Nunavut, Canada

  • Description : Description of the string figure representing a dog pup among the Inuit of the Iglulik area (Nunavut, Canada): symbolism, method of construction, references to the same figure as documented among different Inuit groups (Alaska, Canada, Greenland).

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