NUVUJATTIAQ, the cloud

Relations

Item Relations

This Item Part of the following string figure series Item: TULUGARJUK, raven
This Item (Often) part of the same series as Item: ANARUATTIAQ, the (dog's) excrement
Item: QIMMIARJUK, the (dog) pup (Often) part of the same series as This Item

Graphical representation of this item’s relations

Citation

Céline Petit, “NUVUJATTIAQ, the cloud,” String figures, accessed February 24, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/247.
  • Overall presentation

  • Name : NUVUJATTIAQ, the cloud

  • 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 is part of the string game (or string figure series) known as 'the raven', TULUGARJUK. It appears as the third figure of this series, as a result of the transformation of the figure of the 'dog (pup)', QIMMIARJUK. This third figure is generally understood as representing a cloud (nuvujaq), although its accompanying words in the Iglulik area do not refer precisely to such a thing (cf. "juvujuvujattiaq", "jurujuruattiaq"...). In the short narrative associated with this series, a cloud is said to pass over the dog, or the raven is said to fly over a cloud.

    Construction method (ISFA)

    1. Make the figure of the dog pup, QIMMIARJUK.
    2. Release L5 loops. Rotate R2 away and up to the upright position to form the cloud, NUVUJATTIAQ.

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

    Accompanying words

    While obtaining that figure, the following words are uttered: "jugujuviaruttiaq qulaupaa", or "jurujuruattiaq qulaupaa"

    Close references (bibliography)

    "The cloud", Jenness 1924: 36-39, XXVII, fig. 35 (collected among Siberian Yupiks, Iñupiat, western and eastern Canadian Inuit).
    "The cloud", Paterson 1949: 16, 6 (6c, Cape York and Craig Harbour).
    "Nuvuyanguaciaq - ce qui ressemble à un nuage" (Arviligjuarmiut, Canada), Mary-Rousselière 1969 : 49, fig. 44.
  • 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 cloud 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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