IJUKKARATTIAQ, the falling oil lamp

Geolocation

Citation

Céline Petit, “IJUKKARATTIAQ, the falling oil lamp,” String figures, accessed February 24, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/276.
  • Overall presentation

  • Name : IJUKKARATTIAQ, the falling oil lamp

  • Creator : Céline Petit

  • Contributor(s) : Herve PANIAQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada (video)
    Abraham ULAAJURULUK, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada
    Mary Quliktalik NIRIUNGNIQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada
    Elisapi NUTARAKITTUQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada

  • Date : 2015-2021

  • Information on the string figure

    • General presentation of the string figure

    This string figure depicts an oil lamp (qulliq) with its flames, which falls off (its raised position): ijukkaqpuq (ijukkatsaqpuq). Once the figure of the lamp with fire is formed, it is seized and pulled with the mouth in its upper middle part (qitinga) in such a way to represent the lamp falling (up to the dissolution of the figure).
    This figure was collected among several Inuit societies of the Central and Eastern Canadian Arctic (under a name that refers to the fact of falling off, or to a fire). A similar figure was also documented in Alaska and in the Western Canadian Arctic (Inupiat, Inuvialuit and Inuinnait), but with a different method of making, and a different name: it refers there to 'mountains' (Jenness 1924: 149, CXXX).

    Construction method (ISFA)

    1. Position I. R2 hooks up L palmar string and returns, while L2 picks up L5n. Extend, release 5 loop. (= Opening B).
    2. Proximally insert 345 into 2 loop, 2345 hook down 2n (to the palm).
    3. Proximally insert 2 into 1 loop, 2 hooks up 1n (and returns away from the body and up).
    4. (Palms facing away) 1 picks up 5f and returns moving under 5n. Release 5 loop.
    5. 5 hooks down (to the palm) the oblical string that runs across 1 loop on the far side of the figure.
    6. Inuit Ending (= proximally insert 1 into 2 loop, Navajo 1 and release 2 loop). You have formed the oil lamp (qulliq) with its flames.
    7. Grab with your mouth the upper TV string in its middle (= in the middle of the figure) and pull slightly while 5 gets down (and 1 is removed): the oil lamp falls off (its raised position), ijukkartuq.

    Close references (bibliography)

    "Fire", Birket-Smith 1929, fig. 106g, 107a (Caribou/Qairnirmiut, Paallirmiut).
    "Iyokaratsiaq", Mathiassen 1928: 223, fig. 179.
    "Iyukkartorjuk - (la lampe allumée) qui tombe", Mary-Rousselière 1969: 78-79, fig. 69 (Arviligjuarmiut).
    See also: "ϵɣit [iġġit] - mountains", Jenness 1924: 149, CXXX, fig. 197 (From Barrow to Coronation gulf / Inupiat, Inuvialuit, Inuinnait). = Involving a different method of making: cf. Wirt et al. 2009: 208-209 - BISFA 16 - for a detailed illustration.

    Mathematical concepts involved

    Symmetry.
  • 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 CC BY-NC-SA

  • Language : Inuktitut ; English

  • Location : Iglulik (Igloolik), Nunavut, Canada

  • Description : Iglulingmiut (Amitturmiut) Inuit string figure (Nunavut, Canada): symbolism, method of construction, references to the same figure as documented among different Inuit groups (Alaska, Canada, Greenland)

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