SALUKTUK/SALLUKTURJUK (NUJAAQTURJUK), the two thin ones (pulling each other's hair)

Geolocation

Citation

Céline Petit, “SALUKTUK/SALLUKTURJUK (NUJAAQTURJUK), the two thin ones (pulling each other's hair),” String figures, accessed February 24, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/315.
  • Overall presentation

  • Name : SALUKTUK/SALLUKTURJUK (NUJAAQTURJUK), the two thin ones (pulling each other's hair)

  • Creator : Céline Petit

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

  • Date : 2011-2021

  • Information on the string figure

    • General presentation of the string figure

    This figure represents two skinny characters who pull each other's hair, and then get apart. It thus constitutes a symbolic variation on a theme depicted in the figure known as NUJA(A)QTURJUK-the two pulling each other's hair. The method of making SALUKTUK is however quite different, especially in its opening, which is very unusual.
    This figure of the two thin persons was mostly recorded in Inuit societies of the "Iglulik group" (Amitturmiut, Aivilingmiut, Tununirmiut) and among the Arviligjuarmiut (Canadian central Arctic, Mary-Rousselière 1969: 92-94). Figures with quite similar patterns and a close meaning were however collected among the Inuinnait of the Coronation gulf ("nujaqturjuk, hair-pulling", Jenness 1924: 52), and among the Kalaallit of the Upernavik area ("akijagtuuk, the two enemies", Paterson 1949: 43, fig. 130).

    Close references (bibliography)

    "Sadluayungaciâk - les deux maigres" (Arviligjuarmiut, Canada), Mary-Rousselière 1969: 92-94, fig. 81.
  • 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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