QUNGNIRJUK, (a seal in) the ice crack or fissure
Geolocation
Citation
Céline Petit, “QUNGNIRJUK, (a seal in) the ice crack or fissure,” String figures, accessed February 24, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/323.
- Overall presentation
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Name : QUNGNIRJUK, (a seal in) the ice crack or fissure
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Creator : Céline Petit
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Contributor(s) : Herve PANIAQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada
(and Celina IRNGAUT, interpreter, Iglulik)
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Date : 2005-2021
- Information on the string figure
This figure depicts a seal (nattiq) in an ice crack (qungniq). The circular pattern in the center represents the seal whereas the transverse strings portray the ice fissure. The figure is animated in such a way that the seal is seen popping up (he is then said to come up to breath) through the crack. The seal is generally represented as popping up several times (coming up and then getting down, and up again, back and forth).
This figure was also recorded among the Arviligjuarmiut (Canadian central Arctic) and in Cape York (Perlernerit/Savissivik, northwestern Greenland). It may be that some words used to accompany the emergence of the seal when animating the figure in the Iglulik area, as this was the case among the Arviligjuarmiut ("Qunanit maunga nuitirtutit, nuitirtutit" - From the ice crack, this way, you emerge, you emerge, cf. Mary-Rousselière 1969: 104). The identity of this being popping up through the ice crack was not necessarily specified among the Arviligjuarmiut.
This figure was also recorded among the Arviligjuarmiut (Canadian central Arctic) and in Cape York (Perlernerit/Savissivik, northwestern Greenland). It may be that some words used to accompany the emergence of the seal when animating the figure in the Iglulik area, as this was the case among the Arviligjuarmiut ("Qunanit maunga nuitirtutit, nuitirtutit" - From the ice crack, this way, you emerge, you emerge, cf. Mary-Rousselière 1969: 104). The identity of this being popping up through the ice crack was not necessarily specified among the Arviligjuarmiut.
1. Opening C (as in making tiriganniarjuttiaq, the fox). = Place the string around 1 and extend, insert 2 from below into 1 loop and stretch 1 and 2 apart. 5 moves towards the body, passes under (TV) 1n, pushes this string away from the body (1n is thus on the back of 5) and hooks down (TV) 2f, closing to the palm. (You can bend 4 over the crossing point between 1n and 2f to secure the figure).
2. Bring the two hands close to one another, with palms facing each other. L1 passes over R1n-R2n and hooks that string, pulling it gently to the left (L1 remains hooked, pointing away from the body). Remove R1. R1 passes over L1n-L2n and hooks that string, pulling it gently to the right (R1 remains hooked, pointing outwards). Extend (with 5 remaining hooked-close to the palm, and 1 and 2 pointing outwards. 4 is-are removed).
3. R1 passes over R5n, picks up that string (=from the far side) close to R5, and returns through the original R1 loop. Release R5 loop. R5 enters R1 loop from below and hooks down R1n, closing to the palm. Release R1 loop.
4. L1 passes over L5n and picks it up (from the far side), returning through the original L1 loop.
5. R1 picks up the transverse string running on the far side in the center of the figure (R1 passing then over all the strings that are under this TV string), and returns.
6. Remove 2. An image of a seal (nattinnguaq) is formed vertically, while the two transverse strings in the center represent the ice crack. To make the seal pop up through the crack, raise 1 (thus lifting L1f and R1n).
2. Bring the two hands close to one another, with palms facing each other. L1 passes over R1n-R2n and hooks that string, pulling it gently to the left (L1 remains hooked, pointing away from the body). Remove R1. R1 passes over L1n-L2n and hooks that string, pulling it gently to the right (R1 remains hooked, pointing outwards). Extend (with 5 remaining hooked-close to the palm, and 1 and 2 pointing outwards. 4 is-are removed).
3. R1 passes over R5n, picks up that string (=from the far side) close to R5, and returns through the original R1 loop. Release R5 loop. R5 enters R1 loop from below and hooks down R1n, closing to the palm. Release R1 loop.
4. L1 passes over L5n and picks it up (from the far side), returning through the original L1 loop.
5. R1 picks up the transverse string running on the far side in the center of the figure (R1 passing then over all the strings that are under this TV string), and returns.
6. Remove 2. An image of a seal (nattinnguaq) is formed vertically, while the two transverse strings in the center represent the ice crack. To make the seal pop up through the crack, raise 1 (thus lifting L1f and R1n).
Paniaq stresses that the making of this figure begins the same as in making the figure of the fox, TIRIGANNIARJUTTIAQ.
" Nuijartɔk·(sh)kuŋ puise - the seal comes up to breath" (Cape York), Paterson 1949:43-44, fig. 132. With a slightly different method of making (compared to the one presented here for Iglulik).
"Qunarmiutak / qungnermiutak - celui qui est dans la crevasse", "qunarmit nuitertorjuk - celui qui sort de la crevasse" (Arviligjuarmiut), Mary-Rousselière 1969: 103-104, fig. 88. Same method as the one described by Paterson.
"Qunarmiutak / qungnermiutak - celui qui est dans la crevasse", "qunarmit nuitertorjuk - celui qui sort de la crevasse" (Arviligjuarmiut), Mary-Rousselière 1969: 103-104, fig. 88. Same method as the one described by Paterson.
- Item references
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Key words : String figure; String game; Inuit; Iglulik; Eastern Canada; Arctic
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Publisher : Laboratory SPHERE (UMR 7219, University of Paris & CNRS)
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Rights : Creative Commons / Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA
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Language : Inuktitut ; English
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Location : Iglulik (Igloolik), Nunavut, Canada
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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)