TUKTURJUK INNARUMIITTURJUK / KINGALLAAGU, a caribou on the hillside
Geolocation
Relations
Item Relations
| This Item | related through common consecutive operations (sub-procedure): | Item: TUKTURJUK, the caribou |
Graphical representation of this item’s relations
Citation
Céline Petit, “TUKTURJUK INNARUMIITTURJUK / KINGALLAAGU, a caribou on the hillside,” String figures, accessed February 24, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/330.
- Overall presentation
-
Name : TUKTURJUK INNARUMIITTURJUK / KINGALLAAGU, a caribou on the hillside
-
Creator : Céline Petit
-
Contributor(s) : Herve PANIAQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada
-
Date : 2005-2021
- Information on the string figure
This figure portrays a caribou (tuktu) that gets down a hill.
The caribou is first shown on the hill or hillside (innarillugu / kingallaagu, tappaaninnguarjuk) and then climbing down (aqqariaq&uni) until it gets at the bottom (iqqaqpalliannguaq&uni).
This figure was documented in other Inuit societies, mostly among Inupiat of Utqiagvik (Barrow area, North Alaska), among the Arviligjuarmiut of the Canadian central Arctic, and in the South Baffin area.
The caribou is first shown on the hill or hillside (innarillugu / kingallaagu, tappaaninnguarjuk) and then climbing down (aqqariaq&uni) until it gets at the bottom (iqqaqpalliannguaq&uni).
This figure was documented in other Inuit societies, mostly among Inupiat of Utqiagvik (Barrow area, North Alaska), among the Arviligjuarmiut of the Canadian central Arctic, and in the South Baffin area.
1. Position 1.
2. Bend 3 so that 3 picks up (from above) the palmar string of its own hand, and returns, pointing up. 2 and 4 pick up strings on the palmar side of the opposite 2 and 4 in the manner of Opening A.
3. R2 rotates away from the body, passing over R3, R4 and R5 loops, around R5f, and then towards the body under all strings until proximally entering R1 loop. R2 hooks up R1n, rotating away from the body and up (= retraces its path). Release R1 loop.
4. Twist both R2 loops a full turn away from the body (= only R2 rotates with its loops away from the body, then turning towards the body and up).
5. R1 proximally passes through R2 loops. R1 and R2 grasp L2n and remove the L2 loop. Allow the double loop around R1 and R2 to slip off onto the single loop held between R1 and R2.
6. Release L1 loop and place the loop held between R1 and R2 over L1. Extend by pointing fingers away (with palms facing each other). This is the caribou on the hillside. Release 3 and 4 loops to represent the caribou climbing down the hill, to the plain.
See Wirt & al. 2009: 43 for a step by step illustration.
2. Bend 3 so that 3 picks up (from above) the palmar string of its own hand, and returns, pointing up. 2 and 4 pick up strings on the palmar side of the opposite 2 and 4 in the manner of Opening A.
3. R2 rotates away from the body, passing over R3, R4 and R5 loops, around R5f, and then towards the body under all strings until proximally entering R1 loop. R2 hooks up R1n, rotating away from the body and up (= retraces its path). Release R1 loop.
4. Twist both R2 loops a full turn away from the body (= only R2 rotates with its loops away from the body, then turning towards the body and up).
5. R1 proximally passes through R2 loops. R1 and R2 grasp L2n and remove the L2 loop. Allow the double loop around R1 and R2 to slip off onto the single loop held between R1 and R2.
6. Release L1 loop and place the loop held between R1 and R2 over L1. Extend by pointing fingers away (with palms facing each other). This is the caribou on the hillside. Release 3 and 4 loops to represent the caribou climbing down the hill, to the plain.
See Wirt & al. 2009: 43 for a step by step illustration.
"The caribou in the willows" (Utqiagvik/Barrow, northern Alaska), Jenness 1924: 35, XXV, fig. 32. Same method. With the utterance of a short sentence when obtaining the figure (sentence translated as: "The caribou, it is said, when it became hot, stayed in the willows, but when it grew cool it went away", Jenness 1924: 35).
"Tuktorjuk kingasiortorjuk - le caribou sur la montagne" (Arviligjuarmiut), Mary-Rousselière 1969: 7-8, fig. 2. Close method.
"Tuktorjuk kingasiortorjuk - le caribou sur la montagne" (Arviligjuarmiut), Mary-Rousselière 1969: 7-8, fig. 2. Close method.
- 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)