UJAMIRALALAAQ, someone's name ("Little necklace ?")
Geolocation
Citation
Céline Petit, “UJAMIRALALAAQ, someone's name ("Little necklace ?"),” String figures, accessed February 24, 2026, https://stringfigures.huma-num.fr/items/show/334.
- Overall presentation
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Name : UJAMIRALALAAQ, someone's name ("Little necklace ?")
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Creator : Céline Petit
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Contributor(s) : Herve PANIAQ, Iglulik, Nunavut, Canada
(and Celina IRNGAUT, interpreter, Iglulik)
Cindy ARNATSIAQ, Iglulik. -
Date : 2005-2021
- Information on the string figure
In the Iglulik area, this figure depicts two persons who face each other and then hug and/or fight for getting the other's hip (kuuttiq) or back-bone of lumbar region (kuuttiniq). When reaching the first stage of the figure (two characters that appear close to one another), the following words are sung: "Ujamiralalaaq! [Ujamiqalalaaq!] kuuttinatakkillai kuuttinatarillaurlakka, iqillunuk paalu(k) !". A possible translation would be "Ujamiralalaaq/Little necklace! Your hip-bone, give me your hip-bone, let's hug and fight!". One character is thus addressing the other, first calling his/her name. At the last word of the sentence, the indices' loops are released, and the two characters are then represented as embracing one another (iqipput), and possibly fighting (stage 2). The two strings representing the characters -now making one- must be seized and pulled in opposite directions to undo the figure without creating any knot.
This figure was documented with a close meaning ("two hips") in Inuit groups of the Coronation gulf, and with another meaning ("the loon", that flies away) in the most eastern regions (among the Tununirmiut, Inughuit and Kalaallit). At the beginning of the 20th century, this figure (stage 2) was also said to depict the constellation of Aagjuuk (two stars rising just before daybreak in late December and early January) in the Aivilingmiut area (Comer 1908). A similar figure -except for one last move- was also recorded among the Inupiat of northern Alaska (cf. "the two hips of a man", transformed into "two men", Jenness 1924: 88-89).
This figure was documented with a close meaning ("two hips") in Inuit groups of the Coronation gulf, and with another meaning ("the loon", that flies away) in the most eastern regions (among the Tununirmiut, Inughuit and Kalaallit). At the beginning of the 20th century, this figure (stage 2) was also said to depict the constellation of Aagjuuk (two stars rising just before daybreak in late December and early January) in the Aivilingmiut area (Comer 1908). A similar figure -except for one last move- was also recorded among the Inupiat of northern Alaska (cf. "the two hips of a man", transformed into "two men", Jenness 1924: 88-89).
1. Position 1. Rotate hands so that palms face away from the body. 1 hooks up 5f, rotating down (under 5n) and then up towards the body. Proceed then as in Opening A (= 2 picks up the palmar string of the opposite hand).
2. Proximally transfer 2 loop to 1, then proximally transfer 5 loop to 1. Keep the loops well separated on 1.
3. Insert 5 proximally into triple 1 loops. 5 moves toward the center and hooks down the two (upper) TV 1f through the proximal 1 loop.
4. Pass 2 from the far side between the two proximal (diagonal) 1n strings. 2 pushes to the far side the upper string (of these two diagonal 1n strings) and hooks up (distal) TV 1n, rotating down and then up under the upper diagonal 1n string.
5. Release the two distal 1 loops, the proximal 1 loop(s) remaining on 1. R Katilluik (= proximally insert R1 into L1 loop, remove L1, and proximally insert L1 into both R1 loops. 1 picks up 2n and draws it through the original double 1 loops). But do not remove 2.
6. On each side, there is a string that crosses the 5 loops. 5 picks up (with its back) that string on each side, thus droping the former 5 loops. Extend (with fingers pointing away from the body). This is UJAMIQALAAQ, referring to two characters facing one another, who will hug and fight for a hip.
7. Remove 2 and extend to make the two characters hugh and fight (thus making "one"). This is the second stage.
2. Proximally transfer 2 loop to 1, then proximally transfer 5 loop to 1. Keep the loops well separated on 1.
3. Insert 5 proximally into triple 1 loops. 5 moves toward the center and hooks down the two (upper) TV 1f through the proximal 1 loop.
4. Pass 2 from the far side between the two proximal (diagonal) 1n strings. 2 pushes to the far side the upper string (of these two diagonal 1n strings) and hooks up (distal) TV 1n, rotating down and then up under the upper diagonal 1n string.
5. Release the two distal 1 loops, the proximal 1 loop(s) remaining on 1. R Katilluik (= proximally insert R1 into L1 loop, remove L1, and proximally insert L1 into both R1 loops. 1 picks up 2n and draws it through the original double 1 loops). But do not remove 2.
6. On each side, there is a string that crosses the 5 loops. 5 picks up (with its back) that string on each side, thus droping the former 5 loops. Extend (with fingers pointing away from the body). This is UJAMIQALAAQ, referring to two characters facing one another, who will hug and fight for a hip.
7. Remove 2 and extend to make the two characters hugh and fight (thus making "one"). This is the second stage.
"Ujamiralalaaq! Kuuttinatakkillai kuuttinatarillaurlakka, iqillunuk paalu(k)!"
"Arg Joug [Aagjuuk] - two stars, rising just before daybreak in late December and early January" (second stage, Aivilingmiut), Comer 1908 (Penn Museum Collection).
"Qotiŋnaqtɔγyuk [qutingnaqturjuk] - two hips", continuing into "xukaγyuk [sukarjuuk] - the two sticks that support the lamp" (Coronation gulf), Jenness 1924: 88-90, LXXVI, figs 104 & 105. (See Wirt & al. 2009: 117). A slightly different version of this figure was recorded in Inupiat groups of northern Alaska ("qucik/qotcik - the two hips of a man", then transformed into "inu(u)k - two men", Jenness 1924: 88-89). Among the Nunamiut of northern inland Alaska, a chant was uttered when presenting the first stage of the figure. The meaning of these words ("Father, dog, when did you get the short mitts? Our necklets, let us throw them away and let us wrestle", cf. Jenness ibid.) is quite close to the interpretation of the figure in the Iglulik area.
"Quarsa·piařs.(sh)uk, quarsa·rpiars·uk - like a loon" (that flies away, "tiɳgivɔq" (stages 1 and 2, Craig Harbour, Cape York), "qarsa·piars·uk evasok - the loon sitting" (stage 1, Upernavik), "qarsarpiarssuk - the loon" (stage 2, Ubekendt Island), Paterson 1949: 34, fig. 52, the loon.
"Qotiŋnaqtɔγyuk [qutingnaqturjuk] - two hips", continuing into "xukaγyuk [sukarjuuk] - the two sticks that support the lamp" (Coronation gulf), Jenness 1924: 88-90, LXXVI, figs 104 & 105. (See Wirt & al. 2009: 117). A slightly different version of this figure was recorded in Inupiat groups of northern Alaska ("qucik/qotcik - the two hips of a man", then transformed into "inu(u)k - two men", Jenness 1924: 88-89). Among the Nunamiut of northern inland Alaska, a chant was uttered when presenting the first stage of the figure. The meaning of these words ("Father, dog, when did you get the short mitts? Our necklets, let us throw them away and let us wrestle", cf. Jenness ibid.) is quite close to the interpretation of the figure in the Iglulik area.
"Quarsa·piařs.(sh)uk, quarsa·rpiars·uk - like a loon" (that flies away, "tiɳgivɔq" (stages 1 and 2, Craig Harbour, Cape York), "qarsa·piars·uk evasok - the loon sitting" (stage 1, Upernavik), "qarsarpiarssuk - the loon" (stage 2, Ubekendt Island), Paterson 1949: 34, fig. 52, the loon.
Approximate symmetry
- 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)