Inuit Leisure And A Long Winter

These shots date to the final day of Winterlude- February 20th. In Confederation Park, a stage was set up through the festival for various uses, with the Lord Elgin Hotel and the Aboriginal Veterans Monument as a backdrop. On this day, a number of Inuit teens were doing a demonstration of games the Inuit use to get through the long winters of the far north of Canada. I found each in turn to be fascinating. Here in this first shot, two are engaged in the game of musk ox- pushing against each other's heads as a show of strength, in the same way the animals do. The object in the game is to push your opponent back across a given line.

Another game was leg wrestling- two girls went on their backs, one arranged in one direction, the other  facing the other. The idea is to hook one leg, and try to pull your opponent off their back, using just that leg.

The third game was fun to watch- a high kick. One person held a pouch, suspended from a stick, while two others would take turns trying to kick the pouch. The stick was raised after each player threw a kick. You try leaping that high.

And they finished up with singing- both the girls and the boys.