TRADITIONAL WAY OF LIFE OF ESKIMO

The ability of the Eskimo to adapt successfully to a cold and harsh environment depended on a highly inventive material culture (Clothing sewn from skins, the toggle harpoon fashioned from ivory or antler and fitted with stone blades, the well known igloo, or snow house) and particular values and psychological traits. Broad cultural values stressed the importance and excitement of hunting. Courage and hardihood were emphasized in the training of young Eskimo, as was a strong sense of fatalism.

Settlement .

Settlement pattern varied according to the location, the time of year, subsistence opportunities. Permanent village of stone houses existed in Greenland and Alaska; along the Siberian shore village were made up of houses composed of driftwood and earth. In the central areas there were no such settled communities, although a given group might well return to the same fishing or hunting site year after year.

In all Eskimo areas an annual cycle took place in which group spent the winter together in which a larger settlement and then dispersed into smaller, family-sized bands during the summer for seal hunting, for fishing, or for collecting birds, eggs, and plants.

The Igloo (From the Eskimo word meaning ‘home’) was constructed of packed snow and used only during of winter, when villages of these structures were built on the fiorm ocean ice to facilitate seal hunting. Igloo were also used as temporary structures in Greenland and in parts of Canada and Alaska.

THE LAPPS

The Lapps are a European people without a formal homeland at their own. Numbering about 43,000, they inhabit the arctic and subarctic region of four countries; Norway, with around 20,0000 Lapps; Sweden with an estimated 17,000; Finland, with around 4,000; and the Soviet Union, with about 2,000.

The nama Lapp, from Finnish lappalainen, is a foreign term as far as these people are concerned. They prefer to be called Samit, their own name for themselves. The Lappish language belongs to the Finno-Ugric subfamily of the Ural-altaic language. It is thus unrelated to neighboring Scandinavian and Slavic languages with the exception of Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, and certain lesser-known tongoues. Finnish is the closest of these to Lappish, but the two are not mutually intelligible. Lappish itself divides into three large language groups-east, central, and south Lapissh.

The origins of the Samit are still uncertain, but they may be the oldest postglacial inhabitants in the far North. Originally living as hunters, gatherers, and fishing people, some become pastoralist by the middle ages at the lates. They have been Christian since the 1600s.

Reindeer herding remains their most distinctive occupation. Reindeer herders today may frequently be seen in the traditional costume of colorful, decorated tunicand tasseled hat. Most Samit today, however, dress like other Europeans and live mostly in permanent houses and seasonal herding migrations. Many Samit live in fishing communities along artic coasts and inland waters. Others havelived for generations as settled farmers. Some work at mining or forestry.

Japan Original Tribe (Ainu)

The Ainu are an aboriginal people of the northern Pacific, who live principally on Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, and in the southern part of Soviet island is Sakhalin. Until recently, they also occupied the Sovyet Kuril island , where their population is now extinct. The Ainu population is rapidly dwindling is result of intermarriage of and cultural assimilation by the Japanese. Only a small percentage of the estimated 12. 000 Ainu on Hokkaido and 600 on Sakhalin are of unmixed descent.

Unlike other East Asian people, Ainu possess wavy brunette hair, light skinned complexions, and abundant body hair. They also lack the epicanthic fold of skin over the upper eyelids, a mongoloid racial characteristic. Their language is unrelated to any known Asian linguistic family.

The Ainu, a hunting and gathering people, formerly lived throughout the Japanese archipelago but were gradually pushed north to their present location by the invading Japanese. The men used the bow and arrow to hunt bear, deer, fox, otter, and other land animals during the winter.

In summer they fished the sea and rivers. The women gathered wild foods such as roots, berries, mushrooms, and nuts and also engaged in small-scale agriculture based on crop rotation.

Traditionally the Ainu traced their genealogical descent through both parents, and the family was the most important social and economic unit. The men were skilled woodcarvers ; women were experts in embroidering and weaving.

They had many songs, games, epic tales, and riddles, and their chief musical instruments were the drum and flute. Their highly animistic religious belief includes many gods of the mountains, land, sky, and sea. Most important the bear cult which each year culminated in an elaborate ritual sacrifice of a captive bear raised from a cub in the Ainu community.

FASHIONS IN COLLECTING

Fashions in collecting shift focus from time to time, reflecting the taste of the period. In recent years the increasing interest in simple design has led many collectors to concentrate on Folk Art. The unadorned , simple lines of shaker chairs and chest for example, attract many collectors. Ceramics, metalwork, glassware, and hand woven textiles were the major media for folk artist of the past. Today collectible pieces are more the product of trained artist.

Although it is tempting to consider antique collecting a relatively modern phenomenon, documents prove that beautiful old objects have always been of interest. in ancient Rome new and old decorative wares were put on the auction block at the same sales. In the Renaissance, collection of curiosities include venerated objects, mainly valued because they were owned by important or famous people, but fine examples of the various decorative arts also found their way into princely collections.

Art dealers of the 17^th century offered paintings, sculpture, and precious silver objects that wre both old and new, a tradition that continued for century. Shops advertising antiques are found listed in New York City directories as early as 1840s. A dealer named Sypher sold old and new furniture at a time when the rococo and Renaissance revivals were just being introduced. The early interest in antique furniture was not restricted to American cities; it was based on appreciation of the design of early pieces rather than on their associational value. The first books on antique collecting began to appear in the 1870s since then, collecting has been characterized by a continuing refinement of interest and knowledge and a broadening of public participation.