Inuit Amauti

A sea day today as we head towards Pond Inlet in Canada.  It's quite choppy out there, and we've had several snow squalls -- weird to see in August!

This morning we had a very interesting lecture from a lovely lady named Leslie Qammaniq, an Inuit from Pond Inlet who came to talk about her culture.  In particular, she demonstrated how an Amauti works.  A quite ingenious piece of outerwear used by women to carry their babies.

The large hood in the back of the coat is where the baby goes, and it can carry children up to two years of age.  Each region has slight differences in design, and each pattern is also passed down from generation to generation within individual families.

I did wonder how you get the baby both into and out of the hood, but it looks like a very cozy way for an infant to travel!