Whales

Native peoples harvested bowhead and beluga whales; baleen was used for seal nets, sleds and baskets. A single bowhead whale provided a year's worth of food and oil for a couple of hundred Inupiat, which led to the establishment of permanent villages. Women convinced whale spirits to give up a whale to the hunters by creating special hunting apparel, following strict taboos, and refraining from sewing while men hunted whales. When a whale was spotted, camps were set up on the ice. Hunters camped with their tools and sacred items in total silence, watching and waiting for the whale to reappear. The slightest sound or breaking of a taboo ruined the hunt. When a whale resurfaced, umiaks, a type of skin boat, were launched. Dead whales were towed in and met by the chief hunter's wife dressed in her finest clothing and singing ceremonial songs. Extensive ceremonies attended by people from afar celebrated whale killings. In the 1850s, the bowhead, minke and grey whales were also hunted commercially for their baleen and oil.