Traditional
Use
Clothing | Tools | Medicine | Food | Games
Clothing
Traditional use of hares for clothing was limited because
of the fragility of the skin. The skins were used for children's
clothing, for socks ('stockings') and mittens, and to make
warm and comfortable sleeping bags for children.
Sometimes the hare skins were used for making pants in imitation
of polar-bear-skin pants, which were the sign of a good hunter.
Arctic hare fur was used to trim traditional Copper Inuit
dancing caps. It is still used in many northern communities
to trim parka hoods for women, younger children and dolls.
Tools
Hunters in the Pond Inlet area in Nunavut used the warm
and soft hare skins to keep their feet warm while standing
for long hours hunting at seal holes. They would make pads
out of the skins to stand on, and sometimes they made covers
like slippers to wear over their kamiks (footwear).
Seal hunters would often hide from seals behind a white
sail, hoping to camouflage themselves against the snowy landscape.
They preferred to use Arctic hare skins because they are
much whiter than Arctic fox (Vulpes
lagopus), dog (Canis
familiaris) or polar bear (Ursus
maritimus) skins.
Tiny tufts of Arctic hare fur were sometimes used in making
the delicate indicator that tells a hunter when a seal is
rising in the hole.
An Arctic hare's hind
foot can be used as a brush for cleaning
clothes or a spotting-scope lens.
Medicine
The soft pliable skins or subcutaneous membranes of the
Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) were commonly used to heal cuts
and boils. The under-fur was used for bandages. The mammary
glands of nursing female hares were thought to have many
useful powers: they were used to help mothers produce more-nourishing
milk and to counteract stomach aches.
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