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The mysterious, usually stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the arctic world. Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means “in the likeness of a human” in the Inuit language, Inuktitut. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is “Someone was here” or “You are on the right path.”

The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms for a variety of purposes: as navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect or memorial for a beloved person, or to indicate migration routes or places where fish can be found. Other similar stone structures were objects of high regard, signifying places of power or the abode of spirits. Although most inuksuit appear singly, sometimes they are arranged in sequences spanning great distances or are grouped to mark a specific place.

These sculptural designs are among some of the oldest and most important objects placed by humans upon the vast Arctic landscape and have become a familiar symbol of the Inuit and of their homeland. Inuit tradition forbids the destruction of inuksuit. An inukshuk is often regarded with profound respect as symbolizing an ancestor who knew how to survive on the land in the traditional way. A familiar inukshuk is a welcome sight to a traveler on the vast, barren, featureless and often forbidding landscape.

An inukshuk can be small or large, a single rock, several rocks balanced on each other, round boulders or flat. Built from whatever stones are at hand, each one is unique. The arrangement of stones indicates the purpose of the marker. The directions of arms or legs could indicate the direction of an open channel for navigation, or a valley for passage through the mountains. An inukshuk without arms, or with antlers affixed to it, would act as a marker for a cache of food.

An inukshuk in the form of a human being is called an inunnguaq.

Commenti e preferiti

" Il bello è ciò che cogliamo mentre sta passando. E’ l’effimera configurazione delle cose nel momento in cui ne vedi insieme la bellezza e la morte.… questo significa che è così che dobbiamo vivere? Sempre in equilibrio tra la bellezza e la morte, tra il movimento e la sua scomparsa?

Forse essere vivi è proprio questo: andare alla ricerca degli istanti che muoiono."

Muriel Barbery

youtu.be/cZ0NThN6Lrg

"Ma le cose mica bisogna provarle, per sapere se vanno bene oppure no: lo si può prevedere, così non si fanno errori."
Da "Bianca" di Nanni Moretti

Next time you pull an egg carton from the fridge, pause and remember Joseph Coyle.

Who's he? He invented the egg carton in 1911 to solve a dispute. A farmer was shipping eggs to a hotel and the eggs often arrived broken. The hotel owner and the farmer blamed one another and no one was happy.

Mr. Coyle designed an egg carton made of paper that kept the eggs safe from the farm to the hotel. You could even drop the carton and if it landed right, the fragile eggs would survive.

Even more interesting, there is a local connection to this story. The inventor, Joseph Coyle, was the owner and founder of the Interior News newspaper in Smithers in 1911, and the eggs were being delivered from a Bulkley Valley farm to the Aldermere Hotel near present-day Telkwa.

Mr. Coyle produced his egg cartons by hand in Smithers for years then designed machinery to make egg cartons in quantity. By 1919, he decided to move from Smithers to Vancouver to manufacture egg cartons with help from United Paper Products. That business failed and Joseph moved his machinery to Los Angeles.

Investors were granted licensing rights and Coyle Egg - Safety Cartons were manufactured in Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh and London Ontario for markets around the world. And the original idea came from a Bulkley Valley newspaper owner out to settle an argument over broken eggs.

Culture 2012 Inspire Programme
For the first time, organisations and communities can be part of the Olympic and Paralympic Games through the Inspire Programme. The Inspire mark is an official 2012-related brand that not-for-profit organisations are awarded for outstanding projects and events that are truly inspired by the London 2012 Games.