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Mother's coat or amauti (qulittaq aanngaarnisaq or qulittaq tui)

An amauti is a parka for mothers. This one has an ample hood and a large back pouch for a baby. Underneath this outer parka (qulittaq), women would wear an atigi — a parka that was similarly styled but had the leather on the outside and the fur against the skin, thus keeping both mother and child warm.

This model of amauti, named aanngaarnisaq or tui, is specific to Igloolik. Its broad shoulders (tui) allow the mother to move her child from her back pouch to her front for breastfeeding without exposing the child. It is also distinguished by the light and dark fur strips on the shoulders.

This female coat has a waistband (qaqsungauti) that goes around the woman's body and is attached in front to V-shaped straps. The waistband can be adjusted to allow more and more room in the back pouch for the growing child.

Nowadays, this style of amauti is still worn but now made of cloth or synthetic fabrics.

 

Return to objectsPicture galleryVideo capsule

Picture gallery

Fur coat, seen from all sides, with broad shoulders and a large hood. The brown and white fur is arranged in strips on the hood and the shoulders. V-shaped straps under the shoulders are visible on the front of the coat. The front section of the coat is shorter than the rear section. Both have a white fur trim and are decorated with fringes on the hem.

Coat or amauti (qulittaq aanngaarnisaq or qulittaq tui)

Dimensions: 168 cm x 75 cm

Video capsule

Listen to Leah Panimera talk about this amauti

Leah Panimera: Amauti [in inuktitut], the one we saw first was for younger women. This one

is for older women with children. It was a winter gear

used back then. It's still used today and will continue to be used

for generations to come, I'm sure. It's very convenient

to have an amauti, especially in the winter and in the summer because,

when you have to carry things, it's just more comfortable to have them on your back.

Back when they were travelling, if the infant was getting hungry

or needed to pee, the infant would be passed through here

without taking the baby out. Then it could easily be fed or helped to pee.

Other objects to discover

Two boot-leggings made of fur, standing next to each other. The boots have puffy leggings on top, with side pouches bulging at the calves. The boots are made of beige leather, and the leggings are made of brown fur with white fur patterns.

Boot-leggings (avalluliik)

There were several types of female boots, with each type intended for a stage in a woman's...
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Caribou fur pants, seen from the front. They're brown with vertical darker brown and white stripes. The pants also have a broad waistband of roughout leather.

Pants (qarliik arnaqsiut)

Female pants with vertical brown and white stripes were worn year-round by all female...
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Beige leather parka, seen from the front, with the hood pulled up. The hems of the coat, the hood, and the wrists have brown and white fur trims. The front section, which is shorter and more rounded than the rear section, is decorated with fringes.

Young woman's coat and inner parka

These two caribou-skin parkas were worn by an unmarried teenager.
Learn more