Sanightaaq (ceremonial gut parka)

NameSanightaaq (ceremonial gut parka)

CultureSt. Lawrence Island Yupik

DateEarly 20th century

Place madeSivuqaq (St. Lawrence Island), Alaska, United States, Bering Sea, North America

MediumSeal gut, auklet crests, seal fur, cormorant feathers, sinew, thread

DimensionsH 45" x W 56.5" x D 4.5" Waist: 32"

Credit LineMuseum of International Folk Art, gift of Lloyd E. Cotsen and the Neutrogena Corporation, A.1995.93.986

Object numberA.1995.93.986

Collections

The Lloyd Cotsen & Neutrogena Collection

ProvenancePurchased 12/27/1986 at Textile Arts Inc, Santa Fe, NM (Invoice #2090) via Will Channing. Original invoice states it was made in the first quarter of the 20th century (c. 1900-1925).

DescriptionThis distinctive St. Lawrence Island ceremonial
parka, a style made through the mid-twentieth
century, features eye-catching rows of auklet crest
tufts and cormorant feather hood embellishments.
St. Lawrence Island Elder, gut expert, and
colloquium participant Elaine Kingeekuk noted that
this functions as a windbreaker to be worn over
a bird skin or yearling reindeer parka. To achieve
the opaque white “winter-bleached” gut requires
scraping, soaking, and rinsing the intestines, then
inflating and drying it outdoors in the cold air
and bright sunshine of early spring after winter
winds subside.
Kingeekuk observed that few women make winterbleached
gut now, noting that global warming is
changing the preparation of even clothing.
(exhibition label text).

St. Lawrence Island Yupik hooded parka, made with seal or walrus gut, auklet crests, seal fur, gut and skin strips and thread (or black sinew). Color: Off-white ground (winter-bleached intestine), brown (feathers and fur), orange (auklet crests).