Inuit hunting culture

Cleaning fish in Kulusuk. There is a lot of fish in the waters around Kulusuk, especially cod, but the settlement does not have a factory, and the only possibility to buy fish in the district is in Kuummiut, some 40 km to the north. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2019

For many people in Greenland, hunting, whale and seal hunting is associated with ‘the good life’. Hunting means meat supply, food, hunting traditions, skin processing and sailing trips in the fjords. Although hunting may have different purposes, it supports good relationships between family and friends, animals and nature. The money earned from the catch is often part of the sharing economy, where meat is distributed in social networks or sold in local markets. For many families, this local meat supply is an important source of fresh nutritious produce, and it is a focal point in Greenlandic cuisine.

In addition to meat, game brings skins and bones that are used in home pursuits, national costumes and arts and craft. Hunting is also the purpose of many sailing trips, hikes and summer camps – and it sets the stage for interesting and insightful tales in good company. In addition, hunting is deeply connected to traditional Inuit hunting culture and knowledge, which has been passed on from generation to generation. Thus, hunting is interrelated with Greenlandic culture, identity, and community.

Harbour porpoise tails for sale in Nuuk. Whale meat is a popular food, and the skin of the whale – mattaq – is a highly prized delicacy, often served raw in small cubes or prepared in a variety of ways for festive occasions such as kaffemik.
EMIL HELMS/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2021

Hunting as an occupation today

All over Greenland, people go hunting and fishing in their spare time, making sure that the family’s chest freezers are well stocked. Approximately 5,000 citizens hold a license for spare time hunting. For the approximately 2,000 occupational hunters in Greenland, hunting takes up most of working life, and it forms a significant part of the income of hunting families. Some hunted animals can be traded for their meat or skin, which is sold locally, nationally or internationally. The hunting profession is costly in terms of spending on work equipment such as boat and motor, gasoline, rifles, cartridges, nets, hooks, harpoons and work clothes. Overall, the income from the catch is modest, and a hunter’s domestic economy often relies on a partner’s fixed monetary income from employment. Occupational hunting is therefore often combined with fishing and tourism, depending on season, supply and demand.

Although occupational hunting today is of less importance for the national economy, the profession still plays an important role for the labour market in North and East Greenland, as well as in settlements in South Greenland, where there are fewer job alternatives. Analyses of the informal economy of hunting have shown that hunting makes a significant socio-economic contribution to Greenlandic society, primarily in the form of selfsufficiency and food security.

The earliest Inuit hunting culture

Greenland has evolved with the hunting culture. Since the first immigrations, Inuit have made a living from hunting on land, on the sea, on the ice and in the fjords. Through time, marine mammals, terrestrial mammals, fish and birds have been the basis of food and clothing, light and heat, tools and means of transportation, such as dog sleds, kayaks and large skin boats.

The sustenance of families and settlements has relied heavily on favourable hunting conditions and successful catches. Hunting has therefore traditionally been a key focal point in the organisation of Arctic communities, where roles and responsibilities have been defined by hunting activities. Hunting itself has most often been carried out by men, and the preparation of meat and skins has been the responsibility of women.

Meat, blubber and skins were – and are – distributed according to special rules. A piniartorsuaq (great hunter), who has extensive hunting expertise and skills, has had a special responsibility for sharing his catch and the surplus from the hunt with those in need. These roles and relationships served to provide food security and strengthen overall welfare. In addition, cultural rules, such as the special ways in which the hunter and the hunter’s wife should show respect for the hunted animals, ensure favourable hunting conditions and maintained the balance between humans, animals and nature.

The tales of Anaqorsuaq and Qivaaqiarsuk

Hans Hansen and Hans Holm from the Greenlandic radio station KNR broadcast tales by contemporary storytellers in the 1950s and 1960s. They are still broadcasted on KNR, and there are still many listeners to the two stories about Anaqorsuaq and Qivaaqiarsuk as well.

The life of Anaqorsuaq, the great hunter, is recounted by Leopoldus Ringsted, called Puustusi, from Kapisillit. It takes the form of a national epic poem, a classic heroic tale, consisting of two parts: The first part is about Anaqorsuaq’s upbringing in East Greenland, while the second part recounts his later life in West Greenland.

Growing up in East Greenland, Anaqorsuaq always hears about ‘Pisissarfik’, a large mountain at the head of Nuuk Fjord in West Greenland. It is a place with an abundance of game: seals, caribou, fish. His dream is to make the long journey there and settle.

Anaqorsuaq goes there, and in this harmonious world he has a son with whom he is happy and goes hunting, but occasionally he makes high demands on his son’s skills. One day while hunting, his son is pulled down by a seal, but Anaqorsuaq does not intervene to save him from drowning. Puustusi comments that the father’s extreme sternness shows that this tale is true. An untrue tale would only show Anaqorsuaq’s good side.

Atypical of traditional tales, however, this one is highly idealised, largely conflict-free, the gallery of characters are helpful, and the protagonist’s skills almost make Anaqorsuaq superhuman. As an utopian idea and pilgrim tale, this tale is unique. At the same time, it is clear that Puustusi is excited about talking about the greatness of the past. Puustusi considered himself a Christian, but his tale emphasises the humanity of the pagans.

The story of the childless catcher Qivaaqiarsuk is told by Simon Nielsen from Qoornoq. Qivaaqiarsuk’s wife is barren, and during a period when the seals do not come to shore, he gives her some mattak to eat. When this kills his wife, Qivaaqiarsuk takes out her stomach, inflates it and dries it. He then rows out far from the shore, and three times he finds an ice floe further and further from the shore against which he strikes the bloated stomach. Only the third time does it burst, and the seals begin to rush in droves towards the shore, while Qivaaqiarsuk himself risks his life in the storm at sea.

Qivaaqiarsuk puts his life on the line; he manages to defy and control the supernatural forces and thus gets the seals back. His worship of fertility, that of women and of the sea, is his ultimate purpose.

Hunting culture during and after the colonial era

The role of hunting in Greenlandic society and culture has obviously changed through historical processes, including the trade with European whalers in the 17th and 18th century and in particular with Denmark’s colonisation. Until the early 1900s, the Danish colonial strategy was based on the outcome of hunting.

The colonisation was financed by trade with skins and blubber. In this process, the catch from hunting was partially commercialised, and in the colonial discourse, ‘hunting’ became ‘the national profession.’ As revenue from the blubber trade went down in the late 1900s, the first steps were taken towards changing to fisheries. Subsequently, the colonial power considered the hunting profession worthy of preservation for the sake of in-kind economy and culture.

Broadly speaking, these political developments meant that fishing became the trademark of modernisation, while the Inuit hunting profession was increasingly categorised as cultural heritage. These historical processes have undoubtedly influenced the development of hunting culture in Greenland and are also reflected in Greenlandic politics today, where hunting is often articulated as cultural heritage and takes up an increasingly smaller role in development plans.

In spite of these developments, Greenlandic hunting practices escape any rigid categorisation of hunting as a relic of the past, which is opposed to fisheries. Hunting, in contrast, relates to the lived life, which is defined by dynamic and diverse hunting practices and purposes. Hunting is not just about cultural preservation and needbased food supply. It is associated with countless aspects of Greenlandic living, and it encompasses culture, vocation, originality, traditions, economy, way of life, identity, community, and local sovereignty. Hunting also relates specifically to the animals of the land and the sea, their availability, the cycle of seasons and sila (weather and climate) – and it is made possible by passed down and acquired hunting skills and an in-depth knowledge and conditions of nature, the seasons and weather. There is no one way of being a hunter but many, and these vary from place to place.

Hunting and the hunting profession is managed by the Department of Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture under the Government of Greenland. According to legislation, the Department is required to manage the utilisation of living resources based on scientific advice from Pinngortitaleriffik (Greenland Institute of Natural Resources) as well as commercial and socio-economic needs. Emphasis is also placed on including the local knowledge of hunters. This principle sometimes proves difficult to follow, because biological research and hunters’ observations of animal populations may be contradictive.

Hunting on land

Near Siorapaluk a man catches little auk (alle alle) with an ipoq, a handmade net on a long stick. In general, there are strict rules on how birds can be caught and strict quotas.
DOUG ALLAN/NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY LIMITED/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2012

Caribou, arctic fox, mountain hare and muskox are the main nersutit (terrestrial mammals) hunted on land. Birds such as grouse and little auk are also hunted on land, whereas thickbilled murre, black-legged kittiwake and eider ducks are hunted at sea or on the islands where they breed. The populations of terrestrial mammals have historically fluctuated more than those of marine mammals. Caribou populations, in particular, have seen dramatic fluctuations. In East Greenland, caribou have gone extinct due to climatic changes.

Walrus hunting near Qaanaaq. The walrus is the largest seal species in the Arctic, and a full-grown male weighs around 1,200‑1,500 kg, so it takes a lot of effort to drag home a caught animal. Quotas for walrus were introduced in 2006 and the walrus hunting season in Northwest Greenland runs from 1 October to 30 June.
LOUISE MURRAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2015

Hunting of caribou and muskoxen

Among the animals hunted on land, the caribou holds a special status. In many places in West Greenland, summer hunting is associated with holidays, spending time together with the family and connection to ancient traditions and places. The vast inland area near Kangerlussuaq in West Greenland, Angujaartorfiup Nunaa, is a caribou hunting area where families from coastal towns and settlements have hunted for generations and where tent sites are passed down from generation to generation. These days, the caribou hunt begins on 1 August, and many families camp out even before the hunt sets in. Most summer hunting grounds are close to rivers or estuaries, or other places where arctic char, polar cod and ammassat (capelin) are also fished. Summer hunting is important to many – both vocational as well as spare time hunters – because it fills the freezers, and because the community in nature builds up strength for a long winter.

Although animals in Greenland are primarily thought of as ‘wild’, caribou and muskoxen carry a history of human interference. In the 1950s, domestic reindeer were introduced from Norway to South Greenland and to a farm in Nuuk Fjord, and in the 1960s, 27 East Greenland muskoxen were moved to Angujaartorfiup Nunaa.

The muskoxen bred so much that animals have since been translocated from here to other areas in West Greenland. With the muskoxen, new forms of hunting followed. In winter, commercial hunters from Sisimiut and Maniitsoq come to Kangerlussuaq to hunt muskoxen for their meat and hides, and new economic opportunities have emerged: A small-scale wool production industry supplies national and international markets with muskox yarn. In addition, trophy hunting is a new form of hunting that takes place in the Kangerlussuaq area and elsewhere in Greenland. The muskoxen have become coveted game for foreign hunters travelling to Greenland for an Arctic hunting experience. Trophy hunting is different from traditional Greenlandic hunting practices, and it has provided a new economic opportunity for hunters and occupational hunting, which generates cash earnings while regulating the population of old bulls.

Hunting at sea

Seal skins hung to dry in Ilulissat. For a lot of hunters, sealing, selling seal meat and trading in seal skins is a major source of income. Great Greenland purchases seal skins in a number of settlements and towns, where the purchased seal skins are frozen and sent to the tannery.
ASHLEY COOPER/NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY LIMITED/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2008

Many different miluumasut (marine mammals) are hunted in Greenland. These include various species of whales and seals, as well as polar bears. Since the animals of the sea are the most stable source of proceeds, they have always been of great importance for Greenlandic living, and ensuring good relations between humans and the animals of the sea has been particularly important. This is illustrated in the Central Greenlandic tale of Sassuma Arnaa, who holds back marine animals when humans lose respect for animals and nature and forget to follow the prescribed rules of conduct. She only releases marine mammals again when humans have managed to appease her by combing her hair. In a way, Sassuma Arnaa was respected as an authority of marine resources.

Today, hunting at sea, like all other hunting, is managed by the Government of Greenland in consultation with biological advice from Pinngortitaleriffik (the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources). As marine mammals migrate in international waters and cross national borders, the advisory services are provided in collaboration with international organisations, such as the International Whaling Commission and the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission. In particular, the hunting of walruses, polar bears, narwhals and beluga whales is under the watchful attention of biologists, authorities and international environmental organisations. Since the mid-1900s, the hunting of certain marine animals has been regulated via quotas. This regulation represents a new seasonal rhythm that hunters must adapt to.

Seal hunting

Breathing hole hunting near Qaanaaq. Hiding behind a camouflage sail, a hunter slowly sneaks up on a seal sunbathing next to its breathing hole.
LOUISE MURRAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2015

Seal hunting, in particular, has played a significant and distinctive role throughout history, both in pre-colonial Greenland and in the colonial period. The seal has been the primary game in the Arctic because it has covered the basic daily necessities with its meat, blubber, skins and bones. Therefore, the seal has a special place in the Inuit culture, identity and world view.

With Denmark’s colonisation, seal hunting also became key to the colonial trade that commercialised it and capitalised on skins and blubber, which were attractive in the European market. Seal blubber was sold as oil for lamps and soap production in Europe until the blubber was replaced by mineral oils in the late 1900s. The sale of sealskins on the international market continued through the colonial period and is an important contribution to hunters’ income today.

Whereas, sealskin trading was formerly undertaken by the Royal Greenlandic Trading Company, it is now undertaken by the government-owned Great Greenland A/S, which trades, tans, and markets sealskins, nationally and globally. However, since the 1960s and 1970s, the market has been threatened by the Western World’s anti-seal hunting campaigns, which brought about a market collapse in the 1980s with devastating consequences for Arctic hunting economies. The market has never recovered, and sealskin has since been subsidised by the Home Rule and Self-Government. The antiseal hunting movement flares up again at times, and in the 2000s a campaign ended with an import ban on sealskin products in the EU.

The history and evolution of seal hunting reflect that hunting culture arises and changes through various processes in which indigenous, colonial, local and global realities come together, clash and intertwine.

Future perspectives for the hunting culture

While it has become harder to subsist on hunting alone, the number of spare time hunters has increased in recent years. It points to the fact that a life of hunting, despite hardships of the work, is highly valued. Climate change is increasingly affecting hunting conditions. However, some hunters highlight that the hunting culture has always adapted to the changing forces of nature, but that quotas and political regulation can create uncertainty about the future. Other hunters say: As long as there is life, animals and ice in Greenland, there will be hunting.

Further reading

Read more about Culture in Greenland

  • Naja Dyrendom Graugaard

    (b. 1986) Ph.D. in Culture and Learning. Postdoc at Department of Planning, Aalborg University.

  • Astrid O. Andersen

    (b. 1979) Ph.D. in Social Anthropology. Associate Professor at the Department of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University.

  • Regine Møller

    (b. 1990) MSc. in Social Sciences. Ph.D.-student at Aalborg University.