Dress Parka (Kamleikas)

The translucent quality of walrus gut bejeweled with puffin beaks and small feathers has produced a garment of amazing sophistication. Clothing of gut were made as protective weatherproof gear for the St. Lawrence Eskimo who lived on the bounty of the sea. Plain parkas, or kamleikas, were worn for everyday, but for festive dances decorated kamleikas were worn over the bare body. At ceremonies they were also worn by shaman contacting the spirit world and may have served symbolically as a protection against evil spirits. Undecorated kamleikas took approximately a month to make and were usually replaced every four to six months. The intestines were removed intact, turned inside out, scraped clean with a mussel shell, washed in water and urine, then filled with air, dried, and cut into long strips that were sewn together with a double-folded seam. Sinew was used to sew everyday parkas, while human hair was used for the delicate work on the ceremonial ones.