When considering the specific mode of adaptation the Inuit used regarding my pocket watch fragments, I wondered what kind of general observations I could make. In my previous blog post, The Afterlife of the Pocket Watches, I already mentioned that wearing these played a crucial role in adapting some objects.
In-nook-poo-the-jook, who will become one of the most crucial witnesses for Western explorers searching for Franklin and his men, wore an officer's hatband around his head. Thanks to Logan Zachary, there is a high-resolution photograph of this hat band on his blog. However, he was not the only one who wore an object, formerly belonging to one of Franklin's men. Also, Captain McClintock writes in his travel report about four Inuit hunters, of which one must have worn a naval button on his clothing. Additionally, "my" pocket watch fragments were worn around the neck. In these cases, the Inuit found the objects in a camp, where some party members died. Logically, there could have been no verbal communication. Instead, the Inuit sometimes adapted the place where the dead men wore the objects.
Nevertheless, apart from the place, what other reasons could there have been for wearing metallic objects? When Charles Francis Hall, an autodidact and publisher from Cincinnati who searched for the missing Franklin expedition in 1860, freshly arrived in the Kangiqsualuk Ilua (Hudson Bay), he attended a drum dancing ceremony of the Aivilingmiut. He admired the stunning pieces of clothing and the intricately embroidered ornaments worn in the hair or on the head:
At this first exhibition which Hall witnessed some twenty-five men, women, and children—every one who could leave home—assembled to see the skill of the performers, who would try the newly-finished instrument. As usual, the women sat on the platform, Turk fashion; the men, behind them with extended legs. The women were gaily dressed. They wore on each side of the face an enormous pigtail, made by wrapping their hair on a small wooden roller a foot in length; strips of reindeer-fur being wrapped with the hair. These were black and white for those who had sons, and black only for those who had none. Shining ornaments were worn on the head, and on the breast they had masonic-like aprons, the groundwork of which was of a flaming red color, ornamented with glass beads of many colors. The women thus presented a pleasing contrast with the dark visages of the men in the background;
He appreciated the contrast between the shining and light-reflecting ornaments and the darker faces of the men. Today, we can only imagine how metal and glass reflected light in the dark of the night or winter from a single light source such as oil lamps called qumik in a hut or an igloo. While I am aware that I use the impression of a white explorer to make a point about Inuit perception, I still wonder if the reflecting properties of the hatband, the buttons and the pocket watches could have been the reason for wearing them. Considering the site where the Inuit found these objects, they seem to mark an officer or a person of social standing. Mostly belonging to the "last survivor", these objects worked as markers of social distinction in Franklin's men. By incorporating these objects in their clothing, the Inuk may have used a social distinction marker that worked as well for his or her Inuit peers.
For someone coming from Switzerland, where traditional clothing shows where a person comes from and lives and if, for example, a woman is married, I can see how these objects also worked as a geographical and social reference. Using these in the garments, the peer knows where one has been or hunted, which ground one had access to, and what kind of materials one may find there. They show a network and one's relationships established through family connections and trade.
Interestingly, pocket watches and coins also became a part of traditional Swiss clothing in the 19th century. While being fashionable then, the pocket watch is still part of the traditional clothing for men today.
For example, I refer to the Appenzeller Tracht, in which the watch chain - Kuhkette or Chüelichetti - is highly ornamented. One not fixed only coins and the pocket watch on it, but also miniature cows and other tools needed for alpine cow herding and dairy making. Colourful textiles, shining metals, and the jingling sound refer to the person's background.
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