МАЭ № 593-14

Parka

Kodiak Eskimos

I.G. Voznesenskii's expedition

loon skin, sinew

length 120 cm, width at the hem 70 cm, width including sleeves 130 cm, width at the cuffs 14 cm

“Bird skins—from loons, horned puffins and tufted puffins—comprise the clothing of the Aleuts. The bird skin parka was invented by them in response to their wilderness circumstances and nothing could be better suited to their climate and their way of life. These parkas are exceptionally warm and when they wear them with the feathers on the outside the rain rolls off and does not penetrate the inner side of the skin which they have rubbed with fat so that it is impervious to wetness and humidity. Even winds do not penetrate the skins, and when they wear them along with kamleikas made from intestines, the Aleuts have long been in a position to endure wind, cold and wetness. If a man is thoroughly cold and his parka is wet, when he goes into his yurt or even outside, he will squat down, put a flat dish containing oil on his knees, throw off his parka and even his head covering. In an hour or less he will have warmed his whole body and also dried out his clothing.” . . . ”Parkas are sewn differently depending on the sizes of the bird skins. It takes 50 loons, 40 tufted puffins or 30 horned puffins.” (Khlebnikov 1979: 38)

Ethnography of America