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Celebration Parka

Kodiak Eskimos

19th century

skin of cormorant, rabbit skin, ermine fur, cloth, caribou hair, sinew

length 105 cm, width at the hem 91 cm, width including the sleeves 125 cm, length of the sleeve 27 cm, width at the cuff 14 cm

“Of the bird skin parkas only those of the cormorant are considered good and they are indeed beautiful: they are made from the necks of the bird where the feathers are small and sleek, and it is hard to tell that these are bird skins. However, it is very difficult to collect them and one has to kill about 140 cormorants in order to get enough neck feathers to make a large parka. Women wear these parkas which are decorated with their best, for example: tassels of red and green yarn, tufts of deer or mountain goat hair, narrow strips of ermine or beaver fur, puffin beaks, eagle feathers and many other items prized by the savages. All of these things are sewn onto a parka in hanging rows of each type of item. In the spring the necks of the cormorants have long, thin white feathers or down; and because of this they prefer collect them at other times of the year.” (Davydov 1812: 11—12)

Ethnography of America