page_title: Amauti
section_title: Winter and summer clothing
hierarchical_section_title: Amauti / Winter and summer clothing
caption_attribution_description: Baby carriage (Cape Dorset, Nunavut Territory, Canada). Cutted image.
context_page_description: The amauti is the parka worn by Inuit women of the eastern area of Northern Canada. Up until about two years of age, the child nestles against the mother's back in the amaut, the built-in baby pouch just below the hood. The pouch is large and comfortable for the baby. The mother can bring the child from back to front for breastfeeding or for eliminatory functions without exposure to the elements. This traditional eastern Arctic Inuit parka, designed to keep the child warm and safe from frostbite, wind and cold, also helps to develop bonding between mother and child.
context_section_description: There are usually two styles of amauti: skirted style akulik, like a dress (shown on the right, with the two women); and long-tailed style angijuqtaujaq, a longer back with a stylized tail-like hem at the back (shown on the left picture-white). Hood shape, decoration and tail shape all speak to the region of origin of an amauti. The sleeves and hem on a winter amauti are trimmed with solid colour stripes which emphasize the feminine/maternal cut, and the swing of the "tail".  The winter amauti is classically seen with a white cotton cover (silapak), but also in other solid colours, with an inner duffle inner layer, also trimmed, in a darker solid colour.
  In the past, the longer amauti tails were decorated with talismans such as beads, shells and pierced coins, although disapproval of these talismans as "heathen" by the church reduced the frequency within which they were used. The talismans were said to attract spirits to the swinging tail and thus protect the ovaries (and fertility), located at the front, from attracting spirit attentions.
  Not shown are the more modern summer amauti which have no sleeves, less insulation, and permit a child to be carried while berry picking or in other summer occupations. They are also used during the winter months of the year, used with an oversized parka covering both mother and baby. The summer amauti is typically made from quilted cloth in any number of patterns.
caption: Inuit woman wearing an amautiq (long-tailed style, angijuqtaujaq) while pushing a baby carriage in 2002 in Cape Dorset, Nunavut.
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