Grass Respirator
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1879
name: label: Collector
content: Edward W. Nelson
label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "RESPIRATOR USED IN BATH. ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT.1; FIG. 96; P. 288. 1/83 SITES INUA LOAN. ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 5, ARCTIC, FIG. 2D, PG. 288. LOAN: U.S.I.A. INUA JUN 24 1988. ILLUS.: INUA CATALOGUE. USIA 1988, PL.77, P.53. LOAN RETURNED DEC 28 1990."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=94 , retrieved 10-24-2021; see web page for additional information: Respirator, Yup'ik. A man placed a respirator mask over his mouth in order to protect his lungs from the fiercely hot atmosphere of a maqi, or fire-bath [a type of sweatbath]. He gripped the wooden bar in back with his teeth. In the past, men and boys gathered frequently in the qasgiq [men's community house] for a cleansing sweat bath. Naked except for bird skin hats and mouth masks, they basked in the fierce dry heat. H. M. W. Edmonds described this scene at St. Michael on Norton Sound in 1890-91: "There being but one very small entrance, which is closed, and a small hole in the roof, covered over by fish skin, the heat from this burning pile of wood is great and almost unendurable. The men undress here and lie down or lounge around on the floor or benches. In wintertime each one brings in with him a great wooden bowl of hard packed snow with which he rubs himself down. To endure the intense heat, they make a mouthpiece of grass or straw, about an inch thick and about three inches long and a couple of inches wide. This is rounding on the outside and concave on the side that goes next to the face. It has a stick run through from end to end horizontally. The Eskimo grasps this between his teeth and draws the "breather" close up to his mouth and nose and breathing through it is able to endure the terrible heat of the [qasgiq] where the very walls are too hot to touch. After perspiring profusely the Eskimo often go out, in wintertime, and roll around in the snow; or in summertime, take a dip in the river or sea ... ." A qasgiq "mens"s house" or "men's community house" -also called a "kashim" in English - is a moderately large structure where men of a community resided and worked. It was also used for sweatbaths, dances and feasts.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Shaktolik, Norton Sound, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 008133
label: USNM Number
content: E38850-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Respirator
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 14.4 cm