Thequlliq[1] orkudlik[2] (Inuktitut:ᖁᓪᓕᖅ,romanized: qulliq,IPA:[qulːiq];Greenlandic:qulleq;Inupiaq:naniq), is the traditionaloil lamp used by manycircumpolar peoples, including theInuit, theChukchi[3] and theYupik peoples.[4] The fuel isseal-oil orblubber, and the lamp is made ofsoapstone.[5] Aqulliq is lit with a stick called ataqqut.
This characteristic type of oil lamp provided warmth and light in the harshArctic environment where there was no wood and where the sparse inhabitants relied almost entirely on seal oil or on whaleblubber. This lamp was the single most important article of furniture for Inuit in their dwellings.[6]
It is uncertain in which period the seal-oil lamps began to be used. They are part of a series of technological innovations among the Arctic peoples whose introduction and spread has been partly documented. Oil lamps have been found in sites ofPaleo-Eskimo communities dating back to the time of theNorton tradition, 3,000 years ago.[7] They were a common implement of theDorset culture and of theThule people, the lamps manufactured then showing little changes compared with more recent ones.[8]
InInuit religion, the storythe Sun and the Moon involves the Sun carrying aqulliq oil lamp.[9]
Among theNetsilik if the people breached certain taboos,Nuliajuk, the Sea Woman, held themarine mammal in the basin of her lamp. When this happened theangakkuq had to visit her to beg for game.[10] This story also inspired aNew Year orQuviasukvik tradition in which three lamps were extinguished and relit during thefirst sunrise.
Historically, the lamp was a multi-purpose tool. The Arctic peoples used the lamp for illuminating and heating their tents, semi-subterranean houses andigloos, as well as for melting snow, cooking, and drying their clothes.
In present times such lamps are mainly used for ceremonial purposes. Owing to its cultural significance, aqulliq is featured on thecoat of arms of Nunavut.
Aqulliq was lit to commence the investiture ceremony ofMary Simon, the first Inuk, andindigenous person, to be appointed to the position ofGovernor General of Canada, in theSenate Chamber, 26 July 2021.[11]
TheQulleq party in Greenland is named after the lamp.[12]
_(14758775556).jpg)
The Inuit oil lamps were made mainly ofsoapstone, but there are also some made of a special kind of pottery.[13] Sizes and shapes of lamps could be different, but most were either elliptical or half-moon shaped.[14] Thetaqquti or wick trimmers, also known as lamp feeders, were made of wood, willow, soapstone, bone or ivory.[15]
The wick was mostly made ofArctic cottongrass (suputi),common cottongrass[16] and/or driedmoss (ijju/maniqInupiaq:peqaq)[13][17] It was lit along the edge of the lamp, providing a pleasant light.[18] A slab of seal blubber could be left to melt over the lamp feeding it with more fat.[19] These lamps had to be tended continually by trimming the wick in such a way that the lamp would not produce smoke.[20]
Although such lamps were usually filled with seal blubber and the English term 'seal-oil lamp' is common in writings about Arctic peoples, they could also be filled with whale blubber in communities where there was whaling.[21] However, the term 'whale oil lamp' refers to a different kind of lighting device.[22] Generallycaribou fat was a poor choice, as was the fat of other land animals, seal oil being a more efficient fuel for the lamp. Women used to scrape the skin of a freshly skinned seal with anulu in order not to waste any fat.[19][23] Once the seal skin was stretched and dried it would be scraped using ahalukhit[24] to remove the dried fat.
Realizing that these lamps were such an important fixture of the Inuit household that "when the family moved the lamp went along with it", Arctic explorerWilliam Edward Parry (1790–1855) commented:
The fire belonging to each family consists of a single lamp or shallow vessel oflapis ollaris, its form being the lesser segment of a circle. The wick, composed of dry moss rubbed between the hands until it is quite inflammable, is disposed along the edge of the lamp...[25]
_(14596895307)_(cropped_to_ivory_lamp-feeder).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
