Bow Head Whale

Last week Iqaluit was slotted to set out on a Bow Head Whale hunt. When a community catches a whale, everyone hears about it. The catch is always news worthy in the North. My friend Ashley from work shared the pictures that her boyfriend took while he watched the hunt.

These pictures were taken by Andrew Burry. I wanted to share them here because of the awe I felt when I first looked through them. It is traditional outings like this that inspire me. The banding together of community to take part in something so raw and so foreign to me. A whale hunt, or any hunt for that matter, is nothing I was commonly exposed to growing up in the South. To think about the beauty and tradition behind the hunt for Inuit people makes me appreciate it.

Before moving North, I scoffed at hunting. Lets be serious, I cried at the sight of road kill. Now, however, I have a new appreciation, seeing and being a part of a community that not all that long ago, hunted as a survival method.

It is incredible, the amount of people that one whale feeds. I have seen gatherings of community around seal and muktaaq and have been blessed to be able to see them. I respect the hunt not only for its origins but for its power to close gaps between strangers.