Arviat Traditions

Arviat's Sivulinut Elders Society:

• teaches string games
• teaches throat singing
• hold traditional cookouts of caribou heads, hooves, and other delicacies

The Arviat Tourism Office can arrange for visits with the Elders Society.

The elders also organize the Classroom in the Igloo project for the elementary school. The project involves building an igloo. Through stories and traditional activities, they show what life was like in a traditional camp. Visitors are often invited in for a visit and a story.

Arviat has a strong musical tradition, boasting such renowned Inuit performers as Charlie Panigoniak and Susan Aglukark. Each Labor Day weekend combines the Inuumariit Music Festival, a weekend of wonderful music and dancing, with the Hamlet Day celebrations.

Learning throat singing from an elder

The Build an Igloo Project

Practicing throat singing

Inuit Throat Singing

Throat singing is a form of Inuit music that is usually performed by two women. The singers stand face to face and each singer repeats a different sound in a fast rhythm. Arviat women practice a unique form of throat singing. These women are able to throat sing by themselves, using a large bowl or kettle held near the singer's mouth to give resonance.

Click here to hear Inuit throat singers.

More about throat singing.