Yupʼik clothing

Also, among the Yup'ik regional or socioterritorial groups (their native names will generally be found ending in -miut postbase which signifies "inhabitants of ..."), like those of north Alaska, were differentiated by territory, speech patterns, clothing details, annual cycles, and ceremonial life.

[4] Four basic designs are used for women's fancy parkas among the Yup'ik, with some regional variations, including one style adopted from Iñupiaq skin sewers.

Farther south along the Kuskokwim River, parkas of both sexes extended to the ankles and were usually hoodless, requiring that a separate fur cap or hood be worn.

[8] A characteristic feature of Yup'ik parkas was elaboration of the ruff on the hood framing the face, on the cuffs, and, in recent times, the border around the bottom of the garment.

An atkupiaq is a signifier that tells a story to Yup'ik wievers, much like the robes worn by Alaska Natives of the Northwest Coast (as Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian).

stories a traditional and still common activity of young girls and are told by children of all ages in Yup’ik-speaking Eskimo villages in Alaska.

[12] In the past, dressing in fine fancy clothing was reserved for ceremonial events like festivals in the qasgiq, when animals and spirits (yua) were honored.

[19] Gut parkas are constructed using the intestines of sea mammals or bear and are worn in kayaks, tide pool collecting, dance and celebration.

[20] Blown gut requires only a short time to dry, but environmental conditions will alter dramatically the color and flexibility of the final product.

Narrow strips of sealskin were sewn on a man's pants at the waist in front and in the seam of a woman's trouser-boots as fringe or tassel decoration.

The nacarpiaq is made from bird feet leather, glass and crystal beads, cultured pearls and the skins and furs of wild animals like the mink, land otter, wolf and wolverine.

In coastal villages of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, men who led ceremonial "asking songs" during Kevgiq (Messenger Feast), wore caribou-hair headdresses like this one.

To make a visor a craftsman used hot water to soften the wood, then bent it around and stitched the ends together with sinew, baleen, or split root.

[43] Goggles were created in various styles by artists from different regions, and they often resembled animals underscoring a pervasive Native theme of human-animal transformation.

Long waterproof dehaired sealskin or fish-skin (salmon-skin)[19] mitten is (arilluk sg arilluuk dual arilluut pl, arin in Yup'ik, arillugar in Cup'ig).

People wore waterproof salmon-skin mittens to keep their hands dry while kayaking, driving a dog sled, or working with fish nets.

In the past fish-skin boots were made with depilated soles of bearded seal, ankle straps, and a casing sewn to the upper edge of the leg.

The woven liner for skin boot (alliqsak, alliqsaq sg alliqsiik dual in Yup'ik and Cup'ik), made by twining dried grass or burlap fibers, etc.

Reindeer fawn and dog puppy skin parkas, with the fur inside, were made for babies (irniaq) and small children (mikelnguq).

[3] Tassels (alngaq in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, aqevyar in Cup'ig) are hanging (dangling) decorative trimming ornaments of wolverine fur or beads on a parka or boot.

Everyday functional items like skin mittens, mukluks, and jackets are commonly made today, but the elegant fancy parkas of traditional times are now rare.

[61] The tendons of large animals such as wild caribou (tuntu) and semi-domesticated reindeer (qusngiq), moose (tuntuvak), and beluga whale (cetuaq) (also, for other non-Yup'ik regions of Indigenous peoples of the North America: big horn sheep, black-tailed and white-tailed deer, elk or wapiti, and bison or buffalo) were used for sinew.

[64] One technique was to reproduce designs used in Yup'ik clothing and crafts in a set of geometric manipulatives to assist in teaching mathematical patterns, fractions, simple algebra, and tessellations.

[7] The Yup'ik fur and skin clothing, like other Eskimo groups, is a key factor in ensuring their survival in the northernmost reaches of the globe.

Mainland furs that have been used in recent times but not in the past include ground squirrels received from the people of Nelson Island who, in turn, obtained them from the Kuskokwim River, and wolverine used primarily for trim.

The principal animals hunted and trapped for fur are black, polar and brown bear, beaver, coyote, blue, cross, red, silver, and white fox, hare, lynx, marmot, marten, mink, muskrat, otter, squirrel, weasel, wolf and wolverine.

Not only did people prize bird skins for parka material, but they used their feathers and bones for many things such as fire-bath hats, dance fans, dust brooms, needle cases, even peashooters.

Fish skins (neqet amiit or amirak ~ amiraq in Yup'ik) and intestines are used for waterproof clothing (amiragglugaq) in a few areas, especially in southern coastal Alaska.

For example, commercial herring fishers from Toksook Bay, Alaska still prefer intestine parkas to heavy-duty raincoats, as they are lighter and allow body vapor to pass through the skin membrane while preventing rain from entering.

[9] Through rarely used today, in the past fish skin was also used for waterproof boots (amirak ~ amiraq) and mittens (arilluk) also parka (qasperrluk), making these items water-repellent and durable.