Once again it is time for ABC Wednesday - the weekly challenge of focusing on the letter of the week.
This week the letter is I - for Inukshuk.
Everywhere you turn lately (at least in Canada!), the image of the Inukshuk can be seen. It is on my box of Royale tissue for goodness sake!
This Inuit creation is now the symbol for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
An inuksuk (plural - inuksuit) is a man-made stone landmark, created by the Inuit as a marker, for direction or possibly as a food storage). The name means "in the likeness of a human".
The flag for the newest territory in the north, Nunavut, has the inukshuk on it.
There are many inuksuit around the world. People even create them for their yards!
(Information and pictures from Wikipedia. Check out this gallery for more pictures and information.)
10 comments:
I love it! And it has a special meaning for me because one of my greatest blog friends took the name for his blog when he lived in Canada! Fun post! Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy!
Sylvia
I have to tell you that when the inukshuk was chosen as the symbol of the Olympics 2010, most (and I mean 99.9% of) Canadians had no idea what it was. And we were disappointed that it was chosen because it only symbolizes the very far North, where few live. We would have preferred something like a bear, eagle, or a First Nations symbol like a totem pole. Anything but that (stupid) looking inukshuk that we all have to explain to tourists and visitors. But your photos and post are very good, mind you. lol
On our way up to the French River a few weeks ago there were Inukshuk everywhere along the rocks on either side of the highway....every once in a while you'd see someone pulled over, building one...
I had no idea that they were such an *unknown* entity....I think they're a beautiful piece of our country's heritage..
Perhaps the Inukshuk will grow more familiar by the end of 2010, and be more acceptable/accepted. Nice post.
Great post! I had no idea about Inukshuk and feel a lot smarter now. It might not be noticeable, but...
very interesting indeed!
Thank you for the interesting information.
Oh, I'm GLAD your Olympic committee picked the inukshuk; picking the bear or something would have been boring. Besides which, good to get out of one's comfort zone.
Thank you for this post. I did not know anything about the Inukshuk.
I think the history of the First Nation is very interesting.
Sherry
Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments - this has been an interesting letter!
Take care
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