Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Inukshuk

"Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means "in the likeness of a human" in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."" From www.inukshukgallery.com/inukshuk . My youngest daughter suggested that we could go E of the city to look for Snowy Owls for our Christmas get-together. So, on 20 December, we drove the back roads NE and E of the city, bumping into my friends, Cathy and Terry, part way through the day. We continued our search with them and ended up with 10 definite individuals plus two very distant ones that we weren't quite sure about. It made for a lovely day, ending with my daughter and I exchanging gifts at her place late afternoon. Along one of the roads out E, we came across this fun Santa Inukshuk. It took me by surprise, as I had seen it before on a long-ago birding trip. Hadn't realized back then just where we were. I'll post the previously posted photo that I took on 20 December 2009, in a comment box below.

This will look very familiar to a few of my friends, who have also come across this Inukshuk east of the city. "Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means "in the likeness of a human" in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."" From www.inukshukgallery.com/inukshuk .

On Monday, 31st December, I took part in the 2007 Christmas Bird Count in the Sheep River/Turner Valley area, south of Calgary. The weather was an absolutely perfect winter's day! At one of the farms we stopped at, the owners had built an Inukshuk (pronounced IN-OOK-SHOOK) "art gallery" on the frozen creek that runs along the back of their home. "Inukshuk (singular), meaning "likeness of a person" in Inuktitut (the Inuit language), is a stone figure made by the Inuit. The plural is inuksuit. The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms and for different purposes: to show directions to travellers, to warn of impending danger, to mark a place of respect, or to act as helpers in the hunting of caribou. Similar stone figures were made all over the world in ancient times, but the Arctic is one of the few places where they still stand. An inukshuk can be small or large, a single rock, several rocks balanced on each other, round boulders or flat. Inuit tradition forbids the destruction of inuksuit. Inukshuk in the form of human beings, called inunnguaq, seem to have been a recent development, perhaps only appearing after the arrival of European whalers in the 19th century. One of the most important types of inuksuit are those that helped in the caribou hunt. These are usually built with 2 or 3 rocks piled up and placed in converging lines along the migration route of the herd. The Inuit placed arctic heather among the rocks to simulate human hair. The figures were intended to spook the caribou and stampede them towards the places where the hunters hid. An open leg on an inukshuk found near water or a coastline may point to an open channel for navigation. If an inukshuk is in open land, a leg or arm might suggest a direction. Inuksuit placed near a lake might show that fish can be found in the lake at the same distance the figure is placed from the shoreline. Some inuksuit were built out of respect for a beloved person and are seen as memorials." From www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com .