Fire Bag Item Number: E5128-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

Notes

Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/11 , retrieved 1-17-2020: A pouch made with caribou skin and decorated with snippets of red wool. A fringe of skin strips around the bottom of the bag shows traces of staining with red ochre. A single large blue bead adorns a hide tie. Pouches of this type were commonly used to hold tobacco. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/45: Traditional Inuvialuit clothing had no pockets. Instead, small bags or pouches were used for carrying items such as sewing implements, tobacco, and tinder, flint and steel for making fire. These bags often were exquisitely made by piecing together contrasting pieces of skin and decorating them with fringes and beads. Pouches like the one shown here typically were used to hold tobacco.