Belt

Description:

Caribou skin belt, bordered with horizontal bands of red and blues commercial paint (probably applied with stencil). Centre design consists of zig-zagged red lines enclosing crossed blue lines. Wooden button attached with sinew to one end, other end has a 1″ slit or button hole. Fleck of blue and red paint on back.

References:

James W. VanStone. 1985. Material Culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: the William Duncan Strong Collection. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.7.

Innu Narrative:

“I wonder what it is? Maybe it’s a headband or belt. It’s long – that must be a belt. Before people could buy buttons, they would use antlers. The antlers were cut and holes made in it. And a small antler was used for that.. It’s a belt that anybody can wear from the outside of the coat, and that the wind would not go through, and also to keep warm. And it looked attractive wearing it like that. They would use a cloth belt too.”  Matinen (Selma) Michelin.

Other Info:

The William Duncan Strong collection at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (VanStone, 1985:30), contains a caribou hide band that is very similar to this belt but the dimensions are not provided with the description. VanStone calls it a headband. “The single type 2 headband is quite different [than the beaded ones], consisting of a rectangular piece of tanned caribou skin on which whale tails, triangles, and lozenges in crayon have been depicted.” However, the length of the band in the PMNL collection (33.5″) strongly suggests that this object is a belt rather than a headband.

Note the wide, caribou hide belt worn by Richard White in the photograph in the link field above. The belt appears to be attached at the front with a button.