Leggings

Description:

Pair of painted hip leggings with ties made of caribou skin. Painted designs in red, blue and yellow colors are in bands on the outer edges near the seam and around the knee area. The designs are bands and triangles.

References:

Lucien M. Turner. 1979[1894]. Indians and Eskimos in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula. Quebec: Presses COMEDITEX. 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. Nutshimiu-atusseun. nd. Akuanutin Nutshimiu-aimun. Sept-Iles: Centre de formation Nutshimiu Atusseun. Lynn Drapeau. 1999. Dictionnaire Montagnais-français. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l’Université du Québec.

Innu Narrative:

“I am not sure what it is. Maybe it’s for leggings, but I don’t know what it is. These are mitash (leggings). Yes, these are mitash (leggings). These, you just slip on, and mitash (leggings) are the ones that don’t sew on together with moccasins. These kind, I don’t know the name. These are not kuekuatsheu mitasha (wolverine leggings).” Munik (Gregoire) Rich

“Are these mitasha (leggings)? That’s how they are made, and anybody would wear these, and they are made for the hunters. The hunters wore them when they were hunting. The moccasins are not sewn together on leggings and it’s easier to put them on.” Pinamen (Rich) Katshinak

<p style="font-weight: 400;"These are called kuekuatsheu mitasha (leggings). And they would make moccasins separately from kuekuatsheu mitasha. The moccasins are made like the wrap-around style ones (uaskatutnekuamukupan). That is probably what these ones are made like, and they are called kuekuatsheu mitasha (leggings)." Matinen (Selma) Michelin

Other Info:

MacKenzie lists kuekuatsheutash and kanitutikuanitshi as “legging,” mitash as “sock.

MacKenzie dictionary lists legging as “kuekuatsheutash,” “kanitutikuanitshi,” “kanitukunitikuanitshi.”

“The leggings of the women differ from those of the men. They extend higher and the bottoms cover the tops of the moccasins. They are made of skin or cloth, the latter black or red. To cut out a pair of leggings requires skill. The cloth is doubled and then cut nearly in a circular form. A size sufficient to fit the limb is sewn up leaving the crescent-shaped remainder a flapping ornament..They are always worn so as to be on the outer side of the legs. The bottoms of the leggings are heavily loaded with numerous rows of fancy beads.” Turner (1979[1894]:127)

“The collection contains seven pairs of leggings, five made of soft tanned and bleached caribou skin, apparently for summer wear; one of tanned caribou skin with hair inside for winter wear; and a single pair of white canvas. All are sewn with either sinew or thread..There is no consistent pattern, although they are generally made from a single piece, with smaller section where it is necessary to fill out the shape. They were held in place with caribou skin ties fastened to the upper part of the trousers. All are decorated with designs in red and blue pigment, confined to a band running down all or part of the main seam and another around the leggings approximately in the centre. Design motifs on the illustrated specimens include straight lines, lozenges, scallops, and whale tails… Another pair of leggings is made from white canvas and edged with printed cotton cloth. A single band of appliquéd cotton cloth decoration in white, red, and black encircles the garment.. Strong noted in the catalog that this is the ‘type of leggings worn today’, but the style does not appear in any of his photographs. The only pair of leggings for winter wear is made of a single piece of tanned caribou skin with the hair on the inside and a long loop tie at the upper end.” VanStone (1985:27)

Nutshimiu-atusseun contains diagrams that label the bound leggings as uashkakunessin. The Drapeau dictionary lists uashkakunessin as “moccasin montant à la cheville; partie supérieure du mocassin qui entoure le mollet et la cheville (ankle-high moccasin; upper part of a moccasin that surrounds the calf and ankle).”