Tipatshimuna 
Description:
The nitishé, which is worn around the neck, is made from smoke-tanned caribou skin sewn with cotton thread and decorated in a beaded design. The neck band is decorated in a repeating pattern of two pink beads and one green. A circular design in green beads with one pink bead in the centre, is located towards the front of each side of the neck band. The pendant is circular with a cross design in red, white and blue beads surrounded by circular rows of the same coloured beads as well as green beads.
References:
Lynn Drapeau. 1999. Dictionnaire Montagnais-français. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l’Université du Québec.
Innu Narrative:
This object was obtained by Alika Podlinsky Webber from Christine Poker of Davis Inlet (now Natuashish) in 1979. There is no reference to this type of object in her field notes from the early 1960s. Beaded pendants, very similar to this one, were crafted by La Romaine Innu women on a regular basis in the early 1980s. Beaver incisor teeth were sometimes glued onto the beaded, circular, leather backings of the pendants. Marketing suggestions from the Quebec Craft Producers Association may have influenced the design of these pendants as they were produced primarily for the tourist craft market. The Innu name – nitishe – originally assigned to this object in the catalogue requires verification. Alika Podlinsky Webber provided the name. Peter Armitage note
Other Info:
This object was obtained by Alika Podlinsky Webber from Christine Poker of Davis Inlet (now Natuashish) in 1979. There is no reference to this type of object in her field notes from the early 1960s. Beaded pendants, very similar to this one, were crafted by La Romaine Innu women on a regular basis in the early 1980s. Beaver incisor teeth were sometimes glued onto the beaded, circular, leather backings of the pendants. Marketing considerations of the Quebec Craft Producers Association may have influenced the design of these pendants as they were produced primarily for the tourist craft market. The Innu name – nitishe – originally assigned to this object in the catalogue requires verification. Alika Podlinsky Webber provided the name – Peter Armitage note.
There are two women in Natuashish who may have used the name “Christine Rich” at the time that this object was collected. Having seen the photograph of this object, Christine (Rich) Poker gave this reply, “Yes, I used to make a lot of necklaces like that but I can’t say if it’s mine. Sister Martha used to collect them from us. Nishapet Rich and Pinamen (Rich) Katshinak taught me how to make those kind of designs, but I never asked what they meant” (e-mail message to Peter Armitage, 12 August 2004).