For thousand of years, the ulu as it is shaped today has been developed
and used by the Yup'ik - Inupiaq Eskimos as well as the Athabaskan Indian.
Ulu blades have been made of stone, ivory, bone and trade iron.
Handles were made of ivory, bone, antler, wood and now man-made material.
We do not use man-made materials for handles.
Native woman use the ulu in their daily processing of various land and sea animals and in food preparations…
skinning and cutting... stripping and filleting fish... chopping vegetables and other foods.
They also use ulus for cutting hides, stripping sinew threads used for skin sewing…
The native women's sewing ulus were much smaller in size.
and used by the Yup'ik - Inupiaq Eskimos as well as the Athabaskan Indian.
Ulu blades have been made of stone, ivory, bone and trade iron.
Handles were made of ivory, bone, antler, wood and now man-made material.
We do not use man-made materials for handles.
Native woman use the ulu in their daily processing of various land and sea animals and in food preparations…
skinning and cutting... stripping and filleting fish... chopping vegetables and other foods.
They also use ulus for cutting hides, stripping sinew threads used for skin sewing…
The native women's sewing ulus were much smaller in size.
Samples of various Ulu Blade Designs… with Moose or Antler Handles,
Whale Bone Story KnifeDrawing in the sand
as she talks, a little girl tells her story, taught to her by her mother or older sister or her own imagination. Myth and folklore, spirits and daily adventures were common stories with a moral value, a lesson learned. Using the tip of her story knife she will illustrate in the wet sand as her story proceeds, "clearing" as the scene changes. When the story ends she clears all to begin again. By late 1800s little girls were lucky if dad made them a story-knife. Today they may use a stick or table knife as an ideal "story-knife" INUA Spirit World of the Bearing Sea Eskimo Each Story Knife varied in size and design |