Grass Booties

"I just heard about it from my father-in-law Alex Moonin. He said they used to use grass in their boots to keep their feet warm. I don't remember him saying they put it together (wove), maybe they did. But he said we always put grass inside of our boots when we'd go out to keep our feet warm. Father Nicholas Moonin, he used to talk about them too like that, putting grass in there, to keep their it'ak (feet) warm when they'd go hunting or travelling. It was a big thing because they didn't have socks. Fall when they dry up (the grass), that's when they would pick them up." - Pauline Demas, 2022

"It probably absorbed the sweat, and when the grass would get wet, it would stay warm from the body heat. Grass is pretty sturdy, they would probably take them off and dry them off or something so they could use them again if they don't have extra. The other thing too, once you know how to weave like that, you know like weaving baskets, it's fast. You can make them in no time if you practice a lot, because I use to weave baskets in the 1990's. And then they'd use the colored grass, they use vegetables, blueberries, to make their colored grass. They probably used blueberries for that color. They'd use onion skin - you could use a lot of fruits and vegetables for dying grass in them days. Then when you're gonna weave with grass, sometimes you have to soak it to make it sturdy or flexible. " - Lillian Elvsaas, 2022

Iluuliq Kammun - Lining for your shoes