Baker Lake Traditions

Baker Lake Traditions

Baker Lake holds a number of festivals throughout the year including:

• April 1 Nunavut Day
• May (second week) Hamlet Days include games and dogteam races
• May (Victoria Day Weekend) Annual fishing derby
• July 1 Canada Day celebrations
• Sept. 17 Terry Fox Run
  

Square dancing is popular at the festivals and visitors are always welcome to join in.

Community Igloo

The community igloo is built by the
elders to promote traditional knowledge and skills to the younger people in town. Every day a couple of elders gather with young people in the igloo. They sit on the snow benches covered in caribou skins inside the igloo and share their incredible knowledge about:

• the land
• how to make hunting tools
• sewing kamiks
• preparing caribou hide
• the art of singing
• legend story telling

This igloo has an entrance room, a storage room with a little fireplace and 2 rooms with large snow benches. The doors are made out of caribou hide. People here lived in igloos up until the mid 1960's.

The Boy and his Grandmother Trick the Mean People by Victoria Mamnguqsualuk

Jessie Oonark's Big Woman

The Community Igloo

Inside the Community Igloo