DCHP-2

packing parka DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — originally Aboriginal (Inuit), Nunavut, Yukon, Northwest Territories

  a woman's parka with a hood in which to carry a child, also called an amautik (see Image 1 and picture at amautik).

  Type: 1. Origin — Packing parkas originated among Inuit peoples of the Canadian Territories. The pouch that carries the baby is called an amaut, the parka an amautik or packing parka, since the parka is used to "pack" the child (see Image 1). A parka without a pouch is called an atigi. The term is most prevalent in Canada (see Chart 1).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "packing parka", which is marked "Cdn (North)".

  See also: atigi (def. 2)  parka  amautik  

  • 1980  Stuffed Packing animals from Spence Bay are handmade Arctic animals wearing the garment in which Eskimo babies are carried - the amauti, or packing parka - with their babies in them. They're made of wool duffle cloth. $75 at The Apple Doll on Yorkville Ave.
  • 1991  A woman with a baby in back of her packing parka said "What is my mother doing?" 
  • 1997  Uquqtunnuak has been carrying her daughter in her "packing" parka for the 30-minute walk to school each day. "My back's sore," she said, although her son has fixed their snowmobile so Mary-Jane can ride to school now. 
  • 2001  ABBA music plays as young Inuit women wearing glowing white amauti, "baby-packing parkas," push their carts through the grocery aisles.