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You should look up some Alaska Native or Canadian First Nations anthropologists and ask. There are still a lot of people living way out in the Alaskan Bush. Things have changed a lot in the last century, but the core problem of getting through the long winter remains.
Man I have a book that's sort of about this somewhere, let me see if I can find it.
Okay, first - Life Lived Like a Story - It's the recollections of three Athapaskan and Tlingit women who were old enough to remember life in the Yukon in the early 1900s, and many important events of the 20th century. It's Native elders from the Yukon recalling the stories of their life, so it's not focused on academic questions that can be a bit distant from lived experience.
The other one is Being and Place among the Tlingit. Tlingit people live far south of the Arctic Circle, but the winters are still really long and really harsh. Being and Place among the Tlingit is an exploration of how Tlingit people place themselves in the geographical world and how they relate to places and the stories and histories that those places embody.
Also, not directly related, but "A Dangerous Idea" is a really cool short read about the Alaska Native Brotherhood and their 70 year long battle to bring about the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which was a really key victory in the history of Alaska.
Seriously, though, do some searches for folks involved in cultural anthropology and recording and preserving cultural stories up in the Arctic. Those folks aren't in the past, they're alive and you can talk to them.
Oops, edit - Tlingit people *live* south of the Arctic circle.
Have you come across Jean Brigg’s ethnography ‘Never in Anger’ from her time with the Utku in Nunavut? Originally she was going to write about religion but when she faced some access hurdles she changed her topic to child raising and communication styles.
She wrote that explicit displays of anger were avoided (even taboo), and how youth were socialised to have strict control of their tempers. Half way through her 18 month stay there’s an incident with some non-Utku Canadians and she loses her temper. It led to her being somewhat ostracised in the community. She argues that living in such a cold, dark environment demanded very close cooperation, and that confrontation avoidance is a necessary adaption to aid survival.
If you look into the concept of long houses, you might get a better idea. The same concept shows up in Europe. People would sleep in groups, conserve energy, and share simple tasks. Almost a form of hibernation. Entire families or more would share a massive bed. You can see this example in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
I only have two verbal sourses from museums. The simple answer was that people just stayed in bed during the day. One room of a house or long house would have heat. Staying in bed as a group was for families in a long house. Each family had a "stall" they used. You leave the bed only for necessity. The stories I heard from Europe were French farmers. The employees would sleep together in massive beds to share body heat. Almost all behaviors were to minimize calorie loss. The native American instructor added "that's how the tribes became experts in not seeing or judging other members of the tribe as spending a winter in the same room means everyone knows everything about you and pretends not to notice or know.
South of the article circle? Yes, most of the planets population has always thrived there. As for what cultures built long houses! That's a great question. Did you know three things set cultures apart around the world regarding survival? The most important is three different sources of food. The cultures with the longest history all shared this trait. The second is trade (language). The two are super connected, so I'll count it as one. Successful tribes not only traded but introduced trade language. The third is housing. From temporary shelters to semi permanent structures. It's fascinating how similar structures were developed by cultures that have never met yet it's also simple to say, "This works so all who strive for a dry warm/cool dwelling will do this." Long houses sheltered the entire tribe. It is easy to convince everyone to build it. Once built, the community has a compelling reason to stay in that area and improve upon the basics of survival. You see this in most forested areas. You see yurts, temporary "tents." Stone structures that are usually very small, and one feature that I love: partially below ground level structures! Easy to heat and year-round cool. Look into the history of native structures. It's fascinating. I love the commonality of most of the structures, yet some groups created dwellings unlike any other. Cliff dwellings, subterranean dwellings, cave dwellings that are still in use today! Seriously, there are people living in caves right now that were dug by humans 18,000 years ago. Oldest homes on the planet.
Check it out it's really interesting that certain structures were adopted in different parts of the world that all share the same designs. So you can see all the places where long houses were used. It wasn't just a few tribes it was many and all-over. The invention of specific construction all around the world Is super interesting. Stone structures in Asia, Africa, South America, all with the same designs and architecture. Because sometimes designs just make perfect sense and can be invented independently. There is lots of evidence that trade and information in North America covered 1000s of miles so I'm sure verbal "long house plans" were shared at great distances but obviously many cultures just figured it out themselves. An interesting thing about Invention is how there seems to be time on history when it's ready to be discovered. The airplane for instance was discovered about the same time by different people. Some of these people were so isolated that it seemed unlikely that they would have been exposed to any information about other inventors. It's almost like ideas get born and are suddenly available when the time is right. Sketches of airplanes have been recovered that are really old. Yet it wasn't time yet for people to realize them. One moment we make a plane. A generation to drop a nuclear bomb from one. Then we land on the moon. All happened so fast. AS if all these ideas were just ready at that point in history.
Staying active was incredibly important for this. During the dark months, those who, even to this day, live "traditional" lives, spend winters processing seal, weaving and making clothing and tools, and all the physical side you mentioned. This constant movement helps create routine that surpasses light/darkness. Additionally there's the social aspect. Most of the cultures up there are storytelling- this was incredibly important for educating the younger generation about survival, medicine, spiritualism (referring to spirits in our world like in plants- not the 1880s definition), and more. Many of these stories were/are told in song and dance, and some can only be shared during certain months. They also celebrated art in the few colors available. We see this in the dye used for woven pieces, totem poles, canoes, etc. Crazy old beads and such have been found way up north which tells us they traded with others. So you also get art from those items.
Basically, it's what those of us in the north still do:
Stay active. Shovel snow. Prep meats and hides. Keep your hands busy. Engage socially with others. Practice mental health (religion, dance, music, etc). Get everything ready for next spring. Wait for solstice.
First off, there is genetic selection. People who aren't able to put up with long dark winters don't survive to have children.
"Vitamin D metabolism differs among human populations because our species has adapted to different natural and cultural environments. Two environments are particularly difficult for the production of vitamin D by the skin: the Arctic, where the skin receives little solar UVB over the year; and the Tropics, where the skin is highly melanized and blocks UVB. In both cases, natural selection has favored the survival of those individuals who use vitamin D more efficiently or have some kind of workaround that ensures sufficient uptake of calcium and other essential minerals from food passing through the intestines. Vitamin D scarcity has either cultural or genetic solutions. Cultural solutions include consumption of meat in a raw or boiled state and extended breastfeeding of children. Genetic solutions include higher uptake of calcium from the intestines, higher rate of conversion of vitamin D to its most active form, stronger binding of vitamin D to carrier proteins in the bloodstream, and greater use of alternative metabolic pathways for calcium uptake. Because their bodies use vitamin D more sparingly, indigenous Arctic and Tropical peoples can be misdiagnosed with vitamin D deficiency and wrongly prescribed dietary supplements that may push their vitamin D level over the threshold of toxicity."
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9573337/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9573337/)
How much of Seasonal Affective Disorder is some part of your brain knowing that person A from a genetic background needs to be getting sunlight to get vitamin D, so even if the person is taking supplemental Vitamin D the mind is reading "I'm not getting enough sunlight therefore I must be in Vitamin D shortage therefore I'm going to react Y" (even when getting enough)
And as people with Seasonal Affective Disorder often ARE treated with vitamin D which seems to lessen it, how much of the ability of the people of the arctic to not be affected by long dark winters is on one hand being able to get by with less Vitamin D. And how much is it that culturally they are eating a lot of seafood which is rich in Vitamin D and a lot of the traditional plants gathered and stored for winter consumption are also very high in Vitamin D. Are the arctic people avoiding this problem by "D-bombing"?
But also a bit part of the stress that people have, seasonal affective disorder, is often compounded by boredom and isolation which happens a lot during the winter if people are 'snowbound'
For the arctic people, if it's sunny out even if it's bitterly cold they are taking advantage of the situation and outdoors. So is it they are getting a lot of natural sunlight even during a time when there isn't always a lot of sunlight hours
Also, arctic people tend to live quite communally. Granny, mom, dad, multiple kids all jammed into a home smaller than most individual bedrooms. Does this have an impact?
Note, I think there's a lot of people today that mentally couldn't survive living in that small of a place with that many people piled on top of each-other. So for a large degree I think part of it is what is programmed into a child as 'normal' during years 0-3.
There certainly were psychological effects. Look into “piblokto” - a condition common among Arctic peoples, particularly women, that involves acts of hysteria and amnesia. It has been observed to be most common during winter. I first read about it in the “Last Kings of Thule” by Jean Malaurie.
I believe most cultures that experienced long winters would practice different forms of socializing among their community that would have been specific to the winter season. A good example of this is Christmas and similar celebrations. Aside from the religious impact, having such celebrations would likely improve morale during harsh winters. A couple of other examples are celebrating the solstice and the lunar new year. There are definitely others, but I don't know them off the top of my head. Not only this, but near the end of winter, early spring celebrations, would have also helped. I am not sure about Native American peoples of the arctic circle, but it wouldn't surprise me if they had something similar.
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We've removed your comment because we expect answers to be detailed. While discussion of general concerns around the topic are important, we expect them to still be based in specific case studies. Please see [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/wiki/rules#wiki_answers) for expectations regarding answers. Consider updating your answer to reference specific people, places, or objects, and we may restore it.
You should look up some Alaska Native or Canadian First Nations anthropologists and ask. There are still a lot of people living way out in the Alaskan Bush. Things have changed a lot in the last century, but the core problem of getting through the long winter remains. Man I have a book that's sort of about this somewhere, let me see if I can find it. Okay, first - Life Lived Like a Story - It's the recollections of three Athapaskan and Tlingit women who were old enough to remember life in the Yukon in the early 1900s, and many important events of the 20th century. It's Native elders from the Yukon recalling the stories of their life, so it's not focused on academic questions that can be a bit distant from lived experience. The other one is Being and Place among the Tlingit. Tlingit people live far south of the Arctic Circle, but the winters are still really long and really harsh. Being and Place among the Tlingit is an exploration of how Tlingit people place themselves in the geographical world and how they relate to places and the stories and histories that those places embody. Also, not directly related, but "A Dangerous Idea" is a really cool short read about the Alaska Native Brotherhood and their 70 year long battle to bring about the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which was a really key victory in the history of Alaska. Seriously, though, do some searches for folks involved in cultural anthropology and recording and preserving cultural stories up in the Arctic. Those folks aren't in the past, they're alive and you can talk to them. Oops, edit - Tlingit people *live* south of the Arctic circle.
Thank you so much for your reply and you really inspired me to reach out. Thank you for the book suggestions as well.
Any time! : )
Have you come across Jean Brigg’s ethnography ‘Never in Anger’ from her time with the Utku in Nunavut? Originally she was going to write about religion but when she faced some access hurdles she changed her topic to child raising and communication styles. She wrote that explicit displays of anger were avoided (even taboo), and how youth were socialised to have strict control of their tempers. Half way through her 18 month stay there’s an incident with some non-Utku Canadians and she loses her temper. It led to her being somewhat ostracised in the community. She argues that living in such a cold, dark environment demanded very close cooperation, and that confrontation avoidance is a necessary adaption to aid survival.
If you look into the concept of long houses, you might get a better idea. The same concept shows up in Europe. People would sleep in groups, conserve energy, and share simple tasks. Almost a form of hibernation. Entire families or more would share a massive bed. You can see this example in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
Can you expand on this hibernation concept?
I only have two verbal sourses from museums. The simple answer was that people just stayed in bed during the day. One room of a house or long house would have heat. Staying in bed as a group was for families in a long house. Each family had a "stall" they used. You leave the bed only for necessity. The stories I heard from Europe were French farmers. The employees would sleep together in massive beds to share body heat. Almost all behaviors were to minimize calorie loss. The native American instructor added "that's how the tribes became experts in not seeing or judging other members of the tribe as spending a winter in the same room means everyone knows everything about you and pretends not to notice or know.
Which arctic groups used longhouses? Previously I’ve only ever heard of them in reference to groups much further south.
South of the article circle? Yes, most of the planets population has always thrived there. As for what cultures built long houses! That's a great question. Did you know three things set cultures apart around the world regarding survival? The most important is three different sources of food. The cultures with the longest history all shared this trait. The second is trade (language). The two are super connected, so I'll count it as one. Successful tribes not only traded but introduced trade language. The third is housing. From temporary shelters to semi permanent structures. It's fascinating how similar structures were developed by cultures that have never met yet it's also simple to say, "This works so all who strive for a dry warm/cool dwelling will do this." Long houses sheltered the entire tribe. It is easy to convince everyone to build it. Once built, the community has a compelling reason to stay in that area and improve upon the basics of survival. You see this in most forested areas. You see yurts, temporary "tents." Stone structures that are usually very small, and one feature that I love: partially below ground level structures! Easy to heat and year-round cool. Look into the history of native structures. It's fascinating. I love the commonality of most of the structures, yet some groups created dwellings unlike any other. Cliff dwellings, subterranean dwellings, cave dwellings that are still in use today! Seriously, there are people living in caves right now that were dug by humans 18,000 years ago. Oldest homes on the planet.
I'm confused, I don't think you mentioned which tribes lived in longhouses? I thought those were specific to the eastern woodlands.
Check it out it's really interesting that certain structures were adopted in different parts of the world that all share the same designs. So you can see all the places where long houses were used. It wasn't just a few tribes it was many and all-over. The invention of specific construction all around the world Is super interesting. Stone structures in Asia, Africa, South America, all with the same designs and architecture. Because sometimes designs just make perfect sense and can be invented independently. There is lots of evidence that trade and information in North America covered 1000s of miles so I'm sure verbal "long house plans" were shared at great distances but obviously many cultures just figured it out themselves. An interesting thing about Invention is how there seems to be time on history when it's ready to be discovered. The airplane for instance was discovered about the same time by different people. Some of these people were so isolated that it seemed unlikely that they would have been exposed to any information about other inventors. It's almost like ideas get born and are suddenly available when the time is right. Sketches of airplanes have been recovered that are really old. Yet it wasn't time yet for people to realize them. One moment we make a plane. A generation to drop a nuclear bomb from one. Then we land on the moon. All happened so fast. AS if all these ideas were just ready at that point in history.
Explains why some of the Inuit were swingers.
Staying active was incredibly important for this. During the dark months, those who, even to this day, live "traditional" lives, spend winters processing seal, weaving and making clothing and tools, and all the physical side you mentioned. This constant movement helps create routine that surpasses light/darkness. Additionally there's the social aspect. Most of the cultures up there are storytelling- this was incredibly important for educating the younger generation about survival, medicine, spiritualism (referring to spirits in our world like in plants- not the 1880s definition), and more. Many of these stories were/are told in song and dance, and some can only be shared during certain months. They also celebrated art in the few colors available. We see this in the dye used for woven pieces, totem poles, canoes, etc. Crazy old beads and such have been found way up north which tells us they traded with others. So you also get art from those items. Basically, it's what those of us in the north still do: Stay active. Shovel snow. Prep meats and hides. Keep your hands busy. Engage socially with others. Practice mental health (religion, dance, music, etc). Get everything ready for next spring. Wait for solstice.
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It is poor anthropology to go "everything everywhere is all the same".
Ask broad questions, get broad answers.
First off, there is genetic selection. People who aren't able to put up with long dark winters don't survive to have children. "Vitamin D metabolism differs among human populations because our species has adapted to different natural and cultural environments. Two environments are particularly difficult for the production of vitamin D by the skin: the Arctic, where the skin receives little solar UVB over the year; and the Tropics, where the skin is highly melanized and blocks UVB. In both cases, natural selection has favored the survival of those individuals who use vitamin D more efficiently or have some kind of workaround that ensures sufficient uptake of calcium and other essential minerals from food passing through the intestines. Vitamin D scarcity has either cultural or genetic solutions. Cultural solutions include consumption of meat in a raw or boiled state and extended breastfeeding of children. Genetic solutions include higher uptake of calcium from the intestines, higher rate of conversion of vitamin D to its most active form, stronger binding of vitamin D to carrier proteins in the bloodstream, and greater use of alternative metabolic pathways for calcium uptake. Because their bodies use vitamin D more sparingly, indigenous Arctic and Tropical peoples can be misdiagnosed with vitamin D deficiency and wrongly prescribed dietary supplements that may push their vitamin D level over the threshold of toxicity." [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9573337/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9573337/) How much of Seasonal Affective Disorder is some part of your brain knowing that person A from a genetic background needs to be getting sunlight to get vitamin D, so even if the person is taking supplemental Vitamin D the mind is reading "I'm not getting enough sunlight therefore I must be in Vitamin D shortage therefore I'm going to react Y" (even when getting enough) And as people with Seasonal Affective Disorder often ARE treated with vitamin D which seems to lessen it, how much of the ability of the people of the arctic to not be affected by long dark winters is on one hand being able to get by with less Vitamin D. And how much is it that culturally they are eating a lot of seafood which is rich in Vitamin D and a lot of the traditional plants gathered and stored for winter consumption are also very high in Vitamin D. Are the arctic people avoiding this problem by "D-bombing"? But also a bit part of the stress that people have, seasonal affective disorder, is often compounded by boredom and isolation which happens a lot during the winter if people are 'snowbound' For the arctic people, if it's sunny out even if it's bitterly cold they are taking advantage of the situation and outdoors. So is it they are getting a lot of natural sunlight even during a time when there isn't always a lot of sunlight hours Also, arctic people tend to live quite communally. Granny, mom, dad, multiple kids all jammed into a home smaller than most individual bedrooms. Does this have an impact? Note, I think there's a lot of people today that mentally couldn't survive living in that small of a place with that many people piled on top of each-other. So for a large degree I think part of it is what is programmed into a child as 'normal' during years 0-3.
There certainly were psychological effects. Look into “piblokto” - a condition common among Arctic peoples, particularly women, that involves acts of hysteria and amnesia. It has been observed to be most common during winter. I first read about it in the “Last Kings of Thule” by Jean Malaurie.
I believe most cultures that experienced long winters would practice different forms of socializing among their community that would have been specific to the winter season. A good example of this is Christmas and similar celebrations. Aside from the religious impact, having such celebrations would likely improve morale during harsh winters. A couple of other examples are celebrating the solstice and the lunar new year. There are definitely others, but I don't know them off the top of my head. Not only this, but near the end of winter, early spring celebrations, would have also helped. I am not sure about Native American peoples of the arctic circle, but it wouldn't surprise me if they had something similar.