Qulliq

For the energy corporation, see Qulliq Energy.

The qulliq or kudlik (Inuktitut: ᖁᓪᓕᖅ, romanized: qulliq, IPA: [qulːiq]; Greenlandic: qulleq; Inupiaq: naniq), is the traditional oil lamp used by many circumpolar peoples, including the Inuit, the Chukchi and the Yupik peoples. The fuel is seal-oil or blubber, and the lamp is made of soapstone. A qulliq is lit with a stick called a taqqut.

This characteristic type of oil lamp provided warmth and light in the harsh Arctic environment where there was no wood (other than driftwood far too valuable as a material to burn for heat or light) and where the sparse inhabitants relied almost entirely on seal oil or on whale blubber as fuel. This lamp was the single most important article of furniture for Inuit in their dwellings.

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