Cultural Fashion: Avatar Kuruk’s Design
Kuruk - Bear (Pawnee) or to lower one’s head in humility or sadness (Iñupiaq).
Avatar Kuruk’s design takes inspiration from a variety of Inuit, First Nation, and Native American groups. The overall silhouette of his outfit appears to be inspired by the traditional clothing of Gwich’in, a First Nation people native to Alaska and Canada; note the capelet and V-shaped trim at the bottom of the shirt. The elaborate beaded trimming is replaced with fur for Kuruk’s design, but I believe that’s mostly for ease of animation.
His necklace, as mentioned in an earlier post of mine, appears to be based off of bone chokers, which are typically associated with Great Plains tribes. His shoes appear to be inspired by traditional Inuit kamik; which are soft boots traditionally made of reindeer (caribou) skin or sealskin and worn by arctic aboriginal people.
Finally, the bear headdress. It was actually pretty frustrating researching this, since it’s one of those “iconic” cultural items that gets assigned to the entirety of indigenous peoples, much like war bonnets (feather headdresses). One tribe that uses a bear headdress in their cultural practices are the St’át’imc of Lillooet, British Columbia in the Interior Plateau region. The woman featured in the picture is Laura Grizzlypaws, a famous St’át’imc performer. Her St’át’imc name is “Stálhalamcen – Grizzly Paws” and she belongs to the people of Xwisten, the Bear Clan. Grizzlypaws uses bear pelts in dances meant to pay respect to the grizzly bear.
It’s also worth noting that Kuruk appears to be wearing a polar bear’s pelt. According to Wikipedia, in Inuit religion, Nanook (Polar Bears) are considered to be the masters of all bears. Inuit hunters worshiped the Nanook as they believed it was the bear who decided if the hunt would be successful or not. Respect was given to Nanook by the hunter hanging the bear’s hide in a special section of his igloo, where it would stay for several days. Legend says that if a dead Polar Bear was treated properly by the hunter, its spirit would share the good news with other bears who would allow themselves to be hunted. Bears would stay away from hunters who failed to pay respect.
With this context in mind, that Kuruk chooses to wear a polar bear headdress when Aang first meets him reveals so much about his character. First, we immediately realize he must have been a magnificent hunter to have owned such a pelt. Second, he clearly respected what he hunted, as he only wears the pelt when introducing himself to another Avatar; he doesn’t wear it when he’s doing something frivolous, like surfing or making out with his girlfriend. Third, Aang first meets Kuruk when he’s conflicted about taking Ozai’s life. Kuruk chooses to appear before Aang with the headdress on; he’s subtly reminding Aang that taking a life isn’t always an innately malicious or callous act.
So yeah, Kuruk’s a pretty cool guy.
