Snow goggles

Snow goggles (Inuktitut: ilgaak or iggaak, syllabics: ᐃᓪᒑᒃ or ᐃᒡᒑᒃ;¹ Central Yupik: nigaugek, nigauget) are a type of eyewear traditionally used by Inuit and the Yupik peoples of the Arctic to prevent snow blindness.²

The goggles are traditionally made of driftwood (especially spruce), bone, walrus ivory, caribou antler,² or in some cases seashore grass.³ The workpiece is carved to fit the wearer's face, and one or more narrow horizontal slits are carved through the front.⁴ The goggles fit tightly against the face so that the only light entering is through the slits. They achieve this by crafting an adjustable head strap made out of sinew, leather, or rawhide. Soot is sometimes applied to the inside to help cut down on glare.²⁵⁶ The slits are made narrow not only to reduce the amount of light entering but also to improve the visual acuity.² Wider slits result in a larger field of view.²

Like other terms in Inuit languages, such as inukhuk / inuksuk,⁷⁸ a different word may be used in different dialects. In the Kivalliq dialect, ilgaak (ᐃᓪᒑᒃ) is used, while the North Baffin dialect uses iggaak (ᐃᒡᒑᒃ). Both words are also used to refer to sunglasses.¹

In the Central Alaskan Yupʼik, snow goggles are called nigaugek, while in Cup'ig they are igguag. In the Central Siberian Yupik language, the word is iyegaatek.⁴