Inuit Mythology
Inuit mythology comprises a rich tapestry of stories and legends originating from the Inuit peoples of the Arctic regions, including Northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and parts of Siberia. These narratives illuminate the Inuit's deep connection to nature and the belief that animals possess magical abilities to understand human speech. Unlike many other mythological systems, Inuit beliefs do not include divine rulers or punitive deities; instead, they emphasize taboos and rituals overseen by shamans, known as angakkuq, who serve as mediators between the human and spiritual realms.
Inuit cosmology includes creation myths and explanations for natural phenomena, illustrating a worldview where every living being, including inanimate objects, is thought to possess a soul. Central figures in these tales include the sea goddess Sedna and the transformative deity Raven, who are integral to the cultural understanding of life, death, and existence. The myths also highlight the importance of dreams, which are believed to carry prophetic messages. Today, Inuit mythology remains a vital aspect of contemporary Inuit culture, preserved through storytelling, art, and community initiatives that aim to keep these traditions alive for future generations.
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Inuit Mythology
Inuit mythology and legends are stories about the origin of the world created by the native people of Northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and the northern tip of Siberia. Developed within a precautionary culture that had to survive in a harsh climate, Inuit mythology reinforces a close relationship of people with all of nature, as well as the belief that animals have the magical power to hear and understand human words. There are no divine rulers or creators and no punishments; instead, there are taboos and rituals that must be respected. The central role of the traditional Inuit rituals is given to an angakkuq (shaman). The traditional Inuit cosmology (the tale of the origin of the world) is not a monotheistic or even pantheistic theological religion but a shamanistic practice based on animalistic principles. Unlike other ancient mythologies that were gradually superseded by other religions and belief systems, Inuit mythology has survived not only as a narrative but also as a belief system.
Brief History
Inuit are the aboriginal people of the Arctic region. The word Inuit means "the people" in the Inuit language of Inuktitut. Approximately 155,000 Inuit live in Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and northern Siberia. Inuktitut is the spoken language, but each region has its own dialects. The ancient lore of the Inuit is tied to the history of the coldest parts of the Earth. It is not an accurate account of historical events but a collective expression of general psychological, cultural, and societal truths.
Paleoeskimos arrived in Greenland c. 2500 BCE. By 800 BCE they had spread from Alaska across arctic North America and Arctic Canada. Norseman Erik the Red fled Iceland and sailed to Greenland c. CE 980, which resulted in the establishment of Norse colonies on Eskimo land. Thule Eskimos, the ancestors of modern Inuit, spread further east into Canada and Greenland from Alaska and the Bering Sea region c. 1000. The Inuit lived in isolation from the rest of the world until the sixteenth century, when Martin Frobisher traveled from England to Baffin Island in search of a Northwest Passage and stumbled on the Inuit lands. In 1721, Danish-Norwegian missionaries colonized Greenland. Soon afterward, Vitus Bering sailed north in the First (1728) and Second (1741–42) Kamchatka Expeditions. Throughout the rest of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, fur traders and colonists brought Christianity but also massacre and smallpox to the region, nearly wiping out the indigenous Yupik population. Finally in 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. Three years later, Canada purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson's Bay Company. From that point on, the Inuit were a formal part of North America. Through the storytelling of their ancient legends, the people of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis, preserve their strong ancestry, dialects, and beliefs.
Overview
The Inuit mythology roughly consists of a creation myth, various myths of nature and landscape origin, personifications of natural phenomena, explanations of rituals, and hyperbolic, educational accounts of historical events. Nature, landscape, and animals provid the basis for the narrative about the evolvement of humanity.
Within Inuit myth, there are other worlds beneath the sea, inside the Earth, and in the sky, where some powerful shamans travel in dreams and trances. Nature is dangerous and often hostile, peopled with visible and invisible dangers, but since the shamans are be able to see and to communicate with the spirits, their role is to remind people of the correct ways to appease them. Shamans are important members of the society, mediators between the visible and the invisible world. They are diviners who make prophecies in the dramatic ceremonies (like the Shaking Tent ceremony), they also help hunters by divining game trails and are custodians of the medicine secrets, objects, and materials endowed with mystical power. Their rituals and practices provide guidance to the community.
According to the oral histories of the Tikiġaq people, humans have three essential parts: two souls (iñuusiq and initqusiq, equivalent to life and spirit) and a name soul (atiq). After death, the iñuusiq departs for the east, but the other soul components could be reborn. The Inuit believe that all living beings have a soul (Anirniit, from anirniq, meaning breath), which is freed after their death. Since all animals have souls, hunters must placate the spirits of the hunted animals. To offend an anirniq is to risk extinction of the whole tribe. Within those traditions, particular inanimate objects are also in possession of a soul: they are called tuurngaq and can be either helpful or wicked.
One of the most famous myths is that of the sea goddess Sedna. Once a mortal, she was sacrificed to the sea by her father. She became a deity and a ruler of the underworld; the first sea mammals were created from her fingers. The Inuit creation tale, like many First Nations’ creation tales, features the animalistic deity Raven. It is said that Raven, a human boy with a raven’s beak, created the world by fixing the ground that rose up from the waters into place by stabbing it with his beak. Supernatural beings populate the Inuit myths, including Mahaha, a demon that tickles his victims to death; Ijiraat, shapeshifters that can change into any arctic animal but cannot disguise their red eyes; Taqriaqsuit, shadow people who are rarely seen but often heard; Qallupilluk, scaly, humanoid beings that snatch children into the sea; and the giants Inupasugjuk, and Tuniit, the simple-minded but extremely strong ancestors of the Inuit. Dreams have a prophetic role in the Inuit culture: dreams of polar bears are said to be sexual, whereas dreaming of weasels suggests trouble and of birds forewarns of blizzards.
Mythology remains a vital element of Inuit contemporary and traditional culture. It is protected by the initiatives such as the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which collects the stories and makes them available to the public. Inuit and non-Inuit artists also retell the myths through animated films, paintings, storytelling and crafts. Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny, a 2006 documentary by Mark Sandiford and Zebedee Nungak, examines the current social and cultural behaviors tied to understanding the Inuit culture.
Bibliography
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