Inuit religion is the traditional religion of certain circumpolar peoples. It is practised within Inuit communities in parts of Chukotka, Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland. The tradition has no formal leadership or organizational structure and displays much internal variation.
Traditional Inuit theology encompasses a range of deities and spirits inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic landscapes. Humans are regarded as having two souls, one of which can journey out of the body. Historically, an important role was played by ritual specialists known as angakut (sing. angakoq), who mediated between humanity and the spirits. They performed rituals for healing, to recover lost objects, or to assist the hunt. Hunting was traditionally a crucial part of Inuit subsistence, and is informed by various religious taboos. The use of amulets and the observance of various taboos have also been important parts of Inuit tradition.
Inuit were first exposed to Christian Europeans in the 16th century. Over the following centuries, Christian missionaries made efforts to proselytise among Inuit communities, and by the mid-20th century most Inuit had formally converted to Christianity. This process resulted in the substantial decline in the angakut and various other Inuit traditions. From the 1970s, there was a renewed movement to celebrate traditional Inuit culture and encourage Inuit pride.
Definition and classification
Inuit inhabit a stretch of the Arctic and subarctic region encompassing the northeast tip of Asia and much of northern North America. This includes the Russian province of Chukotka, the American state of Alaska, northern Canada, and the island of Greenland. They often self-identify under a range of regional names, often reflecting their own dialects. The Yupik of Alaska and Russia are sometimes considered culturally distinct from other Inuit, but consider themselves to be Inuit for political purposes. The Inuit are also closely related to the Aleuts of the Aleutian Islands.
The term Inuit means "the human beings". Though there is much debate, the word Eskimo likely derives from a Innu-aimun (Montagnais) in exonym meaning 'a person who laces a snowshoe', in but is also used in folk etymology as meaning 'eater of raw meat' in the Cree language. Though the Cree etymology has been discredited, "Eskimo" is considered pejorative by some Canadian, English-speaking Greenlandic Inuit and in Alaska.
Inuit religion has been characterized as being highly individualized. It has been informed by the difficult natural conditions in which Inuit live. Historical documentation of these traditions comes largely from Christian missionaries and explorers as well as anthropologists active since the late 19th century.
Beliefs
Jakobsen noted that the Greenlandic Inuit's belief system "derives from a holistic view of the visible and the invisible existing side by side".
Theology
Among the Copper Inuit, the Sea Mother is called Arnapkapfaaluk or Arnakapshaluk.
The veneration of the sea mother was spread from northern Alaska through to eastern Greenland. Nuliajuk, the Sea Woman, was described as "the lubricious one".Kleivan & Sonne 1985:27 If the people breached certain taboos, she held marine mammals in the basin of her qulliq (an oil lamp that burns seal fat). When this happened, the angakkuq had to visit her to beg for game. In Netsilik oral history, she was originally an orphan girl mistreated by her community.Rasmussen 1965:278 Because of their inland lifestyle, the Kivallirmiut (Caribou Inuit) have no belief concerning a Sea Woman. Other cosmic beings, named Silap Inua (Sila) or Pinga, control the caribou, as opposed to marine mammals. Some groups have made a distinction between the two figures, while others have considered them the same. Sacrificial offerings to them could promote luck in hunting.Kleivan & Sonne 1985:31, 36
Moon Man, another cosmic being, is benevolent towards humans and their souls as they arrived in celestial places.Kleivan & Sonne 1985:30Rasmussen 1965:279 This belief differs from that of the Greenlandic Inuit, in which the Moon's wrath could be invoked by breaking taboos.
Sila or Silap Inua, often associated with weather, is conceived of as a power contained within people.Rasmussen 1965:106 Among the Netsilik, Sila was imagined as a male. The Netsilik (and Copper Inuit) believed Sila was originally a giant baby whose parents died fighting giants.Kleivan & Sonne 1985:31
Below is an incomplete list of Inuit deities believed to hold power over some specific part of the Inuit world: Agloolik: evil god of the sea who can flip boats over ; spirit which lives under the ice and helps wanderers in hunting and fishing Akna: mother goddess of fertility Amaguq / Amarok: wolf god who takes those foolish enough to hunt alone at night Anguta: gatherer of the dead; he carries them into the underworld, where they must sleep for a year. : a goddess of light and truth. Nanook: (Nanuq or Nanuk in the modern spelling) the master of polar bears Pinga: the goddess of strength, the hunt, fertility and medicine Qailertetang: weather spirit, guardian of animals, and matron of fishers and hunters. Qailertetang is the companion of Sedna. Aipaloovik, an evil sea god associated with death and destruction Sedna: the mistress of sea animals and mother of the sea. Sedna (Sanna in modern Inuktitut spelling) is known under many names, including Nerrivik, Arnapkapfaaluk, Arnakuagsak, and Nuliajuk. Silap Inua or Sila: personification of the air : the master of caribou. Tarqiup Inua: lunar deity Pukkeenegak: Goddess of domestic life, including sewing and cooking.
The term silap inua / sila, hillap inua / hilla (among Inuit), ellam yua / ella (among Yup'ik) has been used with some diversity among the groups.Kleivan & Sonne 1986: 31 In many instances it refers to "outer space", "intellect", "weather", "sky", "universe":Nuttall 1997: 75Merkur 1985: 235–240Gabus 1970: 230–234 there may be some correspondence with the pre-Socratic concept of logos. In some other groups, this concept was more personified ( among Siberian Yupik).Menovščikov 1968: 447 Among Copper Inuit, this "Wind Indweller" concept is related to spiritual practice: angakkuit were believed to obtain their power from this indweller, moreover, even their helping spirits were termed as silap inue.Merkur 1985: 230
Inuit religion holds that human illness can be caused by offending the spirits. Fear of retribution from spirits results in caution so as to avoid offending them. To help prevent causing offence, Inuit have observed various rules and taboos, have offered prayers and songs, worn amulets, and consulted their angakut specialists. Scarcity of game animals is for instance often attributed to breaches in traditional observances and can be remedied through reconciliation with the animals or their indwellers.
Knud Rasmussen asked his guide and friend Aua, an angakkuq (spiritual healer), about Inuit religious beliefs among the Iglulingmiut ('people of Igloolik') and summarized Aua's response as: "We don't believe. We fear." Authors Inge Kleivan and Birgitte Sonne debate possible conclusions of Aua's words, because the angakkuq was under the influence of Christian missionaries, and later converted to Christianity. Their study also analyses beliefs of several Inuit groups, concluding (among others) that fear was not diffuse.Kleivan & Sonne 1985: 32
Other-than-human persons Inuit beliefs also involve a range of other beings whose existence is not accepted by modern scientific investigation. The anthropologist Erica Hill suggested that these entities could be described as "other-than-human persons", a term originally devised by anthropologist Alfred Irving Hallowell. A belief in similar entities can be found across the Inuit world, from the Yupik in the west to Kalaallit of Greenland in the east.
Among the Yupik, dangerous water-based entities included the human-shaped kogat which dwell in lakes and the palraiyuk which live in swamps. Posing threats on land is the tisikh-puk, a large worm with a human head, while the qununit have seal bodies and human faces, with holes in their hands or shoulders. In many cases, Yupik people have identified specific areas of the landscape where they believe such non-human entities live.
Ahkiyyini: a skeleton spirit Aningaat: a boy who became the moon; brother to Siqiniq, the sun; sometimes equated to the lunar deity Tarqiup Inua : a spirit which dwelt on the land and guided the seasonal movement of whales Qallupilluit: monstrous human-like creatures that live in the sea and carry off disobedient children. : also called Tornit or Tuniit are Inuit versions of the Sasquatch or Yeti myth. They may be the people of the Dorset culture who were said to be giants. Siqiniq: a girl who became the sun; sister to Aningaat, the moon Tizheruk: snake-like monsters.
Mythology and cosmology
Inuit cosmology provides a narrative about the world and the place of people within it. Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley writes:
Some people starring in unipkaaqtuat ("traditional stories") or unikkaaqtuat ("to tell stories") include:
Kiviuq: a wandering hero. Uumarnituq and Aakulujjuusi: the first Inuuk, who created childbirth, womanhood, and death.
Souls and Anirniit
In Inuit traditional belief, a human has two souls, one of which can leave the body at night. Among various Inuit groups, the free soul is referred to as a shadow. In many Inuit communities, when flying the free soul could be visible as fire; Merkur suggested that the widespread distribution of this belief suggests it was once a pan-Inuit notion. Inuit on St. Lawrence Island and in northern Alaska for instance traditionally believed that the soul wandered during sleep, while among the Inuvialuit (Mackenzie Inuit) of the Mackenzie River was recorded the idea that the human eyes journey during sleep. The prolonged absence of the free-soul can result in bodily death.
The Caribou have a dualistic concept of the soul. The soul associated with respiration is called umaffia (place of life)Kleivan & Sonne 1985:18 and the personal soul of a child is called tarneq (corresponding to the nappan of the Copper Inuit). The tarneq is considered so weak that it needs the guardianship of a name-soul of a dead relative. The presence of the ancestor in the body of the child was felt to contribute to a more gentle behaviour, especially among boys.Gabus 1970:111 This belief amounted to a form of reincarnation.Gabus 1970:212
Dreams are generally deemed to have religious significance; for instance, they sometimes have a prophetic quality. According to ethnographic accounts from the Inughuit (Polar Inuit of northern Greenland) and Labrador Inuit (Nunatsiavut), a recurring belief was that ghosts and spirits may visit a person through their dreams.
Inuit religion maintains that a free soul travels to the afterlife after bodily death; however, if death taboos are not observed, then their free soul may become a ghost and remain in the vicinity of the living. Ghosts were often thought to take the form of fire, sometimes perceived as a ball of fire.
Some spirits have never been connected to physical bodies. These are called (also , , , singular , , tornrak, ) and "are often described as a shaman's helping spirits, whose nature depends on the respective ".Neuhaus 2000:48 Helpful spirits can be called upon in times of need and "are there to help people", as explained by Inuit elder Victor Tungilik.
Animal relations