Unikkaaqtuat: An Introduction to Inuit Myths and Legends, Expanded Edition , livre ebook

UNIKKAAQTUAT
An Introduction to Inuit Myths and Legends
Published by Inhabit Media Inc. www.inhabitmedia.com
Inhabit Media Inc. (Iqaluit) P.O. Box 11125, Iqaluit, Nunavut, X0A 1H0 (Toronto) 612 Mount Pleasant Rd., Toronto, ON, M4S 2M8
Design and layout copyright 2023 Inhabit Media Inc. Text copyright 2011, 2023 by Inhabit Media Inc.
Front cover illustration: "Mother Earth" by Germaine Arnattaujuq Germaine Arnattaujuq Images on pages 1 , 4 , 12 , 26 , 30 , 34 , 35 , 37 , 40 , 54 - 56 , 58 , 63 , 72 , 82 , 90 , 95 , 100 , 101 , 105 - 108 , 110 , 122 , 126 , 128 , 133 , 134 , 139 , 141 , 144 , 148 , 153 , 158 , 162 , 165 , 178 , 180 , 183 , 187 , 189 , 192 - 195 , 203 , back cover copyright 2023 Inhabit Media Inc.
Images on pages 8 , 57 , 77 , 88 , 106 , 119 , 138 , 142 , 149 , 152 , 155 , 161 , 168 - 171 , 173 - 175 , 200 , 2004 copyright 2023 Inhabit Education Inc.
Images on pages 24 , 40 , 41 , 65 , 69 , 75 , 85 , 86 , 99 , 120 , 123 , 159 , 166 , 186 copyright 2023 Arvaaq Press Inc. Images on pages 29 , 177 copyright 2023 Taqqut Productions Inc.
Editors: Neil Christopher, Noel McDermott, Louise Flaherty, and Kelly Ward-Wills Art Directors: Danny Christopher and Astrid Arijanto Designer: Fabiana Marino
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrievable system, without written consent of the publisher, is an infringement of copyright law.
This book is the result of a coordinated initiative between the Nunavut Bilingual Education Society, Nunavut Arcitc College, the Nunavut Teacher Education Program, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association., Canadian Heritage and the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth (Government of Nunavut).
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.
This project was made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
ISBN: 978-1-77227-528-5

UNIKKAAQTUAT
An Introduction to Inuit Myths and Legends
Edited by Neil Christopher Noel McDermott Louise Flaherty
Illustrated by Germaine Arnattaujaq
Researched, Compiled, and Annotated by Neil Christopher
Foreword by Jaypeetee Arnakak
Introduction and Chapter Notes by Noel McDermott
Table of Contents Foreword 9 Introduction 13 Editor's Note 25 Chapter One How the World Came to Be and Other Creation Stories 27 The Struggle for Day and Night 28 Origin of Death 29 How Children Were Formerly Obtained 30 Thunder and Lightning 31 The Brother and Sister Who Became Thunder and Lightning. 32 Origin of the Sun and the Moon 33 The Mother of the Sea Mammals 34 The Orphan Girl Who Became the Mother of the Sea Mammals 37 The Woman Who Married the Dog 38 Origin of the Walrus and of the Caribou 40 Origin of the Caribou 41 Origin of the Narwhal 42 How the Narwhal Came 46 Origin of the Akta 48 The Hunters Who Transformed into a Constellation 49 The Akta That Turned into Fog 50 Origin of Fog 51 Origin of the Red Phalarope and of the Web-Footed Loon 53 The Ptarmigan 53 The Ptarmigan and the Snow Bunting 54 The Ptarmigan and the Small Bird 55 The Wind 56 The Loon and the Raven 57 Chapter Two Mistreatment and Consequence 59 Kaujjagjuk 60 The Boy Who Harpooned a Whale 63 The Artificial Skull That Frightened People to Death 64 Papik 65 Pautuqsuqsuaq, Who Murdered His Uncle 67 The Wife-Changers 69 The Man Who Did Not Observe Taboos 70 The Emigration to the Land Beyond the Sea 71 Pullaksaq 73 Murdering a Stranger 74
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Tale of an Akta 76 The Emigration of Women 77 The Woman Who Escaped to the Moon 78 Atanaarjuat 82 Lice 87 Storm Caused by a Loon 87 Chapter Three Journeys and Adventures 89 Kiviuq 90 Kiviuq 94 Atungait 101 The Soul 105 The Soul That Let Itself Be Born Again in All the Animals of the Earth 109 Chapter Four Hardships and Famine 111 Igimagasugjugjuaq 112 Igimagajuk, the Cannibal 113 Kannaapik, the Cannibal 115 Separated from Camp 117 Katik Saved His Family in Time of Famine 118 Taboos and Starvation 120 An Unsuccessful Whale Hunt 121 The Old Woman and Her Grandchild 123 The Woman Who Could Not Be Satiated 125 Chapter Five Animals in Human Form 127 The Woman Who Heard Bears Speak 128 The Man Who Took a Wife from Among the Wild Geese 130 The Man Who Took a Fox for a Wife 132 Ititaujaq 134 Dialogue Between Two Ravens 137 The Man Who Married the Fox 139 The Boy Who Lived on Ravens 143 The Visitor 145 The Woman Who Transformed Herself Into a Bear 147 The Woman Who Became a Bear and Killed Her Enemy 149 The Fox 151 The Woman Who Became a Raven 152 Story of Three Girls 153 The Fox and the Wolf 155
Unikkaaqtuat
6 The Bear Country 156 The Country of the Bears and Wolves 157 The Muskox 159 The Country of the Wolves 160 How Inuit Learned the Proper Taboos for When a Bear is Killed 162 The Polar Bear and the Boy 163 The Woman and Her Bear Cub 165 Chapter Six Animal Fables 167 The Owl and the Lemming 168 The Owl and the Lemming 169 The Bear and the Caribou 170 The Owl and the Raven 171 The Foxes 172 The Fox and the Rabbit 173 The Owl and the Two Rabbits 173 The Owl That was Too Greedy 174 The Owl and the Bear 175 The Race of the Worm and the Louse 176 The Raven That was Anxious to Be Married 176 Chapter Seven Stories of Supernatural Beings 179 Amajuqsuk 180 Ijirait 181 Nakasungnaikkat: the Man-Eaters 182 Narajat 185 Naaqsuk, or Sila 186 The Spider 189 Tuutarjuk 190 Tarliqat 190 The Inurluit: Those Who Are Not Real Human Beings 191 Tuutalit 192 Among Wolves and Wolverines in Human Form 193 Glossary 198 References 204
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Foreword
Traditional Inuit stories ( unikkaaqtuat in Inuktitut) are very different from what modern readers are used to and expect. Some are short-very short-and seem more like vignettes, as what happens is often more like a dream. Their themes consist of how and why we should act, how the animals came to be, and tales of the magical and miraculous. The tale of the little boy who won t stop begging his grandmother to tell him a bedtime story is an example of such a vignette-a very short tale that nonetheless contains the origin of two Arctic birds.
Then there are traditional stories that seem to have no end, like the famous legend of Kiviuq. Or the story of Sanna . While Inuit traditional stories for young children can be creation stories, or stories of heroic orphans (an orphan who saves the other children by tricking a monstrous qallupilluk , for example), the stories without end are world-building stories. These stories are reserved for grown-ups with all the unadorned drama, blood, and sexual and physical violence that can happen in real life-stories that Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit traditional ways of being or piqqusit ) would clearly have prohibited young children from listening to.
These are stories that do not romanticize the consequences of infidelity, murder, and the mistreatment and abuse of those less fortunate-grown- up issues and challenges that can kill if left unresolved. These grown-up stories-the personalities therein and the situations they find themselves in-would have been shocking and morally repugnant to everyone in traditional society, and their actions would be taken as those of human beings under supernatural circumstances. But these stories speak simple truths insofar as those who grow up in an abusive environment or are in dysfunctional relationships (marital or otherwise), without the guidance and foundational sense of belonging that keeps the things that happen in these stories from happening in real life, are more likely to become abusive
Foreword
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or lash out in violence themselves. In reality, these tales are admonitions, or cautionary tales, wrapped up as creation and adventure stories.
The world-building impulse is evident in seemingly disparate snippets and adumbrations of famous legends repurposed for the new. It is well-known, for example, that the shift away from shamanism in favour of Christianity was often framed through the lens of shamanistic transformation and redemption. The tale of the woman who married a dog is not only the beginning of the Sanna legend, but this part of the legend was said to be the origin story of all the different peoples of the world. Clearly, this episode found new purpose.
Unlike world-building tales, the children s origin stories rarely change (though the details might) and are as timeless as the songs and chants that go with them-the origin of the ptarmigan hasn t changed, for example; and neither has the origin of the caribou.
The last two chapters of this book are traditional stories of animals and human beings who all have the ability to shape-shift and perform magic. Humans and animals live amongst each other and even intermarry in these tales. The animals in these stories have lives as complex and rich as our own lives can be. The psychological sophistication of these stories is relatively well-developed compared to other types of stories Inuit tell.
The reasons for this complexity are many, to be sure, but for a culture that considers nature and animals to be sacred, self-identifying with the animals that feed and provide for humans is not surprising. The travails of life in these stories are such that a grizzly bear coming home from a hard day of scavenging human corpses is very human. The grizzly father is simply too physically tired to deal with an overly excitable child, so he just turns over in the bed, ignoring the warnings of his daughter that the corpse he brought home may not be dead yet.
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The short stories for children are more like summaries of longer tales. In the days of old, these might have been mnemonic devices, or story templates to help pass the time during blizzards and downtime, and to help the children settle down for the night. In the warm orange glow of the qulliq , the stone lamp, snuggled in bed, the children were lulled to sleep by two or more storytellers