Inuit religion facts for kids
Inuit religion is about the spiritual beliefs and practices of the Inuit people. The Inuit are indigenous people from places like Alaska, northern Canada, parts of Siberia, and Greenland. Their beliefs are similar to some other Alaska Native religions.
Traditional Inuit religion includes animism and shamanism. Animism means believing that everything, like animals, plants, and even rocks, has a spirit. Shamanism involves spiritual healers called angakkuq who connect with these spirits.
Today, many Inuit follow Christianity. But their traditional spiritual ways are still important. They are passed down through stories and are part of modern Inuit life. Some Inuit combine their old beliefs with Christian ideas. This is called religious syncretism.
The Inuit have stories that explain the world and people's place in it. As Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley says, "The Inuit cosmos is ruled by no one. There are no divine mother and father figures. There are no wind gods and solar creators. There are no eternal punishments in the hereafter, as there are no punishments for children or adults in the here and now."
Traditional Inuit stories, rituals, and taboos (rules about what not to do) often help protect people from the dangers of the Arctic environment. A spiritual healer named Aua once told explorer Knud Rasmussen about Inuit beliefs. He said, "We don't believe. We fear." This might mean that people were careful to follow rules to avoid upsetting spirits.
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Inuit Beliefs Across Different Groups
Iglulik Inuit and Shamans
Among the Canadian Inuit, a spiritual healer is called an angakkuq (pronounced ah-ngak-kooq). Their job is to help the community. For example, if sea animals become scarce, the angakkuq might help. This is because they believe a spirit called Takanaluk-arnaluk, or Sea Woman, keeps the animals. Aua, the healer, said that an angakkuq in training could even see themselves as a skeleton. They would name each bone using a special shaman language.
Inuit at Amitsoq Lake
The Inuit living near Amitsoq Lake on King William Island had special rules for sewing certain things at different times. For example, boot soles could only be sewn far from homes in special spots. Children at Amitsoq even played a game called tunangusartut. In this game, they pretended to act like adults dealing with spirits. They even used the same special words as the angakkuit. Rasmussen said this game was not seen as rude because a "spirit can understand the joke."
Netsilik Inuit and Their Spirits
The Netsilik Inuit live in a place with very long winters and stormy springs. It was often hard to find enough food. While other Inuit groups had spirits that protected them, the Netsilik believed that life's difficulties came from using too many protective measures.
The Netsilik used many amulets (lucky charms). Even their dogs wore amulets. One boy had 80 amulets, so many that he could barely play! One man had 17 names from his ancestors, which he believed would protect him.
Tattooing was also important for Netsilik women. They believed it gave them power and could affect where they went after they died.
Nuliajuk, the Sea Woman, was a very important spirit. If people broke certain rules, she would hold marine animals in her special oil lamp called a qulliq. When this happened, the angakkuq had to visit her to ask for the animals to be released. Netsilik stories say she was an orphan girl who was treated badly by her community.
The Moon Man is another important spirit. He is kind to humans and their souls when they go to the sky. This is different from the Greenlandic Inuit, who believed the Moon could get angry if taboos were broken.
Sila or Silap Inua is often linked to the weather. The Netsilik believed Sila was a male spirit. They, and the Copper Inuit, thought Sila was originally a giant baby whose parents died fighting other giants.
Caribou Inuit and the Soul
The Caribou Inuit are several groups of Inuit who live inland, away from the ocean. They share a similar way of life and culture. They have a special belief about the soul. They believe a person has two main souls. One is called umaffia, which is linked to breathing. The other is tarneq, the personal soul of a child. The tarneq is thought to be weak and needs protection from the soul of a dead relative. They believed that an ancestor's presence in a child's body made the child behave more gently. This was a form of reincarnation.
Because they lived inland, the Caribou Inuit did not have beliefs about a Sea Woman. Instead, other spirits like Sila or Pinga controlled the caribou, which were their main food source. They would make offerings to these spirits for good hunting luck.
Caribou angakkuit could tell the future using qilaneq. This involved asking questions to a spirit called a qila. The angakkuq would place a glove on the ground and hold a staff and belt over it. The qila would enter the glove and pull the staff towards it to give "yes" or "no" answers.
Copper Inuit and the Wind Indweller
The term silap inua or sila is used by many Inuit groups. It can mean "outer space," "intellect," "weather," "sky," or "universe." Among the Copper Inuit, this "Wind Indweller" concept is linked to spiritual practices. Angakkuit were believed to get their power from this indweller. Even their helping spirits were called silap inue.
Anirniit: The Spirits of All Things
The Inuit believed that everything has a spirit or soul. In their language, Inuktitut, this spirit is called anirniq (meaning "breath"). The plural is anirniit. These spirits continue to exist after death.
A common Inuit saying explains this belief: "The great danger of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls." This means that since all beings have souls like humans, killing an animal is similar to killing a person. Once the anirniq of a dead animal or human is free, it can seek revenge. To keep the spirit happy, people had to follow customs, avoid taboos, and perform the right rituals.
Life in the Arctic was very difficult and unpredictable. This made the Inuit live with a constant fear of unseen forces. A streak of bad luck could wipe out an entire community. Asking unseen spirits for help with daily survival was a common part of their lives. For the Inuit, upsetting an anirniq could mean disaster. The main job of the angakkuq was to advise people on the rituals and taboos they needed to follow to keep the spirits calm. This is because the angakkuq could see and talk to the spirits.
The anirniit are seen as part of the sila (the sky or air around them). They are just borrowed from it. Even though each person's anirniq is unique, it is also part of a larger whole. This allowed Inuit to gain powers or traits from an anirniq by taking its name. Also, the spirits of a group of things (like sea mammals, polar bears, or plants) are sometimes seen as the same. They can be called upon through a keeper or master spirit connected to that group.
After Christianity came to the Inuit, anirniq became the word for a soul in the Christian sense. This word is also used for other Christian terms: anirnisiaq means angel, and God is called anirnialuk, the great spirit.
Humans were thought to have three main parts: two souls (iñuusiq and iḷitqusiq, perhaps "life force" and "personal spirit") and a name soul (atiq). After death, the iñuusiq went to the east, but the other soul parts could be reborn.
Tuurngait: Spirits That Help or Harm
Some spirits have never been connected to physical bodies. These are called tuurngait (plural of tuurngaq). They are often described as a shaman's helping spirits. Their nature depends on the angakkuq they work with. Helpful tuurngait can be called upon when needed. As Inuit elder Victor Tungilik explains, they "are there to help people."
However, some tuurngait are evil and monstrous. They can cause bad hunts or broken tools. They can even possess humans, as told in the story of Atanarjuat. An angakkuq with good intentions can use tuurngait to heal sickness and find animals for hunting. They can also fight or get rid of bad tuurngait. But an angakkuq with bad intentions might use tuurngait for their own gain or to attack others.
When Christianity arrived, the word Tuurngaq changed. While it once meant "killing spirit," it now often means a demon in the Christian belief system.
Inuit Shamans: Guides to the Spirit World
Shamans, called anatquq or angakkuq, were very important in Inuit religion. They were religious leaders, healers, and key figures in cultural stories. They had mysterious, powerful, and sometimes superhuman abilities. Early explorers sometimes called them "medicine men," but this term doesn't fully describe their role. Shamans were not just healers. They were mediators, connecting ordinary humans with the world of spirits, animals, and souls.
There wasn't one strict definition of a shaman or their role in society. But their ability to heal was almost always mentioned. It was described as "breathing or blowing away" sickness. However, there wasn't one set method for healing. Even though their methods varied, a few things were always true. To cure someone, the shaman had to be skilled, and the people being helped had to believe in them.
Stories often show shamans resolving crises. These crises might involve surviving against nature or solving disputes between people that could lead to death. In one story, a hunter kidnapped a man's daughter. A shaman, who belonged to the man's family, pulled the daughter back with a magic string. Shamans could also give special gifts and amazing abilities to people and even to tools.
Some stories show shamans as unpredictable. They could be easily angered or pleased in unusual ways. This might show that even with their special abilities and connection to nature, they were still human and had flaws. There are also stories of people trying to pretend to be shamans for their own benefit. They might claim to fly, but they were always discovered and punished.
A few stories suggest that shamans might have been feared because of their powers. Some accounts mention that someone was not afraid to be approached by a shaman. This hints that a shaman's power was greatly respected, and that they were not always seen as a fair and good force for everyone.
The arrival of Christianity, through both willing conversion and pressure, largely ended the tradition of the shaman. Christian priests and pastors took over the role of connecting the human world with the spiritual world.
Important Inuit Spirits and Deities
Here are some important spirits and deities in Inuit beliefs:
- Agloolik: A spirit who lives under the ice. He helps hunters and fishers.
- Akna: The mother goddess of fertility.
- Amaguq/Amarok: A wolf spirit who takes those who hunt alone at night.
- Anguta: The spirit who gathers the dead. He carries them to the underworld, where they rest for a year.
- Nanook: The master of polar bears.
- Pinga: The goddess of strength, hunting, fertility, and medicine.
- Qailertetang: A weather spirit and guardian of animals. She is also a protector of fishers and hunters. Qailertetang is a companion of Sedna.
- Sedna: The mistress of sea animals and mother of the sea. Sedna is known by many names, including Nerrivik, Arnapkapfaaluk, Arnakuagsak, and Nuliajuk.
- Silap Inua or Sila: The spirit that represents the air.
- Tekkeitsertok: The master of caribou.
- Pukkeenegak: Goddess of home life, including sewing and cooking.
Creatures and Other Spirits
- Qallupilluit or Qalupalik: These are human-like creatures with long hair, green skin, and long fingernails. They live in the sea. Inuit parents tell stories about them to keep children from wandering to the shore. Qalupalik wear special coats called amautiit. They use these to carry away children who don't listen to their parents or wander off alone. They take the children underwater and raise them as their own. Qalupaliks make a special humming sound. Elders say you can hear it when they are near. The Qalupalik story is still told today to teach children about safety.
- Ahkiyyini: A skeleton spirit.
- Saumen Kar: Also called Tornit or Tuniit. These are the Inuit version of the Sasquatch or Yeti myth. They might be based on the people of the Dorset culture, who were said to be giants.
- Tizheruk: Snake-like monsters.
Traditional Stories: Unipkaaqtuat
- Sun and moon (Inuit myth): This is a story about a brother and sister who became the sun and moon.
See also
In Spanish: Mitología inuit para niños
