INUITPOWER
Our ancient Inuit ancestors seem to have known how a balanced life on earth could be established and maintained. They tried to warn us.
They tried to teach us how to treat each other and nature with respect, because with respect we live in harmony. The way they tried to teach us was through storytelling, passed down by elders through generations. The stories were entertaining and instructive and considered part of their beliefs. We cannot deny being a social creature that relies on cooperation in order to survive and thrive, thus passing on values was a necessity amongst humankind. Living in the 20th century I am sad to tell you that it surely looks like we managed to fail them. Stories with great meaning have been forgotten and the world is on its tipping point.
We have forgotten how to treat each other and the planet. Thus their stories need to be brought back to life. We however need to warn you. The stories told by the Inuit are not for the faint hearted. Before reawakening their stories and acknowledging their messages, it is important to understand the Inuit.
INUIT SOCIETY
The Inuit refers to the arctic indigenous population of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland and was in the early 21st century estimated to consist of around 135.000 individuals. The traditional lifestyle of the Inuit is adapted to extreme climate conditions; their essential skills for survival are hunting and trapping, as well as the construction of fur clothing for survival. Agriculture was never possible in the millions of square kilometers of tundra and icy coastlines that run through the arctic regions. Therefore, hunting became the core of the cultural history of the Inuit. They used harpoons, bows and arrows to take down animals of all sizes. The Inuit survived primarily on fish, sea mammals and caribou and out of respect for the land and ocean that provided for them, all parts of the animals were used efficiently for food, clothing and tools, leaving nothing to waste.
Inuit communities relied heavily on the fulfillment of roles of its people in society, both by being self-reliant, but also by helping and supporting others. Society was structured around the immediate family. Family groups were also common and consisted of the extended family of grandparents, cousins and other blood and marriage relationships with whom they lived in close proximity. Children were usually named after a person who had recently died. One’s name was regarded as a vital part of the individual, and, in a way, the deceased lived on in the child. The relationship resulted in a close social bond between the relatives of the deceased and the child. All relations, once established, remained in force until death.
Inuit society governed the behavior of its members with a complex set of values, beliefs and taboos that clearly defined the expectations of how people should behave. These rules of behavior, and ways to deal with infractions, were passed on to younger generations through oral traditions of the group and by following examples set by older members.
RELIGION
Traditional Inuit religious practices included animism and shamanism. In which spiritual healers mediated with spirits. Animism is the belief that everything (objects, places and creatures) has a spirit. Thus all things were perceived as being animated and alive. Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner who is believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as during a trance. In the Inuit societies a Shaman played an important role acting as religious leaders and as healers, having mysterious, powerful, and sometimes supernatural abilities. They were thought to be able to control the spirits, but when the spirits were too strong the Shaman was in charge of communicating with them and trying to appease them. During seances, the shaman might undertake a journey to for example The Mother Of The Sea to make her release the sea animals she was holding back because of people’s violation of community rules.
Healing was considered crucial to help an individual with their illness or with their bad luck. Illness and misfortune were typically seen as the consequences of violating community rules, thereby offending supernatural beings like The Mother Of the Sea, The Moon Brother or one of the many others. The shaman was the only person that could communicate with these beings and thus heal the unfortunate Inuit.
TRADITION & RITUALS
The Inuit had several traditions when practicing their religion and beliefs. Religious traditions could for example involve a shamanistic ceremony, where the shaman would be entering the spirit world and in some occasions perform acts of healing by visiting this other world. Another important tradition in the Inuit communities were the hunting ceremonies (this will be further explained in the section called “hunting”). During the different ceremonies music was a common accompaniment. The instruments that were used would often be the one-sided drum to which the Inuit danced and sang with special techniques such as throat-singing.
Other aspects of the Inuit lifestyle were less ceremonial but based on traditions. These traditions were considered to be the community rules that were attached to either hunting, birth and death. Violation of these rules could cause not only harm to the violator but also to others in the community, thus creating a sense of responsibility for more than oneself. Confessing one’s violation of the rules would clear the person and community of the negative effects imposed by supernatural beings. A tradition of having a protective item such as the amulet was also common and the ones who would wear them, would be considered protected against evil.
The tradition of storytelling was important within the Inuit culture as the stories preserved tradition and values for future generations. The elderly would usually be the ones telling the stories during a ceremonial gathering, where people from the community would be sitting around a fire listening to the shared tales.
HUNTING
The Inuit have a long history of hunting and fishing in order to survive in their harsh environment. They are well known for their proficiency in the hunting of seals, walruses, and whales. While hunting the Inuit used a wide variety of tools to assist them in their hunting, cooking and skinning endeavors. These included spears, harpoons and special skinning knives. In recent years, they have also become adept at using technology to hunt caribou and other animals from a distance.
As hunting was such a large part of Inuit society, certain milestones in a hunting career were celebrated throughout a lifetime. For example, when a boy killed his first seal, the meat was distributed to all the inhabitants of the settlement, and for each new important animal a hunter killed there was a celebration and ritual. The first kill of the season of certain animals was also distributed among the people. Given that the peoples’ whole existence depended upon hunting and fishing, a good relationship with animals was of vital importance.
The Inuit had a deep respect for the animals they hunted, and they only took what they needed in order to survive. After a hunt, the Inuit performed songs and rituals to thank the animal’s spirit.
DEATH & AFTERLIFE
When a death occurred, the inhabitants of settlements, primarily the close relatives, fell under various taboos. The soul would live on in the afterworld either in the sky, which resembled the inland, where the soul had countless possibilities for among others caribou hunting; or it would live on in the underworld where the dead hunted marine animals. The last place was the preferred one. It was the way of dying that decided where one would go. Women who died giving birth and those who died at sea went to the underworld, most others were sent to the sky. After someone’s death, their name was tabooed until a newborn child was named after him or her. Such renaming is still common.
CLIMATE CHANGE
The lives of Inuit have been impacted by climate change for almost two decades. They know that they are “the barometer” when it comes to understanding what our environment will look like, since their culture is so closely tied into nature’s cycles. The world is changing rapidly and climate change is not just a theory with problems the future has to deal with. Climate change is already happening, earth has already seen its melting ice caps, rising sea levels and more extreme weather patterns due to warmer temperatures that came with it. Different animals including polar bears, seals, walruses and more, are facing a potential extinction.
The Circumpolar Arctic could very well become a region with considerable geopolitical and strategic importance. There is even a concern about mass population movements towards the arctic as the result of climate change, which would cause great changes not only to local economies but also worldwide systems like transportation networks or food production methods. Whatever the future holds, the Inuit will continue pushing for a reduction in greenhouse gasses that are causing climate change throughout the circumpolar region and beyond.
TODAY
The traditional way of living has changed greatly. Instead of living a nomadic life most Inuit now live in cities and settlements. Cars and snowmobiles are increasingly replacing dogs, rifles are replacing harpoons for hunting purposes and outboard motors are used instead of oars. Store-bought clothing and numerous manufactured items and industrial food products have also entered the culture, thus making money a necessity. With lots of change, modern society exists within the traditional ways of living.
To this day the Inuit still place high value on inclusiveness, resourcefulness and collaboration to ensure living in harmony. With the modern way of living, these values can however, often be forgotten since working towards one’s own success and happiness has become an important factor. With these changes in values it is important to remind ourself that we cannot survive on our own, that we are all connected one way or another, and that we still need to treat each other and nature with respect in order to achieve a continuous life on the planet.
INUIT SOCIETY
The Inuit refers to the arctic indigenous population of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland and was in the early 21st century estimated to consist of around 135.000 individuals. The traditional lifestyle of the Inuit is adapted to extreme climate conditions; their essential skills for survival are hunting and trapping, as well as the construction of fur clothing for survival. Agriculture was never possible in the millions of square kilometers of tundra and icy coastlines that run through the arctic regions. Therefore, hunting became the core of the cultural history of the Inuit. They used harpoons, bows and arrows to take down animals of all sizes. The Inuit survived primarily on fish, sea mammals and caribou and out of respect for the land and ocean that provided for them, all parts of the animals were used efficiently for food, clothing and tools, leaving nothing to waste.
Inuit communities relied heavily on the fulfilment of roles of its people in society, both by being self-reliant, but also by helping and supporting others. Society was structured around the immediate family. Family groups were also common and consisted of the extended family of grandparents, cousins and other blood and marriage relationships with whom they lived in close proximity. Children were usually named after a person who had recently died. One’s name was regarded as a vital part of the individual, and, in a way, the deceased lived on in the child. The relationship resulted in a close social bond between the relatives of the deceased and the child. All relations, once established, remained in force until death.
Inuit society governed the behavior of its members with a complex set of values, beliefs and taboos that clearly defined the expectations of how people should behave. These rules of behavior, and ways to deal with infractions, were passed on to younger generations through oral traditions of the group and by following examples set by older members.
RELIGION
Traditional Inuit religious practices included animism and shamanism. In which spiritual healers mediated with spirits. Animism is the belief that everything (objects, places and creatures) has a spirit. Thus all things were perceived as being animated and alive. Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner who is believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as during a trance. In the Inuit societies a Shaman played an important role acting as religious leaders and as healers, having mysterious, powerful, and sometimes supernatural abilities. They were thought to be able to control the spirits, but when the spirits were too strong the Shaman was in charge of communicating with them and trying to appease them. During seances, the shaman might undertake a journey to for example The Mother Of The Sea to make her release the sea animals she was holding back because of people’s violation of community rules.
Healing was considered crucial to help an individual with their illness or with their bad luck. Illness and misfortune were typically seen as the consequences of violating community rules, thereby offending supernatural beings like The Mother Of the Sea, The Moon Brother or one of the many others. The shaman was the only person that could communicate with these beings and thus heal the unfortunate Inuit.
TRADITION & RITUALS
The Inuit had several traditions when practicing their religion and beliefs. Religious traditions could for example involve a shamanistic ceremony, where the shaman would be entering the spirit world and in some occasions perform acts of healing by visiting this other world. Another important tradition in the Inuit communities were the hunting ceremonies (this will be further explained in the section called “hunting”). During the different ceremonies music was a common accompaniment. The instruments that were used would often be the one-sided drum to which the Inuit danced and sang with special techniques such as throat-singing.
Other aspects of the Inuit lifestyle were less ceremonial but based on traditions. These traditions were considered to be the community rules that were attached to either hunting, birth and death. Violation of these rules could cause not only harm to the violator but also to others in the community, thus creating a sense of responsibility for more than oneself. Confessing one’s violation of the rules would clear the person and community of the negative effects imposed by supernatural beings. A tradition of having a protective item such as the amulet was also common and the ones who would wear them, would be considered protected against evil.
The tradition of storytelling was important within the Inuit culture as the stories preserved tradition and values for future generations. The elderly would usually be the ones telling the stories during a ceremonial gathering, where people from the community would be sitting around a fire listening to the shared tales.
HUNTING
The Inuit have a long history of hunting and fishing in order to survive in their harsh environment. They are well known for their proficiency in the hunting of seals, walruses, and whales. While hunting the Inuit used a wide variety of tools to assist them in their hunting, cooking and skinning endeavors. These included spears, harpoons and special skinning knives. In recent years, they have also become adept at using technology to hunt caribou and other animals from a distance.
As hunting was such a large part of Inuit society, certain milestones in a hunting career were celebrated throughout a lifetime. For example, when a boy killed his first seal, the meat was distributed to all the inhabitants of the settlement, and for each new important animal a hunter killed there was a celebration and ritual. The first kill of the season of certain animals was also distributed among the people. Given that the peoples’ whole existence depended upon hunting and fishing, a good relationship with animals was of vital importance.
The Inuit had a deep respect for the animals they hunted, and they only took what they needed in order to survive. After a hunt, the Inuit performed songs and rituals to thank the animal’s spirit.
DEATH & AFTERLIFE
When a death occurred, the inhabitants of settlements, primarily the close relatives, fell under various taboos. The soul would live on in the afterworld either in the sky, which resembled the inland, where the soul had countless possibilities for among others caribou hunting; or it would live on in the underworld where the dead hunted marine animals. The last place was the preferred one. It was the way of dying that decided where one would go. Women who died giving birth and those who died at sea went to the underworld, most others were sent to the sky. After someone’s death, their name was tabooed until a newborn child was named after him or her. Such renaming is still common.
CLIMATE CHANGE
The lives of Inuit have been impacted by climate change for almost two decades. They know that they are “the barometer” when it comes to understanding what our environment will look like, since their culture is so closely tied into nature’s cycles. The world is changing rapidly and climate change is not just a theory with problems the future has to deal with. Climate change is already happening, earth has already seen its melting ice caps, rising sea levels and more extreme weather patterns due to warmer temperatures that came with it. Different animals including polar bears, seals, walruses and more, are facing a potential extinction.
The Circumpolar Arctic could very well become a region with considerable geopolitical and strategic importance. There is even a concern about mass population movements towards the arctic as the result of climate change, which would cause great changes not only to local economies but also worldwide systems like transportation networks or food production methods. Whatever the future holds, the Inuit will continue pushing for a reduction in greenhouse gasses that are causing climate change throughout the circumpolar region and beyond.
TODAY
The traditional way of living has changed greatly. Instead of living a nomadic life most Inuit now live in cities and settlements. Cars and snowmobiles are increasingly replacing dogs, rifles are replacing harpoons for hunting purposes and outboard motors are used instead of oars. Store-bought clothing and numerous manufactured items and industrial food products have also entered the culture, thus making money a necessity. With lots of change, modern society exists within the traditional ways of living.
To this day the Inuit still place high value on inclusiveness, resourcefulness and collaboration to ensure living in harmony. With the modern way of living, these values can however, often be forgotten since working towards one’s own success and happiness has become an important factor. With these changes in values it is important to remind ourself that we cannot survive on our own, that we are all connected one way or another, and that we still need to treat each other and nature with respect in order to achieve a continuous life on the planet.
