Inuit religion is the shared spiritual beliefs and practices ofInuit, anindigenous people fromAlaska,northern Canada,Greenland, and parts ofSiberia. Their religion shares many similarities with someAlaska Native religions. Traditional Inuit religious practices includeanimism andshamanism, in which spiritual healers mediate with spirits.[1]Today many Inuit followChristianity (with 71 percent of Canadian Inuit identifying as Christian as of 2021[update]);[2] however, traditional Inuit spirituality continues as part of a living,oral tradition and part of contemporary Inuit society. Inuit who balance indigenous and Christian theology practicereligious syncretism.[3]
Inuitcosmology provides a narrative about the world and the place of people within it.Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley writes:
The Inuitcosmos 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.[4]
Traditional stories,rituals, andtaboos of the Inuit are often precautions against dangers posed by their harshArctic environment.Knud Rasmussen asked his guide and friendAua, anangakkuq (spiritual healer), about Inuit religious beliefs among theIglulingmiut (people ofIgloolik) and was told: "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 ofChristian missionaries, and later converted to Christianity. Their study also analyses beliefs of several Inuit groups, concluding (among others) that fear was not diffuse.[5]
First wereunipkaaqs : myths, legends, and folktales which took place "back then" in the indefinite past (taimmani).[6]
Among Canadian Inuit, a spiritual healer is known as anangakkuq (plural:angakkuit,Inuktitut syllabicsᐊᖓᑦᑯᖅ orᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ[7][8]) inInuktitut[9] orangatkuq inInuvialuktun.[10] The duties of anangakkuq include helping the community when marine animals, kept by Takanaluk-arnaluk or Sea Woman in a pit in her house, become scarce, according toAua, an informant and friend of the anthropologistKnud Rasmussen. Aua described the ability of an apprenticeangakkuq to see himself as a skeleton,[11] naming each part using the specific shaman language.[12][11]
Inuit at Amitsoq Lake (a rich fishing ground) onKing William Island had seasonal and other prohibitions for sewing certain items. Boot soles, for example, could only be sewn far away from settlements in designated places.[13] Children at Amitsoq once had a game calledtunangusartut in which they imitated the adults' behaviour towards the spirits, even reciting the same verbal formulae asangakkuit. According to Rasmussen, this game was not considered offensive because a "spirit can understand the joke."[14]
The homelands of theNetsilik Inuit (Netsilingmiut meaning "People of the Seal") have extremely long winters and stormy springs. Starvation was a common danger.[15]
While other Inuit cultures feature protective guardian powers, the Netsilik have traditional beliefs that life's hardships stemmed from the extensive use of such measures. Unlike the Iglulik Inuit, the Netsilik used a large number of amulets. Even dogs could have amulets.[16] In one recorded instance, a young boy had 80 amulets, so many that he could hardly play.[15][17] One particular man had 17 names taken from his ancestors and intended to protect him.[15][18]
Tattooing among Netsilik women provided power and could affect which world they went to after their deaths.[19]
Nuliajuk, the Sea Woman, was described as "the lubricous one".[20] If the people breached certain taboos, she held marine animals in the basin of herqulliq (anoil lamp that burns seal fat). When this happened, theangakkuq had to visit her to beg for game. In Netsilikoral history, she was originally an orphan girl mistreated by her community.[21]
Moon Man, another cosmic being, is benevolent towards humans and their souls as they arrived in celestial places.[22][23] This belief differs from that of theGreenlandic Inuit, in which the Moon's wrath could be invoked by breaking taboos.[22]
Sila orSilap Inua, often associated with weather, is conceived of as a power contained within people.[24] Among the Netsilik, Sila was imagined as a male. The Netsilik (andCopper Inuit) believed Sila was originally a giant baby whose parents died fighting giants.[25]
Caribou Inuit is a collective name for several groups of inland Inuit (the Krenermiut, Aonarktormiut, Harvaktormiut, Padlermiut, and Ahearmiut) living in an area bordered by thetree line and the west shore ofHudson Bay. They do not form a political unit and maintain only loose contact, but they share an inland lifestyle and some cultural unity. In the recent past, the Padlermiut took part in seal hunts in the ocean.[26]
The Caribou have adualistic concept of the soul. The soul associated with respiration is calledumaffia (place of life)[27] and the personal soul of a child is calledtarneq (corresponding to thenappan 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 behavior, especially among boys.[28] This belief amounted to a form ofreincarnation.[27][29]
Because of their inland lifestyle, the Caribou have no belief concerning a Sea Woman. Other cosmic beings, named Sila or Pinga, control thecaribou, as opposed to marine animals. 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.[30]
Caribou angakkuit performedfortune-telling throughqilaneq, a technique of asking questions to aqila (spirit). The angakkuq placed his glove on the ground and raised his staff and belt over it. The qila then entered the glove and drew the staff to itself. Qilaneq was practiced among several other Alaskan Native groups and provided "yes" or "no" answers to questions.[31][32]
Spiritual beliefs and practices among Inuit are diverse, just like the cultures themselves. Similar remarks apply for other beliefs: termsilap inua /sila,hillap inua /hilla (amongInuit),ellam yua /ella (amongYup'ik) has been used with some diversity among the groups.[33] In many instances it refers to "outer space", "intellect", "weather", "sky", "universe":[33][34][35][36][37] there may be some correspondence with thepresocratic concept oflogos.[34][38] In some other groups, this concept was more personified ([sɬamjuɣwa] amongSiberian Yupik).[39]
AmongCopper 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 assilap inue.[40]
Greenlandic Inuit believed that spirits inhabited every humanjoint, evenknucklebones.[41]
The Inuit believed that all things have a form ofspirit orsoul (Inuktitut:anirniq meaning "breath"; pluralanirniit), just like humans. These spirits are held to persist after death—a common belief present in most human societies. However, the belief in the pervasiveness of spirits—the root of Inuit worldview—has consequences. According to a customary Inuit saying, "The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls." Since all beings possess souls like those of humans, killing an animal is little different from killing a person. Once theanirniq of the dead animal or human is liberated, it is free to take revenge. The spirit of the dead can only be placated by obedience to custom, avoiding taboos, and performing the right rituals.
The harshness and randomness of life in theArctic ensured that Inuit lived constantly in fear of unseen forces. A run of bad luck could end an entire community and begging potentially angry and vengeful but unseen powers for the necessities of day-to-day survival is a common consequence of a precarious existence. For the Inuit, to offend ananirniq was to risk extinction. The principal role of the angakkuq inInuit culture and society was to advise and remind people of the rituals and taboos they needed to obey to placate the spirits, since he was held to be able to see and contact them.
The anirniit are seen to be a part of thesila—the sky or air around them—and are merely borrowed from it. Although each person'sanirniq is individual, shaped by the life and body it inhabits, at the same time it is part of a larger whole. This enabled Inuit to borrow the powers or characteristics of ananirniq by taking its name. Furthermore, the spirits of a single class of thing—be itsea mammals,polar bears, or plants—are in some sense held to be the same and can be invoked through a keeper or master who is connected with that class of thing. In some cases, it is theanirniq of a human or animal who becomes a figure of respect or influence over animals things through some action, recounted in a traditional tale. In other cases, it is atuurngaq, as described below.
Since the arrival of Christianity among the Inuit,anirniq has become the accepted word for 'soul' in the Christian sense. This is the root word for other Christian terms:anirnisiaq meansangel andGod is rendered asanirnialuk, the great spirit.
Humans were a complex of three main parts: two souls (iñuusiq andiḷitqusiq: perhaps "life force" and "personal spirit") and a name soul (atiq). After death, theiñuusiq departed for the east, but the other soul components could be reborn.[42]
Some spirits have never been connected to physical bodies. These are calledtuurngait (alsotornait,tornat,tornrait, singulartuurngaq,torngak,tornrak,tarngek) and "are often described as a shaman's helping spirits, whose nature depends on the respectiveangakkuq".[43] Helpful spirits can be called upon in times of need and "are there to help people", as explained by Inuit elder Victor Tungilik.[43] Sometuurngait are evil, monstrous, and responsible for bad hunts and broken tools. They can possess humans, as recounted in the story ofAtanarjuat. Anangakkuq with good intentions can use them to heal sickness and find animals to hunt and feed the community. They can fight or exorcise badtuurngait, or they can be held at bay by rituals; However, anangakkuq with harmful intentions can also usetuurngait for their own personal gain, or to attack other people and theirtuurngait.
Though oncetuurngaq simply meant "killing spirit", it has, withChristianisation, taken on the meaning of ademon in the Christian belief system.
Shamans (anatquq orangakkuq in theInuit languages of northern parts of Alaska and Canada[44]) played an important role in the religion of Inuit acting as religious leaders, tradesmen, healers, and characters in cultural stories holding mysterious, powerful, and sometimes superhuman abilities. The idea of calling shamans "medicine men" is an outdated concept born from the accounts of early explorers and trappers who grouped all shamans together into this bubble. The term "medicine man" does not give the shamans justice and causes misconceptions about their dealings and actions.[45] Despite the fact they are almost always considered healers, this is not the complete extent of their duties and abilities and detaches them from their role as a mediator between normal humans and the world of spirits, animals, and souls for the traditional Inuit.
There is no strict definition of shaman and there is no strict role they have in society. Despite this, their ability to heal is nearly universal in their description. It has been described as "breathing or blowing away" the sickness but there is not set method any one shaman or groups of shamans perform their deeds. Even though their methods are varied, a few key elements remain in virtually all accounts and stories. In order to cure or remove an ailment from someone, the shaman must be skilled in their own right but must have the faith of those being helped.[45]
In stories of shamans there is a time of crisis and they are expected to resolve, alleviate, or otherwise give resolution or meaning to the crisis. These crises often involve survival against the natural elements or disputes between people that could end in death.[46] In one such story, a hunter kidnapped a man's daughter and a shaman described in terms of belonging to the man. The shaman pulled the daughter back with a magic string.[47] The shaman is also able to bestow gifts and extraordinary abilities to people and to items such as tools.[48]
Some stories recount shamans as unpredictable, easily angered, and pleased in unusual ways. This could be shown as illustrating that despite their abilities and tune with nature and spirits, they are fickle and not without fault.[49] There are stories of people attempting to impersonate shamans for their own gain by pretending to have fantastical abilities such as being able to fly only to be discovered and punished.[50]
A handful of accounts imply shamans may be feared in some cases for their abilities as they specify that someone did not fear being approached and talked to by a shaman.[51] This leads to further ideas that the shaman's power was to be greatly respected and the idea that the shaman was not necessarily always a fair and good force for the people around them.
The Christianization of the Inuit by both willing conversion and being forcefully pressured into converting to Christianity has largely destroyed the tradition of the shaman. Priests, pastors, and other Christian religious authorities replaced the shamans as the connection between the human world and the other world.[52]
Below is an incomplete list of Inuit deities believed to hold power over some specific part of the Inuit world:
Some people starring inunipkaaqtuat ("traditional stories"[59]) orunikkaaqtuat ("to tell stories"[60]) include:
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