the inuit shaman
...e respect given. Inuit believe that the respect for ritual is important to the success or failure of their hunt or fishing trips. One of the more respected spirits is called Sedna. Sedna lives at the bottom of the sea and, depending on whether or not she is pleased with her respect, will make fish and sea mammals available to the hunter. It is important to the success of the hunting or fishing trip that the Inuit pay proper respect to Sedna. Only then will Sedna make the sea animals available to be caught. Once animals are caught the Inuit pay respect to the animal for allowing it to be caught. They do this in a number of ways. For a seal, the hunter pours fresh water into the seals mouth; this show of respect is thanking the seals soul for coming to the hunter. The hunter does this because they think that because the seal always lives in salt water, they must be thirsty. With other animals they remove the bladder and fill it with fresh water, then put it back in the animal’s body. This insures the animals soul will be pleased and help provide future animals to the Inuit. Another important spirit in Inuit Mythology is the guardian of the Caribou. The respect for the Caribou spirit is treated the same as Sedna. But the Inuit make sure to keep the two spirit worlds separate so they don’t upset them. Sea animals can never be cooked in the same pot as land animals. They won’t skin a kayak with caribou skins, rather they use seal skins. They won’t wear seal skins on a caribou hunt for the same reasons. Polar bears are a special animal to the Inuit because they inhabit both the land and the sea. An Inuit has a sou...