Arctic
Inuit and Circumpolar Traditions
angakkuq (Inuit) · noaidi (Sámi)
Inuit, Yupik, Sámi and other circumpolar peoples
EthnographyHistory
Circumpolar traditions describe specialists travelling to sea and sky powers to restore relations broken by rule violation, in ecologies where hunting success and social order are inseparable.
Ritual specialists
- angakkuit trained through instruction, ordeal and helping-spirit acquisition
- Sámi noaidi with rune-drum
Cosmology
- Sea powers governing marine mammals
- Rule-breaking as the cause of scarcity and illness
Ritual practice
- Public confession séance
- Spirit journey to the sea floor or sky
- Drum divination
History and pressure
- Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Russian missionisation; drum burning
- Sámi drums held in European museums and ongoing repatriation claims
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