There are many Inuit who believe in what we would think of as Supernatural beings. It is not uncommon to find people here who believe in people who shift effortlessly into animals and back again. Their name escapes me at the moment. I’ve talked to several people who have recounted seeing someone out on the land and when they’ve investigated they can no longer find people, but find caribou in their place. Much of this harkens back to the shamanistic or animistic history of the people (and I should point out that while we refer to shamans it is a anthrolopogical term, Inuit "shamans" were called angatkuq).
There also exists a belief about little people or inuragugaajuk. Some people ascribe these to the Thule, just as the giants or Tuniq are ascribed to the Dorset people. Interestingly a remnant population of Dorset people, known as the sadlermuit, probably existed up to the time of the whalers in the Southhampton Island area. They were wiped out by disease brought by the Europeans. The Dorset, who predate the Thule, were a separate culture, linguistically and otherwise from the Thule/Inuit culture, but I digress.
Although you can usually find someone who has seen the animal/people up here it is rare to find anyone claiming to have seen inuragugaajuk. Some people believe that old Thule dwellings were made by them, some people believe that they sneak into peoples houses at night to watch over them. They have been described as very short, and very powerful. They have also been described as beneficial spirits, shy of people, the sort you can only see out of the corner of your eye.
Just before Christmas a youth travelling out on the land near Arctic Bay claims to have seen three inuragugaajuk (inuragugaajuit?) It has been the talk of the town.
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Sometimes I almost believe in shapeshifting myself. But not the little people! Nice to learn about this, though.
About the little people- here in Kugluktuk we have two little people. Sisters from the same parents. It makes me wonder about these stories. My theory is that this recessive gene has been around the Inuit for a long time. And if the Inuit were like other cultures around the world, a deformed infant would be left in the elements to die or perhaps some did make it to child/adulthood. This might have led to stories about these little people. Who knows, but that is what I think this evening!
Mentioning recessive genes makes me miss university!
The stories about the ‘inuragugaajuk’ are wide-spread in Inuit culture. When I lived in Kangirsuk in Nunavik, there were many stories told about these little people, especially up the river in the winter time when we went up there fishing. One night some were seen in the school in Kuujjuaq and frightened many children who didn’t want to attend school for several days…
Here, in PA we have alot of people who believe in ghosts, especially, in the interior.
A 74 year old nursing supervisor, claims she saw a ghost coming off an elevator in the middle of the night over at old Mount Sinai in Phili. This woman is more normal than most of us, and was voted best nurse in PA at one point in her career.
So often we try to rationalize the unknown by using scientific evidence, man made theories and information. There are still things in this world that we just don’t know and will remain a mystery. People of old knew things and saw things that we generally right off because it’s illogical, seems unreasonable and we have “proof” for some tangible theory. This information is passed down through the generations spoken of as a concrete truth. Why do we have such a hard time accepting the unknown and the unbelievable?
That said, the kid probably just saw something. *smile*
In kugaaruk in September of 2004 Isat down with an elders wife who told me about how as a child she had seen the little people and pointed to a river where they had set up their fishing nets. That same summer in Kugluktuk, there were rumours of appearances at night of small people or creatures that were described as having large heads and fierce teeth. I mentioned this to one lady i know selling wall hangings and she told me n ot to worry about going out at night. they were not really out but a fabrication ” bad teens ” who were making up stories. The term I think was “eenooks ”