SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS.
It is an exceedingly difficult task to arrive at any sure idea of the beliefs of the Eskimo. In the first place, they are themselves somewhat hazy as to what they do believe concerning the soul and a future state; secondly, an intimate knowledge of the language is needed to catch their ideas on these subjects, and thirdly, one must be very intimate with them and have acquired their respect before they will, from fear of ridicule, discuss such subjects.
They all appear to have a belief in a supreme goddess, called Nuliayok on the western side of Hudson bay, and Sedna by the eastern Eskimos. The folk-lore in connection with these two goddesses points to the same origin for both, and is almost identical. The tradition is that Nuliayok was a coy Eskimo maiden who would not marry any of the young men. She was wooed by the fulmar, a gull, who spoke in a pleasing manner of the life she would lead with him. He so worked upon the senses and feelings of the maiden that she consented to accompany him to his island home as his wife. On arriving there she found that she had been cruelly deceived, and that the splendid house was nothing but a nest of sticks perched upon the high bare rocks, without any shelter from the snows or winds. The abundant food promised turned out to be nothing but rotten fish, and to add to her other discomforts she was jostled by the other fulmars, so that she often had difficulty in preserving her place on the rock. There was plenty of time for regret before she managed to send word to her father, requesting him to come to her rescue, which he did. Her father’s name was Anautelik, and he took her away in his boat during the absence of the fulmar. When the latter discovered his loss, he caused a great storm, and Anautelik, to preserve his own life, threw his daughter overboard, but she clung to the side of the boat, and he cut off her fingers, one by one, to make her release her hold. As her fingers dropped into the sea they changed into the whale, walrus, big seal and the small seal, so originating the sea animals. Her father next knocked one of her eyes out, after which she let go of the side of the boat and went to the world beneath the sea, where she became queen, living in a house built of stone and whalebone, and guarded by her husband, the dog. She cannot walk, but ‘hunches’ over the ground with one foot beneath her body. Her father was also drowned later, and now lives with her, wrapped up in his tent cover, and is employed torturing the souls of the wicked. The souls of sea animals go to her after remaining three days by the body after death. This is the reason a great deal of respect is shown to the bodies of these animals, and is the origin of a number of taboos in connection with them. If the soul is displeased on its departure for the abode of Nuliayok it informs her, and causes her hands to swell; then she revenges herself by bringing ill-luck or sickness upon the Eskimos. If all the ceremonies are properly observed they please the soul of the animal, and other animals will allow themselves to be killed by such considerate people.
It thus appears that the Eskimos existed before their goddess, there being no legend regarding the first Eskimo. The Eskimo story differs in regard to the origin of the white race and the Indians, who are the offspring of Nuliayok and her dog. One story runs that Nuliayok was deceived by the dog, who took the form of a young man. When her father found her with a litter of white and red pups he was very angry, and placed her with her strange progeny upon an island, sending food to her by the dog. Later he drowned the dog, and brought her food in his kyak. Nuliayok, to revenge the death of the dog, set the pups on her father, and so killed him. Being now without any source of food for herself or the pups, she made two large slippers; into one she put the white pups and into the other the red, and set them afloat before a north wind, so that they landed on southern lands and became the ancestors of the whites and the Indians.
There is a goddess of the land-animals called Pukimma, who appears to be closely identified with Nuliayok, and may be the same personage under a different name.
Aivillik Woman in Gala Dress.
The Eskimos have in addition to a number of legends concerning the creation of the animals many other folk-lore tales, all of a lewd character, and often without point.
The ideas concerning the future state of the soul are confused and often contradictory. There appear to be three degrees of heaven, all situated above the earth. The conditions are heavenly according to the Eskimo view, which pictures such places as being bright and warm, with plenty to eat and wear, and little to do. It is probable that the idea of eternity is beyond the comprehension of the Eskimos. They believe that the soul of the departed will enter the body of a child named after it, and remain for a year, with later continued influence upon the child’s character.
As before mentioned, the souls of suicides go to the upper spirit world along with those who have observed all the taboos. The transgressor of the taboos, and men lost by being carried away on the ice, go to the nether world, where they are tormented for a time by the father of Nuliayok.