Fig. 534. Plans of remains of supposed qaggin or singing houses. (From Parry II, p. 362.)
The stone foundations observed by Parry and copied here (Fig. 534) are probably the remains of singing houses. Parry’s description is as follows (II, p. 362):
It appears that the whole whale or a principal part of it is dragged into the enclosure, where some of the men are employed in cutting it up and throwing the pieces over the wall to the rest, who stand ready to receive them outside; while within the women range themselves in a circle around the whale and continue singing during the operation. * * * Each of these structures * * * was the distinct property of a particular individual; and had probably, in its turn, been the seat of feasting and merriment either to the present owner, or those from whom he had inherited it.
Great feasts closely connected with the Sedna tradition are celebrated every fall.
When late in the fall storms rage over the land and release the sea from the icy fetters by which it is as yet but slightly bound, when the loosened floes are driven one against the other and break up with loud crashes, when the cakes of ice are piled in wild disorder one upon another, the Eskimo believes he hears the voices of spirits which inhabit the mischief laden air.
The spirits of the dead, the tupilaq, knock wildly at the huts, which they cannot enter, and woe to the unhappy person whom they can lay hold of. He immediately sickens and a speedy death is regarded as sure to come. The wicked qiqirn pursues the dogs, which die with convulsions and cramps as soon as they see him. All the countless spirits of evil are aroused, striving to bring sickness and death, bad weather, and failure in hunting. The worst visitors are Sedna, mistress of the under world, and her father, to whose share the dead Inuit fall. While the other spirits fill the air and the water, she rises from under the ground.
It is then a busy season for the wizards. In every hut we may hear them singing and praying; conjuring of the spirits is going on in every house. The lamps burn low. The wizard sits in a mystic gloom in the rear of the hut. He has thrown off his outer coat and drawn the hood of his inner garment over his head, while he mutters indescribable sounds, unnatural to a human voice. At last the guardian spirit responds to the invocation. The angakoq lies in a trance and when he comes to himself he promises in incoherent phrases the help of the good spirit against the tupilaq and informs the credulous, affrighted Inuit how they can escape from the dreaded ghosts.
The hardest task, that of driving away Sedna, is reserved for the most powerful angakoq. A rope is coiled on the floor of a large hut in such a manner as to leave a small opening at the top, which represents the breathing hole of a seal. Two angakut stand by the side of it, one of them holding the seal spear in his left hand, as if he were watching at the seal hole in the winter, the other holding the harpoon line. Another angakoq, whose office it is to lure Sedna up with a magic song, sits at the back of the hut. At last she comes up through the hard rocks and the wizard hears her heavy breathing; now she emerges from the ground and meets the angakoq waiting at the hole. She is harpooned and sinks away in angry haste, drawing after her the harpoon, to which the two men hold with all their strength. Only by a desperate effort does she tear herself away from it and return to her dwelling in Adlivun. Nothing is left with the two men but the blood sprinkled harpoon, which they proudly show to the Inuit.
Sedna and the other evil spirits are at last driven away, and on the following day a great festival for young and old is celebrated in honor of the event. But they must still be careful, for the wounded Sedna is greatly enraged and will seize any one whom she can find out of his hut; so on this day they all wear protecting amulets (koukparmiutang) on the tops of their hoods. Parts of the first garment which they wore after birth are used for this purpose.