Angakkuq

The Inuit angakkuq (plural: angakkuit, Inuktitut syllabics ᐊᖓᑦᑯᖅ or ᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ;[1][2][3] Inuvialuktun: angatkuq;[4] Greenlandic: angakkoq,[5] pl.

angakkut;[6] Iñupiaq: aŋatkuq) is an intellectual and spiritual figure in Inuit culture who corresponds to a medicine man.

[9] Alternatively, a young man or woman who exhibited a predilection or power that made them stand out might be trained by an experienced mentor.

[8] Mistreated orphans or people who had survived hard times might also become angakkuit with the help of the spirits of their dead loved ones.

[8] Amongst the Inuit, there are notions comparable to laws: If these three are not obeyed, then the angakkuq may need to intervene with the offending party in order to avoid harmful consequence to the person or group.

[8] The angakkuit of the central Inuit participated in an annual ceremony to appease the mythological figure Sedna, the Sea Woman.

The Inuit believed that Sedna became angry when her taboos were broken, and the only way to appease her was for an angakkuq to travel in spirit to the underworld where she lived, Adlivun, and smooth out her hair.

[8] Angakkuit often had associations with entities that Canadian anthropologist and ethnographer Bernard Saladin d'Anglure referred to as "auxiliary spirits".

Saladin d'Anglure describes one such situation: a man called Nanuq ("polar bear") had been named for an older cousin.

Going forward, he was called Qimuksiraaq, and his old name and identity, Nanuq, was considered to be an auxiliary spirit associated with polar bears.

They felt that although angakkuuniq came from the past, knowledge of it should be carried forward and the benefits that it could provide to modern Inuit should be carefully understood.