Inuit - The Hunters of the Arctic (text added to board game)
The Inuit - Hunters of the Arctic
Text: G&nter Cornett &&&&&& - &&&&&& Graphics: Christof Tisch
(Translation: Lutz Pietschker)
The Hunters of the Arctic
Inuit is what the people of the Arctic call themselves, in their own language called Inuktitut.
The singular of Inuit is Inuk , and this simply means &man&.
The word &Eskimo& which sounds well enough for us is derived from the Indian word &Esquimantsik& which translates to &eater of raw meat&, and originally it was intended to be pejorative.
For more than 5000 years the Inuit have been living in the Arctic. They came from Siberia and migrated via what we call Alaska and Canada today, all the way to Greenland. Until well into the 20th century their traditional culture was completely based on hunting. On the west coast of Hudson Bay they hunted for the caribou (the North American variant of reindeer), but also for the musk ox and the ptarmigan, a kind of partridge. However, most of the Inuit lived on marine mammals and fish.
The main hunting ground was the pack ice. Currents and wind separate the ice floes, which may be three to seven feet thick, or pile them on top of each other. Where the cracks form, we find the migration straits of the polar whales, which must surface to breathe. Seals and walruses need the ice floes to rest as well as the water to hunt and feed.
Here, we also find the polar bear. Nanuk, the Great Wanderer, the Inuit call it. In search of food, the bear often travels hundreds of miles. It has an excellent sense of orientation and can weigh as much as 300 kg. With his paws it can kill even the Beluga Whale and drag it onto the ice.
The polar bear has developed variable techniques for hunting the seal, his main source of food.
Either it waits, unmoving, for hours beside a hole in the ice until a seal pops up to breathe, and then kills its prey with one stroke of the paw, or it skillfully sneaks near seals resting on the ice.
According to some accounts, the bear even covers his telltale black nose with a paw while creeping near.
The Inuit mainly hunted the polar bear for its hide. The meat is not very palatable and is only eaten in times of dire need. It was arduous to follow the bear through the pack ice by dog sledge, and it was quite dangerous to stand up to it armed only with a harpoon.
Today, the bears come near the settlements on their own account, lured by the rubbish bins. They are hard to chase away and would be easy prey to the rifles of the Inuit.
Seals, whales and walruses provided the Inuit with meat that was usually eaten raw due to lack of fuel. In addition, they were the source of fat and tallow for the lamps, hides for clothing and kayaks, bones for tools and weapons and sinews for strings.
The Inuit hunts seals all through the year. When the seals dive beneath the ice they will surface again in special ice holes to breathe. Because seals use more than one breathing hole and are rather suspicious, a hunter may have to wait motionless beside the hole for many hours until he can strike with his harpoon.
In contrast, hunting the walrus was dangerous for the hunter as well as tedious, at least before rifles were used. Traditional tales of the Inuit have it that hunters have been pulled under the ice by walruses, which can weigh hundreds of kilograms. The saber-like canine teeth are up to one metre long, and the walrus can use them to punch breathing holes through an ice sheet two feet thick. &
Similarly, the hunt for the large species of whales wa we are talking about animals here that may be 20 metres long. In former times, they were hunted with harpoons from larger boats. Today, following the near extinction of the Greenland whale by British, Dutch and American whalers in the 19th century, whale hunting is forbidden with only a few exceptions for necessary self-support of the Inuit.
The ever-&smiling& White Whale or Beluga mainly lives in the Bering Sea.
Like the narwhal, it grows up to five metres in length and was hunted from the kayak.
The most conspicuous characteristic of the narwhal is the tusk that can be up to two metres long. The Inuit use it as a harpoon or tent pole. Especially the hide of the narwhal (muktuk) is important for the nutrition of the Inuit as it has a high content of C vitamin.
The Beluga is also called the &canary of the sea& because of its &songs&. The echo of the sounds the whales emit not only enables them to communicate over vast distances but also to orient themselves under water and to locate, for example, shoals of fish. Accordingly, whales are not only endangered by industrial whaling methods but also by the &noise pollution& caused by hundreds of ships that roam those waters every year.More about the White Whale: ,
<FONT Adaption&to&the&Environment
10.000 years ago, the ancestors of the Inuit crossed the Bering Strait for Alaska and for a long time continued to live in regions not covered by ice.
Because the southern lands were inhabited by Indians, from about 3000 BC the Inuit began to spread along the Arctic coast and the Arctic islands, down to the Hudson Bay in the south and as far as Greenland to the east. They lived in houses made of snow, hunted with bow and arrow and fished with the harpoon. Dogs were used for hunting and to carry loads, but the dog sledge was not yet invented.
About 1800 BC a period of cold set in, and the Inuit began to hunt for seals and the walrus.
About 1000 AD a long-lasting period of relative warmth set in and caused the humpback whale to spread from the Bering Strait along the Arctic coast. Also coming from Alaska, the ancestors of today's Inuit followed and founded the Thule culture.
In Greenland, Labrador and along Hudson Bay small villages with up to 100 people developed. The Thule people lived in solid, half-subterraneous houses. They had dog sledges, kayaks, larger boats made of walrus hides (umiaks) and had many highly specialized tools for hunting whales, walruses and seals. About 1600 AD the climate got colder again, the humpback whales disappeared, and the Thule people became nomads again. In smaller communities they now hunted mainly seals, walruses and caribous and lived in igloos and tents again instead of stone houses.
In the winter settlements, the igloos were rather big. There was a main chamber with a diameter of four to five metres and a ceiling height of almost three metres, and a couple of side chambers as
well as an entrance area. Some igloos were
connected by tunnels. A window of ice, an isolating lining of caribou hide and a snow platform to use as sleeping cot may have been present to provide some sort of comfort. Igloos build during hunting expeditions were less comfortable and were used by many Inuit at the same time.
Whalers, Fur Traders, Missionaries, ...
The life of the Inuit changed again with the arrival of whalers, fur traders and missionaries. Soon the Inuit did not only hunt for their living but also to barter for rifles, sugar, tobacco and alcohol. Thus, they fell into a dependency on trade. Because, with rifles, ever more animals were killed, the natural balance of the Arctic began to stagger. The Inuit had to roam ever-increasing distances to hunt their prey. Also, Christianity forced its monotheistic philosophy upon the Inuit,
along with foreign laws and morals. Polygamy and swapping partners were banned and new laws were introduced. Originally, the shaman or &angakok& decided what to do in case somebody broke the rules of the community. The idea was not mainly to punish the culprit, but rather to re-establish the balance that was felt to be natural. To this purpose there were a number of rites, magic ceremonies and taboos. The angakok also healed ailments and advised in matters of foraging. Today, most Inuit have converted to Christianity.
Military Forces + Multi-National Groups = Development ?
The most serious changes in the lives of the Inuit came only in this century, when the north became interesting for governments and companies for its military importance and its resources.
&During the Second World War and the years after that, relations between the&Inuit and Canadians developed very fast. Airfields, weather stations and radar&installations were built in the north of Canada. Later, national services and&tapping and mining of resources followed. The discovery of oil and gas deposits&brought thousands of people from the cities in southern Canada to the north. At&that time the Canadian administration decided that it would be necessary to&provide medical and social services and schools to the Inuit. The administration&increased its presence in the north substantially. The effect was that the Inuit by&and by aggregated into many larger but fewer settlements that were built to last&and that provided schools, churches, administration offices and shops.&
This is&the official statement of the Canadian Government, translated from a text found&on the home page of the Canadian Embassy in Germany,
(german text).
However, the Gesellschaft f&r bedrohte V&lker judges differently about this period of history:
&In the wake of the whalers and fur traders, multi-national companies fell upon the region in their search for oil, natural gas, uranium, lead and zinc and caused an uprooting of traditional culture. Moreover, the Canadian policy of forced assimilation drove many Inuit into dependency from welfare aid and caused loss of identity and often led to escape into alcoholism. High suicide rates show that the imposed way of living has become a torture. In the camps of the oil companies abuse of alcohol, theft and violation have reached an above-average and frightening level.&
(translated from a text of Theodor Rathgeber on the home page of the &Gesellschaft f&r bedrohte V&lker&
- german text).
Environmental DangersThe Arctic environment is not only endangered by the well-known hole in the ozone layer but also by a multitude of poisons like DDT, furane and postchlorinated biphylene. They are generated in industrial regions and transported into the Arctic by atmospheric currents. The polar air and water are no longer pure. High levels of harmful substances have been found not only in fish and polar mammals but also in the milk of Inuit women.
Another threat is posed by the radioactive waste that has been dumped into the Arctic Sea by the Soviet Union since 1959, and even more so by the British reprocessing plant at Sellafield, UK. Only recently the traces of radioactive discharges of that plant have been detected in the Polar Sea.
The consequences of excessive fishing for the balance of nature have recently been published in the &Frankfurter Rundschau& (a German newspaper), based on an article in &Science&:
First, the number of seals and sea-lions in the Bering Sea decreased for lack of food. The orca whales that used to feed on them pursued sea otters instead. Thus, sea urchins lost their natural enemies, bred unhindered and used up 90% of the seaweed supply. But the seaweed not only provided food for sea birds, mussels and fish but also had an important function as a source of oxygen and consumer of carbon dioxide.
Protection of Animals, and the Consequences
Paradoxically, the Inuit have not only been victims to the exploitation of their &lebensraum&, but they also suffered from measures directed at the preservation of the Arctic fauna:
&The Inuit have been hard-hit when the European Union banned the import of seal hides in 1983. Environmentalist organizations like Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and other associations for the protection of animals had been protesting, for perfectly valid reasons, against the slaughter of baby seals by Canadian and Norwegian hunters, and demanded protective action. The seal hide market crashed. The Inuit, who in order to preserve the stock had never hunted baby seals, could suddenly no longer earn their living by hunting the grown-up animals. They also had to refrain from whaling. An important part of their cultural integrity and their social system vanished without any replacement.
A similar threat looms in the import ban on hides of wild animals, as proposed by the European Union. This would concern the Inuit and the other native population of Canada. In 1995, about 35.000 of them had a license to hunt with traps. Usually they have no other income, especially those living in the remote northern settlements. Inuit organizations protested, not least, against the way in which this ban was to be imposed: in bad, colonial manner, without talking to those concerned.&(Theodor Rathgeber on the home page of the &Gesellschaft f&r bedrohte V&lker& Gesellschaft f&r bedrohte V&lker,
german text).
At the time, Greenpeace argued that their protest was not directed against the Inuit, &but when they supplied to an international market they could no longer call this 'traditional seal hunting'. Anybody who enters international trade and uses its mechanics must necessarily also bear the risk of the ever-changing market situation, which may be caused by the currents of fashion or an increased
environmental consciousness in the buyer countries. In truth, the Inuit are the victims of the irresponsible actions of the seal fur industry.& (Greenpeace, Seals, Claims and Background Information, March 1996).
But today the Inuit could no longer sustain themselves by hunting alone. Actually, they still live mainly on the meat of wild animals. But because they live, by now, in heated buildings, they have high expenses for heating and for importing of goods. 60 to 70% of northern Canada's population are unemployed and have to rely on welfare.
A New BeginningIn an attempt to stay as near as possible to their traditional way of life, the Inuit of Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, as early as the 1970s, founded the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) as an international group to represent their interests. The ICC takes up problems like pollution, the extinction of marine mammals, excessive exploitation of resources as well as problems of alcoholism in the Inuit population.
One important question is that of land ownership. The official Canadian legislation holds that any land that is not private property is the property of Canada. This position is opposed to the natural rights of the original inhabitants who have been living there and using the land for centuries. The Inuit put great hopes into the foundation of a new Canadian federal state named
'Nunavut' (=&our land&).
Since April 1st, 1999 the Northwest Territories have been divided along the tree line in two provinces:
The eastern part, Nunavut, has a population of just 25.000 in an area of about 2 million square kilometers. The Inuit got deeds of property for 350.000 square kilometers of land, financial compensation, hunting and fishing rights and more legal rights of participation in decisions about the way the region and its environment are run and used. Furthermore, there are plans to limit Canadian jurisdiction to cases of capital offence to make possible the re-installation of traditional ways to handle conflicts. Another proposed innovation, to guarantee a quota of 50% female members of parliament, has recently only just fallen through in a plebiscite.
But critical voices are also present, particularly of white inhabitants that still control the administration, educational institutions and health service, and of the Indians. &Some people say that the Inuit have grabbed too big a piece of the cake. The area of land remaining for the other original inhabitants of the region, the Indians, is only a very small piece of land in the western part of the Northwest Territories.& (Illustrierte Wissenschaft, Sept. 1998). But 85% of the population of Nunavut are Inuit, and another 10% are white. John Amagoalik, chairman of the Nunavut Implementation Commission that is responsible building up the province, even believes that Nunavut &will be pointing the way for all the conflicts with natives and minorities in the world&. Bushmen from Botswana and Australian aborigines already have paid informational visits to the capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit, a town of 4500 souls.
For all who do not want to travel that far, the Internet is a very good source of information. Once you have found the right web pages you will gather a lot of interesting facts there about the Arctic and its fauna, about Nunavut, and about the history and the myths of the Inuit.
Thankfully, Jane T. of Iqaluit has helped me a lot with the research. Jane told me about today's way of living in the Arctic regions (see inset), looked up a lot of , and commented upon them. All this greatly eased my search for information..
11th June 1998Hello Guenter,
You know of course that Inuit nowadays do not hunt with kayaks and dog
teams but with motor boats and skidoos and 4 wheelers.
Many Inuit alos
work and are only part time hunters. Almost everyone hunts to some
extent though
because the food from hunting is preferable to store
bought food and everyone wants to keep in touch with the land.
Igloos are still used
but only on hunting trips. The rest of the time
people live in middle class type of housing. ( 2 or 3 bedroom frame
As a result of Nunavut many of the younger and middle aged people have
become very interested in politics. some of the older people are a
little left out. Most
younger people speak both English and Inuktittut
although older people again may only speak Inuktitutt and be left out of
many things.
Dog teams are occasionally used but more for recreation or for tourists
who want a dog team ride. To keep a dog tema well fed one must be able
to hunt full time.
I live in Iqaluit which is the largest community and will be the capital
of Nunavut. It has a population of approcimately 4000 people. There are
12 communities in the eastern Arctic ranging in size from 300 to 16oo
people. There is less work and more hunting in the small communites and
people there may be more representative of the culture. There are also a
few families who prefer the old style of life and live in small groups
(1 or 2 families) outside the communities and except for the use of
modern technology lead a fairly traditional existance.
I could help more too if you had some specific questions.
Yours truly
G&nter Cornett
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Bambus&Spieleverlag&G&nter&Cornett&|&Kopfstra&e&43&|&D-12053&Berlin&Phone/Fax:&+49-30-6121884The inuit legend of sedna the sea goddess课文翻译
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因纽特人的海洋女神SEDNA（赛德娜）的传说因纽特人 - 简介因纽特人几千年前,人类最后的一支迁徙大军从亚洲出发跨过白令海峡向美洲腹地进发.他们哪里料到前方等待他们的是美洲印第安人的围追堵截和残忍杀戮!因纽特人且战且退,最后终于退至北极圈内,时值寒冬,印第安人以为因纽特人不久便会被冻死,便停止了追杀.谁料,因纽特人在北极奇迹般生存了下来,他们创造了人类生存的奇迹.尽管来自亚洲,但由于长期生活在极地环境中,因纽特人同亚洲的黄种人已经有所不同.他们身材矮小粗壮,眼睛细长,鼻子宽大,鼻尖向下弯曲,脸盘较宽,皮下脂肪很厚.粗矮的身材可以抵御寒冷,而细小的眼睛可以防止极地冰雪反射的强光对眼睛的刺激.这样的身体特征使他们有令人惊叹的抵御严寒的本领.但是因纽特人耐寒抗冷的另一重要原因是日常所食的都是些高蛋白、高热量的食品.“因纽特”在他们的语言中是“真正的人”的意思,他们还有一个不太喜欢的名字叫“爱斯基摩人”.“爱斯基摩人”是印第安人送给他们的一个带有嘲笑性质的名称,意思是“吃生肉的人”. 因纽特人 - 生活方式因纽特人因纽特人在海岸边安家落户,主要靠猎捕海生哺乳动物（主要是RHOQUE,海象,独角鲸和各类鲸）和陆地哺乳动物为食（鸭子,加拿大驯鹿,白熊,麝牛,极地狐和北极象）. 捕猎的方法有很多种,虽然步枪取代了传统武器,但鱼叉还是一种有效的补充工具.因纽特人也从事渔业.主要捕食海鱼（鲨,鳕鱼,庸鱼菜,肉色像鲑鱼的鳟鱼和红鲑鱼）.一些地方化的种族也捕捉淡水鱼. 捕鱼活动一般是在大浮冰上,更多时候在浮冰下进行,不同的种族用不同捕鱼工具,捕不同类型的鱼：钓鱼钩,渔网,捕鱼篓,鱼叉.因纽特人在北极地区短暂的夏天也从事采摘业,但他们的食谱中还是主要以肉食为主,这种生活环境中,他们主要依靠海豹和加拿大驯鹿生存.也是那些动物的皮毛为因纽特人提供了抵御严寒的衣服. 至于居住形式,传统的是雪砖垒成的圆屋顶的房屋-雪屋.然而,雪屋这个词不仅仅指这种雪砖房屋,而是指各种居住形式,这要依季节而变化：夏天,因纽特人住在兽皮搭成的帐篷里；冬天则住在雪屋,石头屋或泥土块屋子里. 游牧生活也起源于迁移形式,后来发明了狗拉雪橇——美洲印第安人也用这种工具,和海豹皮小艇、独木舟.不同的海豹皮小艇通常是一人操纵的小船,用双短桨划动,加上窄窄的船体,使海豹皮小艇无论是在海上还是在冰上活动起来都十分灵活. 在新魁北克UNGAVA海湾那里,海豹皮小艇最显神通,然而,在因纽特人和印第安人中,游牧生活方式已经消失,雪地摩托代替了雪橇,营房代替了雪屋. 因纽特人 - 社会成员的关系 因纽特人因纽特人社会成员的关系可大致分为三种：第一种就是通过联姻形成的亲戚关系；第二种是同姓名人之间因为姓名相同而形成的特殊关系,虽然这些人没有血统关系,但因纽特人认为同姓名的人之间必然存在着奇异的联系.除了亚洲海岸的因纽特人不认为同姓名的人存在着某种联系,对其他因纽特人来说,同姓名是连接不同家庭成为一个大的社会群体的重要纽带；第三种社会成员关系是伙伴关系,是双方自愿结成的关系.因纽特人认为伙伴就要共同分享食物和赠送礼物给对方,通常以跳舞或在宗教仪式上分享美味的海豹鳍等方式,来表达伙伴间的亲密关系. 因纽特人很善于维持相互间的和谐关系,虽然他们居住分散,但人与人之间的关系并不疏远.为了寻找食物人们不得不分开,但只要有可能,因纽特人就互相拜访,互赠礼物,唱歌,跳舞,讲故事,举行宗教活动等.因纽特人常常共同劳动,共同娱乐,甚至连吃饭睡觉也在一起.文明社会中的个人私生活这个概念,在爱斯基摩社会中是根本不存在的.孩子不论走到谁家,随便吃喝,就像在自己家里一样. 因纽特人到别人家做客,推门而入,根本不需要敲门,而且在那里可以毫无顾忌地坐上几个小时,一直坐到他想离去.初次接触因纽特人的外来人往往会感到非常不习惯.日本记者本多腾一在《加拿大的爱斯基摩人》一书中曾经描写初到因纽特村落的情景：村里的人走进他的帐篷就像到自己家一样,登堂直入,没有任何拘束,自己随意坐下,然后一直望着他,时间过了一两个钟头,直到疲倦的作者不得不在众目睽睽之下钻进睡袋.到第二天中午醒来,还有五六个好奇的孩子在围观他.了解了因纽特人的这一风俗习惯后,就能做到即使满屋子人,你也可以从容人睡了. 因纽特人 - 传统道德 因纽特人因纽特人的社会心态中有一个很突出的特点,就是推崇康慨大方.不论对谁,即使是过路人来到因纽特人村庄,村里的人都会热情款待,拿出家里贮存的食物给客人.虽然生存环境恶劣,但因纽特人保持着良好的道德观念,并不像有些人想象的那样——面临食物短缺,因纽特人因此形成自私、冷酷的性格.通过深入的观察,人们了解到,谦恭、礼貌、忍耐、安分、诚实,服从长者,忠诚于亲戚,严格遵守各种禁忌,善于控制自己的喜怒哀乐,这些都是爱斯基摩人毕生认真恪守的准则.当因纽特人判断某个事件,或者一个人的某种行为是否正确时,他们的判断标准是看它是否符合传统习俗.在他们的观念中没有犯罪的概念,最严重的过错是破坏习俗,犯了禁忌. 在因纽特人的社会结构中,并没有什么组织机构来监督或者强迫人们遵循传统习俗,也没有法庭和监狱,更谈不上什么立法机构制定法律,政府机构执行法律以解决社会问题等等,这就是传统因纽特人单纯的世界.从某种程度上来说,因纽特人的社会称得上是世外桃源.当然,如果出现了贪婪或自私行为,因纽特人也有独特的制裁措施.他们在各种场合想法嘲笑犯错误的人,或者孤立他一段时间,让犯错误的人感到羞耻.到迫不得已时,最严厉的措施就是遗弃他.例如当村落迁移时不通知他,就等于判了他的死刑.生活在北极地区的人都知道,单独一个人在冰原上是无法生存下去的. 因纽特人常采用嘲笑、讽刺的方法制止错误行为,通过精心制作的讽刺表演奚落犯错误的人.如果一个年轻人多拿了食物,人们就在娱乐或宗教活动中即兴演唱,贬斥贪心的人,以此来警告他.在西部地区,如果这样还不能解决问题,家中的长者就会建议或命令他不许吃东西.东部地区的因纽特人相对来说比较民主,他们觉得强行使用权力解决问题不够妥贴,便采取在宗教仪式上演唱精心安排的讽刺歌曲来羞辱贪婪自私的人.再严厉一些的惩罚就是人们假装犯错误的人不存在,躲开他,没有人和他讲话,没有人给他东西,也没有人从他那里拿东西.这对于喜群居、爱热闹的因纽特人来说己非常不好过了.但对于暴力事件,以上的方法解决不了问题,只能顺其自然,强者为胜了. 在因纽特人的社会群体之间很少发生冲突和战争,与世界上其他民族相比,这是难能可贵的,因此可以说因纽特人是世界上最讲和平的民族.因纽特人的历史上从未出现为争夺领土而发生的战事.但在家庭范围内,如果家庭成员脾气不合,食物短缺,或者为争夺女人,则有可能导致流血冲突.由于因纽特人的传统道德提倡忍耐、安分守己和控制自我情绪,所以暴力事件很少发生.尽管因纽特人内部和平共处,同其他相邻民族的冲突还是存在的,比如和北美印第安人的矛盾渊源就很深.正是因为印第安人的存在,因纽特人的祖先才不得不到更寒冷的地区生活.但今天的因纽特人和北美印第安人为了共同的利益,又走到了一起. 因纽特人 - 文化 因纽特人由于北极地区土著居民生活在冰雪世界,所以发展了世界上一种独特的文化.除拉普人以外,各土著民族的文化内涵具有许多共同点,因而被称为“白色文化”或“冷文化”.在众多的北极土著民族中,最有特色的民族当属因纽特人,他们的文化在形态各异的世界文化之林中,闪耀着奇异的光芒,充满了神奇的魅力,因而吸引着社会学家、人类学家不断地追根探源.尤其是他们独特的衣、食、住、行,更为人类如何适应寒冷恶劣的自然环境提供了宝贵的资料和依据,因此可以说是人类发展史上的一朵奇葩.因纽特人穿戴着迄今世界上最好的、又轻又保暖的防寒服；在缺少粮食的情况下,他们一直生吃动物肉；他们可以不用任何常规建筑材料,而只用积雪建造起温暖的雪屋；他们乘坐狗拉雪橇横越千里冰原,使用兽皮划艇在冰海中捕猎鲸、海象、海豹.在与严寒搏斗的千万年中,他们把自己塑造成为一个非凡的民族.他们的过去、现在和今后的发展方向,代表了整个北极土著居民的历史演变及未来前景.中文的“因纽特人”是英文Eskimo的译音,而Eskimo又来自北美印第安语,意思是吃生肉的人,带有轻蔑的意味.不同地区的因纽特人对自己有不同的称呼.美国阿拉斯加地区的因纽特人称自己为“因纽皮特人”,加拿大的因纽特人称自己为“因纽特人”,格陵兰岛的因纽特人称自己为“卡拉特里特”,意思都是“人”.爱斯基摩人认为“人”是生命王国里至高无上的代表. 因纽特人是北极土著居民中分布地域最广的民族,其居住地域从亚洲东海岸一直向东延伸到拉布拉多半岛和格陵兰岛,主要集中在北美大陆.通常西方人把因纽特人人分为东部因纽特人和西部因纽特人.西部因纽特人指阿留申群岛、阿拉斯加西北部和加拿大西北部麦肯齐三角洲地区讲因纽特语的居民.这些地区的因纽特人文化深受相邻地区亚洲和美国印第安人文化的影响. 东部因纽特人指北美北极地区的中部和东部讲因纽特语的居民.在西方人的眼光中,他们是典型的因纽特人.东部因纽特人的分布面积占整个因纽特人居住范围的 3／4而人口却只占1／3.由于东部地区的自然资源没有西部的丰富,所以今天西部地区的因纽特人的物质生活水平和文化水平都要比东部地区的高一些.因纽特人居住地分散,地区差异很大,所以文化差异也很大.当人们不分青红皂白笼统地称之为因纽特人的时候,并没有意识到这些爱斯基摩人实际上说着不同的语言.当然,这些语言属于同一个语系,即现在所说的爱斯克兰特语.人们相信这个语系和东亚地区的某些语言有关系,只是至今还没有找到足够的证据说明这一点. 因纽特人根据语言学家的研究,爱斯克兰特语系于4000年前分为两支——阿留申语和爱斯基摩语.这两种分支语言相差很大,以至于有些人干脆把他们看成是两个民族.爱斯基摩语又进一步分为尤皮克语和因纽特语两个分支.在18世纪中期时,大约有24000人讲尤皮克语,他们分布在阿拉斯加中南部和西南部、亚洲海岸及白令海的圣劳伦斯岛一带. 尤皮克语又演化为五种方言,它们是：阿拉斯加南部的太平洋尤皮克方言,阿拉斯加中部尤皮克方言,白令海工洲海岸和白令海峡的诺堪奇方言、察普林斯奇方言和西瑞尼克斯奇方言.因纽特语没有分支,18世纪末期,从白令海峡到格陵兰岛东部,大约有35000人讲因纽特语.尽管尤皮克语和因纽特语同属爱斯基摩语系,但是两者相差很大,人们相互听不懂对方的语言.例如阿拉斯加西北海岸讲因纽特语的因纽特人和西伯利亚讲尤皮克语的因纽特人互相无法勾通,虽然他们只有一水之隔. 因纽特人 - 神秘的宗教 因纽特人处于原始阶段的人类无法认识自然界和他们自身,也无法克服在生活中遇到的种种困难,而他们又具有喜、怒、哀、乐的情感,以及对无限和未知的恐惧与向往.当所有这些精神因素反映到心理层面上,就形成了丰富多彩的原始精神文化.其中最主要的两个领域是原始宗教和原始艺术.因纽特人的精神文化大体上就是处于原始精神文化阶段的,他们信奉的宗教也就是原始的万物有灵论,或称泛灵论.他们相信世上一切事物皆有生命和灵魂.万物有灵论是原始民族普遍具有的原始宗教形态,也是发展演变成其他各种各样宗教流派的基础.因纽特人深深地相信天地间有许多超物质的灵魂在支配着大自然的一切；灵魂可以超脱于物质表象之外,可以进人或者离开人的身体或其他任何物体；即使物质被消灭,灵魂依然存在. 原始宗教的形式多种多样,包括图腾崇拜、巫术等.因纽特人的图腾是多种多样的,因而图腾崇拜在各地也不一样.但对大自然的崇拜与畏惧、对死者的崇拜、对祖先的崇拜、对偶像的崇拜却是普遍存在的. 虽然各地因纽特人受同一古老文化影响,但由于受自然地理条件的限制,以及气候、环境的差异等因素,因而他们互相交往很少,长时间处于相对的地域封闭状态,所以造成他们在许多方面的不同.但就总体而言,在因纽特人的眼中没有可能与不可能之分,他们认为一切都是可能的. 因纽特人相信任何东西都有灵魂,因而它们具有自己的形状,并且有自己所处的位置.例如,山坡上突出的岩石被认为是有生命的,巫师或神灵甚至可以将人或动物的身体赋予它们,虽然它只是静静地呆在那里.当因纽特人凝视眼前的大地时,在他脑海里映现的并不是一片景物,而是一系列复杂的、充满了超自然现象的令人激动的世界.山川、泥土、树木、云雾、冰雪、狂风等等都包含着各自的意志和可以运动的力量.动物则比其他物体高一个等级,因为他们除了有灵魂、有各自的形状和所处的位置以外,最重要的特点是可以呼吸.呼吸使动物具有和空气之神交流的特殊能力,这意味着动物比植物和岩石的能力更大.而人则是最伟大的,因为人不仅有灵魂、形状、位置和呼吸,更重要的是因为人有名字,所以人的能力比海豹、驯鹿、岩石等更强.
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因纽特人的海洋女神SEDNA（赛德娜）的传说这个意思，虽说我也没读过这篇课文地说，呵呵！
The Inuit Legend of Sedna the Sea Goddess因纽特族人大海女神塞德娜的传说 Sedna was a beautiful young Inuit woman who lived alone offshore with her father. There were many hunters who wished to marry he...
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