Eskimo Religion Essay Example
The Eskimos are found in the northern tip of Russia across Alaska and northern Canada to Greenland. The term Eskimo comes from a Native American word that may have meant eaters of raw meat netter of snowshoes or speakers of foreign language. They are also referred to as Inuit meaning people.
They lived in groups varied in size depending on the amount of food available. They gathered in large groups especially during and the fall so that they could hunt migrating animals. Gathering in groups was also because of the ease in sharing the necessities available. These groups acted as the social unit of the Eskimos. Since they had no written rules, they lived by the traditional law. The grated law being that each individual helps in the day to day activities that ensured the groups’ survival. If any member threatened the peace of others he or she was banished to death.
According to My point of view, I rate the Eskimo religion under traditional religions of the world because they tend to hold more on culture. Just as the Eskimos are distinct from other American aborigines in language and physical structure, so too are they distinct in culture and specifically religious culture , practices and belief system .These creates anxiety among religious scholars to look deeper into the Eskimo religion..
Since the inuits were basically hunters, the most important spirit and a common deity to many groups was a goddess who governed the sea. In some areas she was called SEDNA who is said to have created all the things. She lived at the bottom of the oceans and controlled the seas, whales and sea mammals. . The myth of Sedna was at the core of the Inuit system of beliefs. “She was said to be a young girl who after a series of tragic events undergoes a spiritual metamorphosis to become the mother of the sea animals” (Seidelman & Turner, 1993, p. 71).
There were spirits which controlled all animals in different areas. Those along the coast of Alaska thought it was the moon*
They lived in groups varied in size depending on the amount of food available. They gathered in large groups especially during and the fall so that they could hunt migrating animals. Gathering in groups was also because of the ease in sharing the necessities available. These groups acted as the social unit of the Eskimos. Since they had no written rules, they lived by the traditional law. The grated law being that each individual helps in the day to day activities that ensured the groups’ survival. If any member threatened the peace of others he or she was banished to death.
According to My point of view, I rate the Eskimo religion under traditional religions of the world because they tend to hold more on culture. Just as the Eskimos are distinct from other American aborigines in language and physical structure, so too are they distinct in culture and specifically religious culture , practices and belief system .These creates anxiety among religious scholars to look deeper into the Eskimo religion..
Since the inuits were basically hunters, the most important spirit and a common deity to many groups was a goddess who governed the sea. In some areas she was called SEDNA who is said to have created all the things. She lived at the bottom of the oceans and controlled the seas, whales and sea mammals. . The myth of Sedna was at the core of the Inuit system of beliefs. “She was said to be a young girl who after a series of tragic events undergoes a spiritual metamorphosis to become the mother of the sea animals” (Seidelman & Turner, 1993, p. 71).
There were spirits which controlled all animals in different areas. Those along the coast of Alaska thought it was the moon*