Pinga (goddess)

In the Inuit religion, Pinga ("the one who is [up on] high"[1]) is a goddess of the hunt[2] and medicine.[3] She is heavily associated with the sky.

Caribou Inuit tradition

In Caribou Inuit communities, Pinga had some authority over caribou herds.[3][4] She became angry if people killed more caribou than they could eat, so Caribou communities were careful not to over-hunt.[5] Pinga is also a psychopomp, receiving the souls of the newly deceased and preparing them for reincarnation.[6] Angakkuit (shamans) might see or communicate with Pinga or sometimes she'd send a spirit to speak with them.[7]

Some Caribou Inuit viewed Sila and Pinga as the same or similar while other communities differentiated between the two.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Merkur 1983, p. 28.
  2. ^ Oosten & Laugrand 2009, p. 486.
  3. ^ a b Auger 2005, p. 50.
  4. ^ Bastmeijer & Rasing 2014, p. 766.
  5. ^ a b Kleivan 1985, p. 31.
  6. ^ Auger 2005, p. 44.
  7. ^ Merkur 1983, p. 31.

References

  • Merkur, Daniel (Summer 1983). "Breath-Soul and Wind Owner: The Many and the One in Inuit Religion". American Indian Quarterly. 7 (3): 23–39. doi:10.2307/1184255. JSTOR 1184255.
  • Oosten, Jarich; Laugrand, Frédéric (2009). "Representing the "Sea Woman"". Religion and the Arts. 13. The mistress of the animals of the hunt, Pinga, lives somewhere up in the air or in the sky
  • Auger, Emily Elisabeth (2005). The Way of Inuit Art: Aesthetics and History in and Beyond the Arctic. McFarland. p. 50. ISBN 9780786418886.
  • Bastmeijer, Kees; Rasing, Willem (October 2014). "Voedsel en recht in de jagers- verzamelaarssamenleving van de Inuit" [Food and Law in Inuit Hunter-Gatherer Society]. Rode Draad (in Dutch). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-08-21.
  • Kleivan, Inge (1985). Iconography of Religions: Arctic Peoples. Brill. ISBN 9789004071605.
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