Balladeer’s Blog
A look at my detailed entry on the Inuit goddess who ruled over narwhals. For more Inuit deities click here: https://glitternight.com/inuit-myth/
ATUQTUQARNAQ – The narwhal goddess, who had the form of a whale-sized mermaid with her hair sculpted into the traditional horn/tusk of the narwhals she ruled over. Before Sedna transformed her into the narwhal deity she was an abusive mother to her blind son. When he recovered his eyesight after a loon dipped him in the ocean repeatedly he got revenge on his mother by harpooning a massive narwhal while his evil mother was holding the other end of the harpoon line.
The narwhal dragged her into the sea where Sedna transformed her into the goddess who rules over narwhals. There are rare traditions in which the narwhal goddess is herself Sedna, but the overwhelming majority of accounts list the narwhal goddess as a separate deity and preserve Sedna’s usual origin story involving her father Anguta trying to banish her to the sea.
In other traditions the narwhal goddess is the mother of the moon god and the sun goddess.
© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Thanks for the pingback!
Darling, I couldn’t get past the narwhale. Mmmm….. narwhal.
I packed my narwhal art work this morning into storage. I did shed a tear reading this!!!
Wow! Don’t forget you need to share a few stories from your time with the Inuit some day. How much narwhal art do you have?
Wow! Don’t forget you need to share a few stories from your time with the Inuit some day. How much narwhal art do you have?
I’m glad she got what she deserved!! Bad mother! She’s just spoilt the nice, pretty mermaid image for me. I think I’d rather stick to Ariel as far as mermaids are concerned.
Ha! The full myth features her being even crueler and trying to deprive the poor blind kid of his rightful share of food.
That sounds like a case for the Social Services and Child Protection Department to me…
I agree! That woman was kind of a celestial Mommie Dearest.
SO now she spends her free time abusing the narwhals? WHat did they ever do to desrve her?
Ha! Interestingly there are no myths in which she abuses the narwhals, so for some reason she was fonder of them than she was of her own son.
God, I feel like I suhold be takin notes! Great work
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I love how you tie all these obscure Inuit gods together!
Well, thank you very much ! ! !
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I always love reading old fables, they’re always so interesting
Thanks! I agree!
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