Légendes / si4ᑳᑐᐊᑦ / Legends
For each first animal they got, Inuit had some custom
to perform. Everyone used these customs. These would be
considered maligak, something that is followed, like laws are
today. Today, they are hard for us to understand.
A young person who made his first catch of an animal – a seal
or any other – would give it to his sanajik, the person present
when he was born. Normally, this would be the midwife or
the one who had cut the umbilical cord at the young hunter’s
birth.
Most Inuit born in Nunavik had a sanajik, someone to
whom they could bring their first catch. The sanajik would
say thank-you for the gift, speak words of encouragement and
express pride in the young hunter.
In Ungava, this person was called arnaqutik, which translates
as “one’s woman.”
“I would have to present her with something from part of it,
making sure she got everything she wanted from that animal,”
said Tivi Etok, who was born near Kangiqsualujjuaq in 1929.
“They were cut up and shared among a family, including the
pelts and furs of seal and caribou.”
If the arnaqutik lived far away, parts of the first animal
would be dried and stored, not to be eaten but to be given to
one’s arnaqutik at a later date.
Inuit believed that these customs truly worked in practical
ways. Even though hunting could be difficult, if someone was
selfish and did not share from their first catch, their luck would
change from good to bad.
These practices are ancient traditions that are disappearing
today. n
25
KANGUQ Hiver/Winter 2016
Peter Murdoch / Avataq Cultural Institute
Levi Qumaluk près de Puvirnituq, années 1950-1960. ᓖᕓ ᖁᒫᓗᒃ, ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑑᑉ ᓴᓂᐊᓂ 1950-60ᓂ. Levi Qumaluk, near Puvirnituq, 1950s-1960s.