Tupilait from Greenland
The Tupilaq (tupilait in the plural) is a strong identity symbol of the Greenlander Inuit today as the Inuksuk is the one the Canadian Inuit. Even if they are both spread on an international scale on the art market and the tourist sphere, Tupilaq as Inuksuk draw their origin from ancestral historic past.
In Kalaalisut (the Inuit language in Greenland), the word « tupilaq » means a « spirit » or an «ancestor’s soul» and made previously reference to a sinister spirit power. In the past, Tupilait were indeed used as a tools of revenge against enemies.
Each Tupilaq was created by a shaman who combined several parts from human and animals (like bones, caribou antlers, skin or hair) to make a sort of small figurine with a scaring appearance, half human and half animal.
This created object was then celebrated by a chamanic powerful song over it thus, receiving the spirit requested by the shaman. As becoming alive into the human world, the Tupilaq was then put out to sea or into the victim’s qajaq (kayak) to let it realize its task (kill the ennemy).
However, it was not without risk because if the victim had greater shamanic powers than its attacker (if the victim had not any shamanic power himself/herself, he/she could be helped by somebody else who had some), he/she could repel its attack and instead send the Tupilaq back to kill its creator.
The island of Kulusuk in the Ammassalik area (East Greenland) is a famous place where Tupilait are created today. They are currently made from ivory, whales bones or caribou antlers.
But don’t be afraid ! Today’s Tupilait are harmless ; they exercise their powers only on the artists’ creativity and the art collectors’imagination….
