The story of an Inuit Tupilaq and the artist Gerda Vis-Visser or/of
Wat is het verband tussen een Tupilak/Tupilaq en de kunstenares Gerda Vis-Visser
PS/ Click on any photograph and scroll along in the original size!
Boven/ Een tupilak uit Groenland
Het Groenlandse woord tupilak of tupilaq (meervoud tupilait) betekent ziel of geest van een overledene. Oorspronkelijk was een tupilak een wraakbeeldje van de Inuit op Oost-Groenland. Tegenwoordig beschrijft het woord tupilak een meestal niet meer dan twintig centimeter groot beeldje met een bijzonder, ongebruikelijk uiterlijk. Het stelt eigenlijk een mythisch of spiritueel wezen voor; door het groteske uiterlijk is het echter een verzamelobject geworden.
Vervaardiging
Een tovenaar of sjamaan (angakok) vervaardigde de tupilak 's nachts in het geheim uit dierlijk materiaal zoals been, huid, haar en pezen en soms zelfs delen van lichamen van dode kinderen.
Hij of zij was daar verscheidene nachten mee bezig, en gaf de tupilak magische krachten met rituele gezangen en chants en door hem met de geslachtsorganen aan te raken. Vervolgens gooide hij hem in zee om een bepaalde vijand op te zoeken, schade toe te brengen of zelfs te doden.
Het gebruik van een tupilak was riskant omdat hij, als hij werd gebruikt om iemand te vernietigen die een grotere magische kracht had dan zijn maker, teruggestuurd kon worden om de maker te doden, al kon deze hieraan ontkomen door in het openbaar zijn daad te bekennen.
Geschiedenis/
Waarschijnlijk hebben de eerste mensen die Groenland meer dan 4000 jaar geleden bevolkten, al tupilait gekend. Aanvankelijk waren het spirituele, onstoffelijke geesten. In de loop van de tijd werden het steeds meer trolachtige wezens met dierlijke en menselijke trekken.
Omdat tupilait in het geheim werden gemaakt, op geïsoleerde plaatsen en van vergankelijk materiaal, zijn er geen exemplaren bewaard gebleven. Vroege Europese bezoekers aan Groenland hadden er veel belangstelling voor, waarop de Inuit ze begonnen te snijden. Sindsdien vindt men overal in Groenland de huidige tupilait, in allerlei vormen en maten gemaakt uit verschillende materialen, zoals narwal-, potvis- of walrustand, hout en rendiergewei. Zij vormen een belangrijk deel van de Groenlandse Inuitkunst en het zijn kostbare verzamelobjecten. Wiki
I found 3 statuettes in ceramic in the form of this Tupilaq! It was made by a much travelled artist called Gerda Vis-Visser, also Gerritje Vis. I was told that this lady –she died in 1976- Travelled all around the world. She was a pupil of Kokotschka. In the renowned artist dictionary Pieter Scheen, she is also mentioned. I thought it would be nice to give her some attention and credits for her beautiful work. I owned a tupilaq-walrus of caribou horn, a modern Tupilaq from Greenland and I gave it to a befriended, architect who fell in love with it. M
In Greenlandic Inuit religion, a tupilaq (tupilak, tupilait, or ᑐᐱᓚᒃ)[1][2] was an avenging monster fabricated by a practitioner of witchcraft or shamanism by using various objects such as animal parts (bone, skin, hair, sinew, etc.)[2] and even parts taken from the corpses of children. The creature was given life by ritualistic chants. It was then placed into the sea to seek and destroy a specific enemy.
The use of a tupilaq was risky, however, because if it was sent to destroy someone who had greater magical powers than the one who had formed it, it could be sent back to kill its maker instead,[3] although the maker of tupilaq could escape by public confession of her or his own deed.[4]
Because tupilaqs were made in secret, in isolated places and from perishable materials, none have been preserved. Early European visitors to Greenland, fascinated by the native legend, were eager to see what tupilaqs looked like so the Inuit began to carve representations of them out of sperm whale teeth.
Today, tupilaqs of many different shapes and sizes are carved from various materials such as narwhal and walrus tusk, wood and caribou antler. They are an important part of Greenlandic Inuit art and are highly prized as collectibles.
Publicity versus secrecy/
The making of a tupilaq started most often at night, in secrecy. The shaman (angakkuq) would don the anorak backwards, with the hood over his face, and engage in sexual contact with the bones used to make a tupilaq, singing and chanting during the entire process, which could take several days.[2] The making of a tupilaq was risky to its own maker if the attacked person made it rebound: in this case, public confession was the only rescue.[2][3] The magic consequences of situations of concealment, and the neutralizing effect of public confession was believed also in several other areas of life, thus, this is an example of the more general topic of secrecy versus publicity.[5]
Concealment
Concealment or secrecy could raise magic consequences in several areas of life:
• Concealed miscarriage or infanticide could give birth to a monster called anngiaq.[6]
• It could make harm for the community if somebody concealed his/her taboo breach.[5]
• Secrecy was also preliminary for the functioning of so-called formulae (texts or songs used like charm or spell in danger, need, hunt, practical everyday situations).[7][8]
Neutralizing effect of public confession
Thus, concealment was a preliminary for several magical effects. If this was broken, unintentionally or intentionally, the effect could lose its power.
• Angakkuit in some groups resolved the consequence of taboo breach by achieving public confession of the breacher.[9]
• Hunting means killing, and animals were believed to have souls as well. Efforts were made to avoid the revenge taken by the game and to please the game symbolically.[10] Such would be the danger inherent in the first kill of a boy and it was "neutralized" by a public ritual, in which each adult member of the community had to make an incision into the head of the game, or eat a piece from it. Thus, the belief was, that public partaking in a dangerous thing reduced the danger, that it has a neutralizing effect.[11]
Meanings of the same term in various Inuit cultures
Inuit cultures were, and are, far from being alike, although there were some similarities.[12] The tupilaq concept had variants. It might be a man-made object, a ghost-like being or a haunting soul. In some cultures it was exactly the shaman who had to deal with it.
Such distant groups like the Caribou Inuit, Greenlandic Inuit, Iglulingmiut Inuit and Copper Inuit knew the concept of tupilaq,[13] but the details differed:
Igloolik
The tupilaq was an invisible ghost. Only the shaman could notice it. It was the soul of a dead person, which became restless because the breach of some death taboo. It scared game away from the vicinity. Thus, the shaman had to help by scaring it away with a knife.[14]
Caribou Inuit
The tupilaq was also an invisible being. Like a tupilaq of the Iglulik, also the shaman was the only one who could see it. It was a chimera-like creature, with human head and parts from different species of animals. It was dangerous, it could attack the settlement. Then, the shaman had to combat it and devour it with his/her helping spirits.[14]
Greenland
The tupilaq was manifested in the real, human-made object. It was made by people to the detriment of their enemies. It was a puppet-like thing, but was thought of have magical power onto the victim. It might be made from mixed parts of dead animals and dead children.[14]
Copper Inuit
To the Copper Inuit the tupilaq was similar to the Devil of Christianity.[15]wiki
Another Jheronimus Bosch/Van Aken alike dog or fox with hallucinogenic cap, muschroomcap!
Flower painting
Concept by Madrason, Bois le Duc, 13 september 2020
Gerritje made them all in white clay, snow, and bone colour, in the natural style of Tupilaq carving. The large one looks like a whale bone, as if she pretended to make a large mystical flute of it she pierced a mouth piece with a hole in it on top. A spirit rising up from the earth or snow and a magical fisherman trying his luck. M
Sedna= The Legend of Sedna the Sea Goddess/
The legend of how Sedna became a sea goddess is told throughout the Arctic. The story varies from one region to the next. However, in all versions, a young woman becomes the mother of all sea creatures. As the sea goddess, Sedna has dominion over her creatures and controls the availability of seal, walrus, fish, whale, and other sea animals to Inuit hunters. This version is a compilation of many Sedna stories.
Once there was a young woman named Sedna. She lived in the Arctic with her mother and father. She loved her mother and father very much and was very content. Her father was a skilled hunter, so he provided very well for his family. Sedna had plenty of food and warm furs to wear. She liked the comfort of her parent's home and refused to marry. Many Inuit men desired Sedna for a wife and asked her parents for permission to marry her. But Sedna refused them all. Even when her parents insisted it was time for her to marry she refused to follow tradition and obey them.
This continued for quite some time, until one particular Inuk came to visit Sedna. This man promised Sedna that he would provide her with plenty of food to eat and furs for clothes and blankets. Sedna agreed to marry him. After they were man and wife, he took her away to his island. When they were alone on the island, he revealed to her that he was not a man at all, but a bird dressed up as a man! Sedna was furious, but she was trapped and had to make the best of it. He, of course, was not a good hunter and could not provide her with meat and furs. All the birdman could catch was fish. Sedna got very tired of eating fish every day.
They lived together on the island for a time, until Sedna's father decided to come and visit. Upon seeing that his daughter was so unhappy and that her husband had lied to her, he killed the birdman. Sedna and her father got into his kayak and set off for home. The birdman's friends discovered what they had done and wanted to avenge the birdman's death. They flew above the kayak and flapped their wings very hard. The flapping of their wings resulted in a huge storm. The waves crashed over the small kayak making it almost impossible to keep the boat upright.
Sedna's father was so frightened that the storm would fill his kayak with water and that he would drown in the icy waters that he threw Sedna overboard. He thought that this would get the birds to stop flapping their wings, but it did not. Sedna did not want to be left in the water, so she held tightly to the edge of her father's boat and would not let go. Fearing that she would tip him over, the father cut her fingers off, one joint at a time. From each of her finger joints different sea creatures were born. They became fish, seals, walruses, and whales.
Sedna sank to the bottom of the ocean and there became a powerful spirit. Her home is now on the ocean floor. If you have seen her, you know she has the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a fish.
Sedna now controls all of the animals of the sea. The Inuit who rely on these animals want to maintain a good relationship with Sedna, so that she will continue to allow her animals to make themselves available to the hunters.
Inuit have certain taboos that they must follow to keep Sedna happy. One of these says that when a seal is killed it must be given a drink of fresh water, not salt water.
If the hunters do not catch anything for a long time, the Shaman will transform himself into a fish. In this new form, he or she will swim down to the bottom of the ocean to appease Sedna the Sea Goddess. The Shaman will comb the tangles out of Sedna's hair and put it into braids. This makes her happy and soothes her anger. Perhaps it is because Sedna lost her fingers that she likes to have her hair combed and braided by someone else. When she is happy, she allows her animals to make themselves available to the hunters. Animals do not mind giving themselves up to provide food, clothes, and shelter for the Inuit.
© Lenore Lindeman, 1999.
Moore Charles. 1986. Keeveeok, Awake! Edmonton: Ring House Gallery. p. 9–10.
Angakok= The angakkuq[1] (plural; angakuit, Inuktitut: ᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ,[2] pl. angakkuit;[3] Inuvialuktun: angatkuq;[4] Greenlandic: angakkoq,[5] pl. angákut[6]) is the intellectual and spiritual figure among the Inuit who corresponds to a medicine man. Other Alaskan Native cultures have traditionally had similar spiritual mediators, although Alaskan Native religion has many forms and variants.
Role in Inuit society
Both women and men could become an angakkuq,[7] although it was rarer for women to do so. The process for becoming an angakkuq varied widely. The son of a current angakkuq might be trained by his father to become one as well. Alternatively, a young man or woman who exhibited a predilection or power that made them stand out might be trained by an experienced mentor. There are also instances of angakkuit claiming to have been called to the role through dreams or visions.[8] Mistreated orphans or people who had survived hard times might also become angakkuit with the help of the spirits of their dead loved ones.[3]
Training to become an angakkuq consisted of acculturation to the rites and roles necessary for the position, as well as instruction in the special language of the angakkuit,[9] which consisted largely of an archaic vocabulary and oral tradition that was shared across much of the Arctic areas the Inuit occupied. During their training, the angakkuq would also gain a familiar or spirit guide who would be visible only to them.[8] This guide, called a tuurngaq, would at times give them extraordinary powers. Inuit stories tell of agakkuit who could run as fast as caribou, or who could fly, with the assistance of their tuurngaq. In some traditions, the angakkuq would be either stabbed or shot, receiving no wound because of the intervention of their tuurngaq, thus proving their power.[3]
Until spiritual guidance or assistance was needed, an angakkuq lived a normal life for an Inuit, participating in society as a normal person. But when sickness needed to be cured, or divination of the causes of various misfortunes was needed, the angakkuq would be called on.[8] The services of an angakkuit might also be required to interpret dreams.[3] If they were called to perform actions that helped the entire village, the work was usually done freely. But if they were called to help an individual or family, they would usually receive remuneration for their efforts.[8]
Amongst the Inuit, there are notions comparable to laws:
tirigusuusiit, things to avoid
maligait, things to follow
piqujait, things to do
If these three are not obeyed, then the angakkuq may need to intervene with the offending party in order to avoid harmful consequence to the person or group.[10] Breaking these laws or taboos was seen as the cause of misfortune, such as bad weather, accidents, or unsuccessful hunts. In order to pinpoint the cause of such misfortune, the angakkuq would undertake a spirit-guided journey outside of their body. They would discover the cause of the misfortune on this journey. Once they returned from the journey, the angakkuq would question people involved in the situation, and, under the belief that they already knew who was responsible, the people being questioned would often confess. This confession alone could be declared the solution to the problem, or acts of penance such as cleaning the urine pots or swapping wives might be necessary.[8]
The angakkuit of the central
Inuit participate in an annual ceremony to appease the mythological
figure Sedna,
the Sea Woman. The Inuit believed that Sedna became angry when her
taboos were broken, and the only way to appease her was for an
angakkuq to travel in spirit to the underworld where she lived,
Adlivun, and
smooth out her hair. According to myth, this was of great assistance
to Sedna because she lacks fingers. The angakkuq would then beg or
fight with Sedna to ensure that his people would not starve, and the
Inuit believed that his pleading and apologies on behalf of his
people would allow the animals to return and hunters to be
successful. After returning from this spirit journey, communities in
which the rite was practiced would have communal confessions, and
then celebration.[ wikisource
Do you now see the reason of the comparison from the ceramic art of Gerritje with that of the anagakuk art or the tupilaq! M
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