Anguta Explained
Anguta (also called "His Father," Anigut, or Aguta) is the father of the sea goddess Sedna in the Inuit religion.[1]
Status
In certain myths of the Greenlandic Inuit, Anguta is considered the creator god and is the supreme being among Inuit.[2] In other myths, Anguta is merely a mortal. He is a god of the dead in some myths.[3]
Name
His name, meaning "man with something to cut",[4] refers to his mutilating of his daughter which ultimately resulted in her godhood, an act he carried out in both myths.
Function
Anguta is a psychopomp, ferrying souls from the land of the living to the underworld, called Adlivun, where his daughter rules. Those souls must then sleep near him for a year before they go to Qudlivun ("those above us"), where they will enjoy eternal bliss.[5] In some versions of the myth, only unworthy souls have to stay with Anguta in the land of the dead. In these myths, he pinches the dead to torment them.[6]
See also
- Pinga, another psychopomp in Inuit mythology
Notes and References
- Turner . Frederick . Bloody Columbus: Restoration and the Transvaluation of Shame into Beauty . Restoration and Management Notes . Summer 1992 . 10 . 1 . 70–74 . University of Wisconsin Press. 43439976 .
- Book: Leeming . David . Tales of the Earth: Native North American Creation Mythology . 2021 . Reaktion Books . 9781789145007.
- Book: Falkner . David E. . Hubbell . Gerald R. . The Mythology of the Night Sky . 2020 . Springer . 978-3-030-47693-9 . 184.
- Book: Joel Rudinger . Young Adult Literature and Culture . Mar 26, 2009 . Cambridge Scholars Publishing . 9781443807326 . 52 . The Path to Sedna.
- Wardle . H. Newell . The Sedna Cycle: A Study in Myth Evolution . American Anthropologist . 1900 . 2 . 3 . 568–580 . American Anthropological Association. 10.1525/aa.1900.2.3.02a00100 . 658969 . free .
- McMahon-Coleman . Kimberley . Dreaming an Identity between Two Cultures: The Works of Alootook Ipellie . Kunapipi . 2006 . 28 . 1 . 120 .
