Kiviuq: hero, shaman, ladies’ man

An exploding grizzly and an enormous penis featured in revered Inuit myth, told through drawings and film

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JOHN THOMPSON

A naked man stands at the water’s edge, throwing pieces of wood into the water. As each piece touches the water, it becomes a fish.

And when the man bends over, his mouth and the blue sky can be seen through his anus.

Welcome to the world of Kiviuq: revered Inuit hero, shaman, hunter and ladies’ man.

As for the man who appears to have a mouth for an anus, he’s just one of many obstacles that Kiviuq must overcome. For if the man knows you’ve seen his strange defect, he will kill you.

This is a story as old as the Inuit. Different accounts of Kiviuq’s quest are told as far west as Alaska, where his name is remembered as Qajaq, and as far east as Greenland, where he is known as Qooqa.

Above all, it’s about a brave man who’s never afraid to stick up for the little guy, who always knows how to outwit animals, and who is willing to try any number of foolish things for love.

As he wanders from one adventure to the next, Kiviuq encounters foes who include a giant bumblebee with an oversized ulu, an exploding grizzly bear, and an enormous penis that rises from a nearby lake to cuckold him.

Some Inuit elders have spent as long as seven hours telling the entire, sprawling tale.

Kiviuq visited Iqaluit last week, in two forms: through the drawings of Baker Lake artist Nancy Lukirnak Aupaluktuq, and the latest film by John Houston, titled Kiviuq.

Aupaluktuq, 66, recalls being told the story of Kiviuq when she was a young girl. In 1989, she drew with coloured pencils a series of 50 pictures that depict some of Kiviuq’s adventures.

She could never remember the story’s end, because she would fall asleep before her grandmother got that far.

At the opening of the art exhibit at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum on Saturday, Nunavut’s commissioner, Ann Hanson, spoke of how she also remembers being told Kiviuq, by respected elder Arnaitok Ipeelie.

She still has a tape recording of his version of the story, which includes old words used to describe the landscape, no longer in use today. So preservation of the story has also preserved parts of the Inuktitut language.

And this is a story that was nearly lost, Nova Scotia filmmaker John Houston reminds us. For years, missionaries discouraged Inuit from telling Kiviuq, for fear the tale would compete with the story of the Bible.

And indeed, one of the 50 elders that Houston interviewed while researching his film told him “Kiviuq is the secret bible of the Inuit.”

So what is the purpose of Kiviuq’s lonely quest? What does he seek?

There can only be one answer: love.

And if he needs to eat feces to find it, so be it. Kiviuq resorts to this while tracking one of his many lovers, the Fox wife, across the tundra.

Most storytellers explain Kiviuq does this to mimic how an animal, such as a wolf, will rub its nose in the dung of its prey, to remember the scent.

But when Houston asked one elder why he did this, she replied, simply: “For love.”

Admittedly, Kiviuq’s idea of wooing a woman may not fly today. It mostly consists of stealing her boots or coat, and refusing to return said article until she agrees to marry him.

Given just how big, and revered, the story of Kiviuq is, it’s no surprise that both Houston’s film and Aupaluktuq’s drawings only provide glimpses of the story’s full richness.

Perhaps the most valuable gift from Houston’s work will be the raw interviews he collected from elders. A full, unabridged version of the Kiviuq tale is to be translated and published as a book, with the help of Vancouver storyteller Kira Van Deusen.

And the raw video recordings from Houston’s interviews should one day become an archive, Houston said at his film’s screening.

“Hopefully Nunavut Inuit will finish the job,” he said. “It should end up in Nunavut.”

That ensures future generations will be able to continue to tell Kiviuq in their own way.

Some versions of Kiviuq say the hero is so old, he’s turned to stone.

Others say he continues to wander today in the South, although one day, he will return north to his people.

In a way, he finally has.

Aupaluktuq’s drawings have been locked up in the Indian and Northern Affairs office building in Hull, Quebec, since shortly after they were drawn in 1989. But now they have returned north, in Iqaluit, where they will remain on display until April 8.

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