Nunani: The likeness of a big person (Part one)

RACHEL QITSUALIK

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of reknown. — Genesis vi:4

While cultures around the world may be drastically different in their customs, it is nevertheless startling to note how similar their folklore can be.

One of the things that most traditions seem to agree on are giants. For the majority of us, if we were to hear about an ahuizotl — a Central American monkey/fish monster — we might be a bit confused, having no frame of reference to compare it to.

But if an Irishman were to tell an Inuk a story about giants, or vice versa, either would understand exactly what the other was talking about.

As with most giant stories the world over, Inuit giant tales vary wildly, and are flavoured according to the part of the Arctic from which they come. In the west, for example, giants tend toward a malicious nature, while in the east, they are more like normal people in temperament — capable of kindness, and becoming angered only when offended. As in most cultural traditions, Inuktitut giants live an existence recognizable to human beings: hunting, using tools, wearing clothes, having spouses and children, but doing things in their own, slightly skewed way.

Giants are commonly associated with or derived from primal forces, which gives us a hint that they might often be a folkloric manifestation of ancient peoples that are no more.

The English word “giant” is a distortion of the Greek term for the giants of Greek myth, the Ge Genis, which means “Children of Earth” or “Earth Generation.” The Greek giants sprang from the blood of the Titans, who were an older generation of gods usurped by Zeus and his newer pantheon.

The word “ge” in Ge Genis is related to the name of the mother of the Titans, the Earth itself, Gaia, from which we also get the “geo” in “geological.” Therefore, the Titans and their progeny, the giants, represent a primal generation put down and suppressed by a more competitive, semi-urban, modern culture.

Giants in Inuit culture are no less primal, always associated with rock and water. It is tempting to think that perhaps the Inuit giants represent some form of memory of the Tunit people (also known as the Dorset culture), except that Inuit seem to remember the Tunit just fine as they are.

What mythologization there is of the Tunit makes them out to be quite strong, sometimes semi-magical, but they are invariably short. So the Inuit tales of giants must reflect something other than memory of the Tunit. It is possible that they reflect memories of an even earlier culture, before the Tunit, memories that might have been communicated to Inuit by the Tunit themselves. But we will never know for certain.

The Inuktitut term for a giant is “inukpasugjuk,” which simply means “one who is in the likeness a big person.” This is a cautious name, denoting that the inukpasugjuk is not simply a big person, but an inhuman creature that resembles one.

Generally, I don’t like interchanging terms for folkloric creatures, since such interchange tends to degrade the exact nature of a given being. In the past, for example, I have argued that anirniq should not be translated as “ghost,” since, if we start approximating an anirniq by labelling it a ghost, we expect it to act like one, which it does not. I can make an exception in this case, however, since giants and inukpasugjuit (plural) are so alike that they are almost indisputably the same thing.

The tales of inukpasugjuit are numerous, but there are a few that serve to characterize what Inuit, in general, expect of their giants. And there is one, in particular, that is an especially old favourite.

Taitsumaniguuq:

Once there was a man who went out hunting in his kayak. He decided to move out further than his typical hunting area, so he soon found himself in a place where he had never hunted before. He saw before him what seemed to be some unexplored land, covered in great hills. So he pulled his kayak ashore and went looking about.

(Continued in part two.)