- Project Runeberg -  The eskimo Tribes /
16

(1887) [MARC] Author: Hinrich Rink
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the most part animals and mythological beings grouped together
and fastened with admirable taste and care to the surface of
wooden implements.

Religion and Folklore.



In a stage of culture like that of the Eskimo, religion and
folklore are closely connected. The traditional tales are interwoven
with religious ideas and religion is chiefly imbibed through the
folklore which may be said to represent the elements of science
and knowledge as a whole. Some light has recently been thrown
on the religious ideas of the Alaska Eskimo, especially by Dall
in his excellent work on masks and labrets and by A. Jacobsen
in the description he gives of festivals and mortuary customs
in the account of his journey. We learn that even one of the
poorest tribes is possessed of monumental burial places
exhibiting wooden statues, models of kayaks and such like, as
well as coloured paintings on wood and thereby sacrificial gifts
to the souls of the deceased.

The RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS WITH THE USE OF MASKS annually
celebrated in Alaska have chiefly the aim of propitiating and in
some cases scaring demons, especially those which are thought
to control the coming to the shores or up the rivers of sea
animals. The masks are fitted with symbolic signs for this
aim, and regular sacrifices as well as general distributions of
gifts are instituted.

East of Alaska the mortuary customs just mentioned
disappear and also the festivals are seen gradually to be set aside.
In Baffin’s Land, according to Boas, the latter are still held
in autumn and have a similar religious character. But in
Greenland very little of this kind is known ever to have existed. On
the other hand, especially as concerns the invisible powers who
rule over the riches of the sea, the angakoks OR SHAMANS HAVE
WHOLLY TAKEN THE CARE OF PROPITIATING them. In Greenland

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