CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 SURVIVAL AGAINST THE ODDS CHAPTER 2 SOCIETY AND SPIRITUALITY CHAPTER 3 A CLASH OF CULTURES CHAPTER 4 OUR BEAUTIFUL LAND NOTABLE INUIT TIMELINE GLOSSARY SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FURTHER INFORMATION INDEX 5 10 18 24 34 42 43 44 45 46 47
N O R T H W E S T P ARCTI C S U B A R C T I C L A T E A U G R E A T B A SIN C O A S T C A L I F O R N I A P L A I N S T S A E T H S NORT A E H SOUT ST E W H T U O S ARCTIC REGION OF NORTH AMERICA CULTURAL REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA Plateau Northwest Coast California Plains Southeast Southwest Great Basin Northeast Subarctic Arctic Other Cultural area border International border State province border
INTRODUCTION S edna was a beautiful young woman who lived with her father Many men in the village wanted to marry her But Sedna would not get married One day a new hunter came to the village and asked to marry Sedna She agreed He took her back to his home and she found that he was not a man at all He was a bird He couldn’t hunt and Sedna ate raw fish every day When Sedna’s father came to visit he saw that she was unhappy He decided to take her home with him in his boat But Sedna’s husband found out and flew after them He started a big storm Sedna’s father was afraid He pushed Sedna out of the boat She held on to the side of the boat So Sedna’s father chopped off her fingers one by one They fell into the sea and became fish seals walruses and whales Sedna became the goddess of the sea She sits at the bottom of the ocean If she is happy with the people she gives them lots of sea animals to hunt But if she is unhappy she makes sure the hunters are unlucky The story of Sedna is one of the most important stories of the Inuit IN-yoo-it the people who call the Arctic home and who depend on seals and whales for survival There are several different versions of this story In all of them Sedna rules the sea 5
