The land and sea’s edges are bordered by an abyss, crossed only by a perilous path leading to the heavens. The sky, a dome with a passage for spirits, hosts only those who died voluntarily or violently, alongside the raven. These spirits, called selamiut or “sky-dwellers,” light the aurora, feast, and play. Their voices, heard as auroral sounds, invite whispered responses from earth.
Source:
The Labrador Eskimo
by E.W. Hawkes
[Canada, Department of Mines]
Geological Survey, Memoir 91
Anthropological Series no. 14
Ottawa, 1916
► Themes of the story
Journey to the Otherworld: The narrative describes a dangerous pathway over an abyss leading to the heavens, representing a voyage to a realm beyond human experience.
Supernatural Beings: The selamiut, or “sky-dwellers,” are spirits inhabiting the sky, interacting with the natural world by creating the aurora and producing sounds heard on earth.
Sacred Spaces: The heavens serve as a sacred realm where specific spirits dwell, and the aurora acts as a bridge between this celestial domain and the earthly realm.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Inuit peoples
The ends of the land and sea are bounded by an immense abyss, over which a narrow and dangerous pathway leads to the heavenly regions. The sky is a great dome of hard material arched over the earth. There is a hole in it through which the spirits pass to the true heavens. Only the spirits of those who have died a voluntary or violent death, and the raven, have been over this pathway. The spirits who live there light torches to guide the feet of new arrivals. This is the light of the aurora. They can be seen there feasting and playing football with a walrus skull. The whistling crackling noise which sometimes accompanies the aurora is the voices of these spirits trying to communicate with the people of the earth. They should always be answered in a whispering voice. Youths and small boys dance to the aurora. The heavenly spirits are called selamiut, “sky-dwellers,” those who live in the sky.
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Dreamtime Whispers 