Pinga- Inuit SpiritSpirit
Also known as: Pingak
Description
From the sky, Pinga sees what earthbound hunters cannot: the caribou herds moving across the tundra, the pregnant woman nearing her time, the soul of the good dead ready to ascend. She watches over the living and welcomes the worthy dead upward to the sky paradise of Qudlivun.
Mythology & Lore
The Watcher Above
Pinga looked down from the sky and saw everything. Caribou herds crossing the tundra, their routes and gathering places laid out beneath her like trails on a map. Hunters called on her before setting out. Shamans with strong connections to Pinga received visions of where the herds had gathered, knowledge no one on the ground could possess. According to Rasmussen's Iglulik accounts, her guidance could mean the difference between a successful hunt and an empty return.
She watched over women too. Couples who could not conceive petitioned her. Women carrying children invoked her name for safe delivery. In communities where every birth counted, Pinga's attention fell on the pregnant and the hopeful as readily as it fell on hunters and herds.
The Dead Who Rise
The ordinary dead went down. They descended to Adlivun, beneath the land, for purification. But Pinga's dead went up. Those who had lived well or died bravely, she received into Qudlivun, the sky paradise above. The spirit who watched over a woman's pregnancy and guided a hunter to caribou also greeted the worthy at the end, and brought them home to the sky she had watched from all along.
Relationships
- Guards