Sedna
The Inuit Goddess of the Sea.
It is
Sedna who rewards the people of the land with food from the sea.
Without Her blessing, hunts fail and the people starve.
There are many different versions to the story of
Sedna but they all tell of a beautiful girl, who lived alone with her father.
Many men came to rue her, but one quite different from the rest, promised her
comfort and much food. She choose to go with him to find he was really a
seabird, he offered his home that was a stinky nest, and lots of raw fish to
eat. Sedna sang for her father to take her away.
A year went by when before her father came and she pleaded with him
to take her away. He paddled her in his boat away, with the birds after
them raising the waves threatening their death. Sedna's father was afraid
so tossed his daughter over board. Sedna clung to the side of the boat
with her fingers. Her father chopped off her hands Sedna soon sank below the waves and was
gone. When Sedna's fingers fell into the water, the fingers became whales, seals
and polar bears, her nails became whalebone. As the young woman sank into the
sea she was transformed into the mystical being known as Sedna, Mother of Oceans
and ruler over all life in the Sea
.
The blessings of Sedna are still sought by the people of the North who know it
is She who sustains them.
Suggested
Activities - pdf file
Soap carving as the Inuits: Instead of using soap stone use soap.
The Image to the right is of Pana; An Inuit deity who cares for the souls of the deceased before they are reincarnated. We love this women's art Celestial Goddess from Lisa Hunt
The sculpture of Sedna is from Joan Relke
http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~rrelke/index.htm