CULTURE
Although modern life has well and truly caught
up with the Inuit in the form of warm-climate foods, computers,
luxury cars and outboard motors, as little as 40 years ago Greenlanders
were still practicing a traditional way of life that revolved
around the hunt. They believed that humans were shades - more
of the dead than of the living - and it was only the techniques
and rituals of the hunt that kept them within the realm of the
human. Any error in judgement would mean falling back into the
earlier animal world. Harmony with the land, respect for the
dead and due homage to the animals that sacrificed themselves
for the good of humanity, were the hallmarks of a good hunter
and kept the world from falling off its axis. Inuit folklore
also told of a time when men could speak to animals; the words
were shamanistic in character and delivery and held a tengeq
or intrinsic power. If the words were uttered heedlessly they
immediately lost their power. This belief may account for the
Inuit's almost legendary reluctance to indulge in idle chitchat.
Their brevity makes most non-Inuits look bold and brash.
