Alaskan mythology help!

[austin hepola]

Hello, not sure if this is the right section to post, but i will give it a try anyways. so i am doing a school project on mythology and for the project we have to...

Use the Greeks as a reference point to compare and contrast with your chosen culture. (Alaskan, Eskimo, Intuit, or Aleut, whichever has the most information and would be easiest to present in a power point, actually our group is using Prezi) In other words the following question has to be answered, "How is this culture and its Mythology similiar to - and different from - the Greeks?"
Our presentation can be a maximum of 18 minutes. Here is what it should include...

- telling of the creation story and one or more myths
- explanation of overall theme/view/vision of the mythology of this culture
- thorough analysis of similarities to and differences between your culture and its mythology and the Greeks'
- also a bibliography

i am not asking anyone to do this project for me, but Mythology is really hard for me and i really need a good grade in English as i have almost failed everything related to mythology which we have been doing for a month or so now. i just need help,m maybe a suggestion on who to pick or even webpages that can outline some good facts. we can also put you tube videos in so any suggestions with that would be awesome. i am very handy with computers but Mythology is not my thing and any help on any of this would be greatly appreciated. Thank yo in advanced!

 

[LegendofJoe]

Hello Austin
I will try and help.
First off, before you talk about anything related about Inuit mythology, you have to familiarize yourself
with the legend of Sedna. I'm sure if you google her or go to youtube, you will learn her main story.
For now, it is important to know that she is the central Inuit divinity and that she lives at the bottom of the sea.
She is in charge of all of the important fish and sea mammals that people depend on for survival.
She has to be appeased in order for her to let any of her animals die so that the Inuit may live.
I cannot recall at the moment any creation stories of the far North, but I'm sure you can find one or two on the web.
More thorny is dealing with the comparisons between Inuit mythology and that of the Greeks.
If I were doing this report, I would focus on the following:
Both cultures were dependent on divine beings and spirits in order to have food and be able to survive.
Divine entities had to be appeased.
However, in Greek culture, a multitude of deities were created. The Greeks were farmers as well as hunters. They had gods for
agriculture as well as for hunting. Also, their mythology moved from merely how the gods created the world and provided
for us, but also included the role gods and the dead played in human warfare as well as humorous and entertaining stories
about the gods' failings.
The Inuit culture is more primal and traditional. Their mythology seems tied more to how the features
of the world and the animals and humans got to look and act the way they do. The Greeks have large sweeping epics: The Iliad and Odyssey.
The Inuit stories I've read tend to be more along the lines of folktales. However, they do have their epics, one of which, Qayaq, is
about one of their culture heroes. But these epics have less to do with royal figures and big wars and nautical adventures, and more to
do with the culture hero who braved the elements and dangerous beings in order to help his people.
Also, there is an emphasis on the role of the shaman; an extremely important figure in Inuit and Siberian cultures.
The shaman was able to commune with the spirit realm for the benefit of humanity. It is him that visits Sedna in the watery depths
so that he can comb the knots out of her hair and pacify her (She has no fingers.)
So in a nut shell: Greek myth-heroes that kick but, many very powerful and entertaining gods, myths involving creation, adventure and warfare.
Inuit myth-culture heroes, fewer full-fledged gods but many spirits, the shaman, stories of creation, adventure, but less war stories and more stories along the lines of "How the Polar Bear Lost Most of its Tail."
Here are some books: Eskimo Folk Tales by Millman (will make you laugh your ass off)
North American Indian Mythology by Burland
Arctic: Spirits in The Snow by Time-Life Books.
Good luck

 

[Myrddin]

Here are some scans from The Oxford Companion to World Mythology by David Leeming. The first one is of Sedna (thank you LegerndofJoe), and the second is Inuit myth.
p. 349 p. 203