Pinga (goddess)

In the Inuit religion, Pinga ("the one who is [up on] high" ^[1] ) is a goddess of the hunt ^[2] and medicine. ^[3] She is heavily associated with the sky.

Caribou Inuit tradition

In Caribou Inuit communities, Pinga had some authority over caribou herds. ^{[3] [4]} She would become angry if people killed more caribou than they could eat, so Caribou communities were careful not to over-hunt. ^[5] Pinga is also a psychopomp, receiving the souls of the newly deceased and preparing them for reincarnation. ^[6] Angakkuit (shamans) might see or communicate with Pinga or sometimes she'd send a spirit to speak with them. ^[7]

Some Caribou Inuit viewed Sila and Pinga as the same or similar while other communities differentiated between the two. ^[5]

Notes

1. Merkur 1983, p. 28.
2. Oosten & Laugrand 2009, p. 486.
3. Auger 2005, p. 50.
4. Bastmeijer & Rasing 2014, p. 766.
5. Kleivan 1985, p. 31.
6. Auger 2005, p. 44.
7. Merkur 1983, p. 31.

References

• Merkur, Daniel (Summer 1983). "Breath-Soul and Wind Owner: The Many and the One in Inuit Religion". American Indian Quarterly. 7 (3): 23–39. doi:10.2307/1184255. JSTOR   1184255.
• Oosten, Jarich; Laugrand, Frédéric (2009). "Representing the "Sea Woman"". Religion and the Arts. 13. The mistress of the animals of the hunt, Pinga, lives somewhere up in the air or in the sky
• Auger, Emily Elisabeth (2005). The Way of Inuit Art: Aesthetics and History in and Beyond the Arctic. McFarland. p. 50. ISBN   9780786418886.
• Bastmeijer, Kees; Rasing, Willem (October 2014). "Voedsel en recht in de jagers- verzamelaarssamenleving van de Inuit" [Food and Law in Inuit Hunter-Gatherer Society]. Rode Draad (in Dutch). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-08-21.
• Kleivan, Inge (1985). Iconography of Religions: Arctic Peoples. Brill. ISBN   9789004071605.