Mother of the Sea
Here the tupilak is introducing the troll to a very special Greenlandic lady: The Mother of the Sea.
Despite her name she is responsible for all life in Greenland, even birds and foxes.
She has no hands because her father cut them off her when she was still a human and tried to get into his boat, though there are different stories of why he did it. The stories also can’t agree on whatever it was her father or her husband, a Storm Bird, who threw her into the water.
Because she has no hands she can’t comb her own hair, so every now and then someone has to do it for her. Otherwise her hair gets tangled and the creatures of the sea get stuck in it.
She symbolise something different in Greenland and Denmark.
In Greenland she is a warning to people to follow the rules of the settlement, because all bad deeds are turned into black sludge that sticks to her hair.
In Denmark she has become a symbol of environmental awareness, and here it’s said that everything we throw into the sea will get tangled up in her hair, killing all life in the sea.
Troll
6th May 2010
Community made Fan Art:
11 years ago #9000312
we just learned about her in school today!
our version was, that her father was angry of her because she refused to marry the guys he suggested so he threw her in the sea, and so on… ^^
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we just learned about her in school today!
our version was, that her father was angry of her because she refused to marry the guys he suggested so he threw her in the sea, and so on… ^^
11 years ago #8907214
@silvereyedwolf, Your correct, the legend of Sedna, is also told in Nunavut. Though the story I've heard from my dad is a different version -instead she marries a dog, who turns into a man at night and she becomes pregnant with puppies. Her father is angered by that, since he had only wished to humiliate her into marrying a groom of his choosing.With that she is sent to the island with her children, their only source of food being their dog father, who makes trips across the sea ice every day with meat, supplied by her father. One day the father decides that this is troublesome and places rocks inside the husband's bags, which breaks the ice and kills him. After a while the daughter gets worried about the husband, since they have not seen him for days, and she sees her father kayaking in to their island, placing her kids in a stretched out kamiks (traditional boot or shoe made from seal or other hides depending on region, but usually seal since they are then water-proof.) sole, they sail off and become the people of the world. After that the story is basically the same, aside from the bird man or his bird friends.
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@silvereyedwolf, Your correct, the legend of Sedna, is also told in Nunavut. Though the story I've heard from my dad is a different version -instead she marries a dog, who turns into a man at night and she becomes pregnant with puppies. Her father is angered by that, since he had only wished to humiliate her into marrying a groom of his choosing.With that she is sent to the island with her children, their only source of food being their dog father, who makes trips across the sea ice every day with meat, supplied by her father. One day the father decides that this is troublesome and places rocks inside the husband's bags, which breaks the ice and kills him. After a while the daughter gets worried about the husband, since they have not seen him for days, and she sees her father kayaking in to their island, placing her kids in a stretched out kamiks (traditional boot or shoe made from seal or other hides depending on region, but usually seal since they are then water-proof.) sole, they sail off and become the people of the world. After that the story is basically the same, aside from the bird man or his bird friends.
12 years ago #8826065
@everxink I'm not sure where, but it sounds like a myth i heard in a book....i think it was The Last Dragon Chronicles, but that doesn't matter, it does sound like a familiar myth.
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@everxink I'm not sure where, but it sounds like a myth i heard in a book....i think it was The Last Dragon Chronicles, but that doesn't matter, it does sound like a familiar myth.
12 years ago #8763665
she sounds like an inuit myth. a young woman who get married off to a crow/raven and becomes the mother of all sea creatures or Sedna the Sea Goddess. here is a link for more info
http://www.polarlife.ca/traditional/myth/sedna.htm
or search the names.
i tried to put more info in this comment but it made it way to long
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she sounds like an inuit myth. a young woman who get married off to a crow/raven and becomes the mother of all sea creatures or Sedna the Sea Goddess. here is a link for more info
http://www.polarlife.ca/traditional/myth/sedna.htm
or search the names.
i tried to put more info in this comment but it made it way to long
12 years ago #8594730
i cant help thinking that your older works like this one remind me of something? a movie, or cartoon? perhaps, although the knowledge that inspires you is much more interesting then whatever these old drawings has me thinking of. since im new im gonna have to spam you a little, sorry c:
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i cant help thinking that your older works like this one remind me of something? a movie, or cartoon? perhaps, although the knowledge that inspires you is much more interesting then whatever these old drawings has me thinking of. since im new im gonna have to spam you a little, sorry c:
12 years ago #8485719
Wow, I like this very much never heard this story before either. Also she's beautiful.
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Wow, I like this very much never heard this story before either. Also she's beautiful.
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O
^_^ Been paging through. This is somehow sweet, I like the idea for once of a sea spirit who is not temperamental and nasty. She's like the ultimate mother, We have goddesses for specific rivers, and a god of the ocean but most of them are tricksy and hate humans. [sigh]