- · Inuit people believed in the concept of ANIMISM. Animism is based on the fact that both animate and inanimate objects have a spirit .
- · Spirits existence is considered eternal and has the similar concept of law of energy and it states that spirit doesn't die but goes on to live in an spirit world when the vessel in the living world expires.
- · These people worshipped spirits as godly beings and they even communicated with them. Communicating with spirits required a special privilege and this privilege was only granted to special religious leaders called "Shamans" or "Angakoks".
- · Diseases, bad climatic conditions and unavailability of good prey were all considered as signs of spirits being unpleased and they had to be given offerings to cool their anger down.
- · There are several rules to be followed in their daily lifestyles and these rules were set by shamans and any violation was considered a serious offence and the violators were fined.
- · Some of the rules included using knives covered with seal skin while hunting sea animals and the bladder of the hunted animals was saved because it was believed to contain the soul.
- · The musical instruments used by Inuit people were mainly drums and one sided drums were their major instrument among them.
- · Throat songs were another trademark of these people. It included two women and a male performing rhythms and tunes using their throats and chests.
- · Religious rituals were performed in special buildings or constructions and these are known as kashims.
- · other important ceremonies included the bladder dance where the bladder saved from their hunts was returned to nature in hope that the soul in the bladder would be incarnated as a animal.
- This is the portrayal of the sea spirit ,one of the goddesses they worshipped.Inuit people gave a lot of importance to their art.
- Their art mostly consisted of carvings of animals ,peoples and the spirits they worshipped.They mostly made of stone,ivory and bone materials that they could salvage from their surroundings.
- Another remarkable part of their carvings were their masks which were mostly used in their religious dances or ceremonies and was usually worn by the Shamans.
- they used drift wood and whale bone to make these masks and they were known to help the religious leaders in getting in touch with the spirit world.
- These rock like structures are reffered to as Inukshuks and they were made by balacing rocks and their real purpose is unclear but they are beleived to be used as landmarks and objects of navigation by the inuit people to easily mark their hunting spots and for younger generations to follow their elders findings.