Dr. Asta Mønsted

And I mean, what a creature to be hunting down, right?

So there are stories, but also we see it on ornamentation in some of the, we see polar bears, but we also see other animals being depicted as small figurines.

So small boys and girls could play with them or throw their miniature harpoon after them, practicing, right?

But the polar bear had a special place in the heart of the Inuit because...

sort of as humans, it can walk on land and it can also swim in the water.

So we sort of are in the same realms.

And also because it can probably look very human-like in a way.

And you see mother polar bears taking care of its cubs and it can stand on two feet just like humans.

So the polar bear also had a close relationship

And we see that in depictions and in figurines.

They are also in some of the stories of an angakok.

So when you train to become a shaman of the settlement, there are gruesome stories about what you need to endure to become the right set of minds to be sort of able to negotiate and

see the other invincible world with the spirits but you had to be eaten up whole by a polar bear oh goodness no no thank you yeah that's just the part of the training and if you could do that and still be alive and sane then maybe you could become an anger god

So it's probably symbolic, but how that really worked, that's still up for questions.

But it just tells it how important a role the polar bear plays.

We see it as this animal of strength and probably also intelligence, even though

Other animals, just like the raven was also intelligent.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

So the Angakalp was the sort of spiritual advisor of a settlement.