Inuit astronomy
Inuit beliefs about the celestial sphere or Qilak
Inuit astronomy is centered around the Qilak, the Inuit name for the celestial sphere and the home for souls of departed people. Inuit beliefs about astronomy are shaped by the harsh climate in the Arctic and the resulting difficulties of surviving and hunting in the region. The stars were an important tool to track time, seasons, and location, particularly during winter.
The Inuit are a group of circumpolar peoples who inhabit the Arctic and subarctic regions of Canada and Alaska (North America), Greenland/KalaallitNunaat (Denmark) and parts of northern Siberia (Russia). There are many similarities between the traditions and beliefs among the indigenous peoples in Arctic regions. For example, the Inuit, Chukchi and Evenks all have a worldview based on their religious beliefs and have related traditions about astronomy. While differing traditions exist among groups, they overlap in the way the stars, weather, and folk tales assist in hunting, navigation and teaching their young about the world.
Their astronomy and relationship to the sky is heavily influenced by their spiritual and pragmatic needs, as well as the high northerly latitudes where they reside. For those living above the Arctic Circle, the latitude affects the view of the night sky, especially the fact that during winter polar night may occur for multiple months and the midnight sun during summer.
Impact of high north latitude
Polar night and midnight sun
The latitudes within the Arctic Circle significantly influence both the behavior of the sun and the ability to see stars.
“Inuit astronomy” enters the record as inuit beliefs about the celestial sphere or Qilak. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Inuit, astronomy and beliefs can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Inuit astronomy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.