Kaassassuk
Kaassassuk ( Kâgssagssuk according to the old spelling ) is an old Inuit myth that is widespread from the east coast of Greenland to northern Alaska .
The following basic elements can be found in local variants of the narrative: The life of the mocked and abused orphan Kaassassuk, full of privation; the overcoming of his fear and the bestowal of superhuman strength through the spiritual being Pissaap Inua (Píssaup Inua); Kaassassuk's impressive deeds, which instill respect but also fear in the community; his revenge on the residents of the settlement; his way with the kayak along the coast, on which he takes the daughter of the hunter Qaassuk (K'âgssuk) by force as his wife; his victorious competitions with all the men he meets, and finally his defeat by the nondescript Usussaarmiarsunnguaq (Usugsaermiarssúnguaĸ) high in the north.
In West Greenland there is also the variant about Kamillaannguaq and in East Greenland the similar story of Aloruttaq is told .
This myth has been passed down exclusively orally since its creation and was only written down between 1902 and 1904 by the Greenland-Danish polar researcher and ethnologist Knud Rasmussen after the story by Jaakuaraq Eugenius (Jâkuaraĸ Eugenius).
Today the figure of Kaassassuk in Greenland symbolizes physical and psychological strength and the will for self-determination .
Writing down the myth
Knud Rasmussen, the Danish Greenland explorer Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen , the Danish artist Harald Viggo Graf Moltke and the Greenlandic polar explorer, teacher and translator Jørgen Brønlund embarked on the "Literary Greenland Expedition" ("the litterære Grønlandse") from 1902 to 1904 . As part of these studies, Rasmussen also recorded the myth of Kaassassuk based on the story by Jaakuaraq Eugenius (1863–1934) from Nuuk.
Knud Rasmussen explains in the foreword to his Myter og sagn fra Grønland (Myths and legends from Greenland) that these stories were not designed for writing, but were passed down exclusively orally for centuries . In doing so, elements came into play that are omitted when reading a written story: the myths were told at a special time and mostly in the community house; the narrator emulated the facial expressions and gestures of the mythical figures and modulated his language in the process; the listeners were included in the narration and, with a certain lengthiness, the narrator could decorate certain parts or incorporate current circumstances. Storytelling was both a social event and a welcome entertainment during quiet periods as well as imparting values.
Rasmussen, who was born in Greenland, lived there for a long time and was familiar with the original way of life of the Greenlanders, stated at the beginning of the 20th century that “this gift of representing life and thoughts with a distinctly national color is now in the Disappearance, now that developments have ensured that a completely new culture is grafted onto these people. "
action
Summary of the version of the myth narrated by Jaakuaraq Eugenius and written down by Knud Rasmussen; the illustrations are watercolors by Jakob Danielsen.
Kaassassuk, the slender and filthy orphan boy, lived in a settlement where everyone mocked and physically injured him. The men especially enjoyed lifting it up their nostrils with two fingers. Whenever Kaassassuk was too hungry, they would always check to see if he had a new tooth, and if it was they would pull it out. After all the families in the settlement had rejected him and thrown him out of the house, Kaassassuk finally found accommodation with an old woman who lived alone, who let him sleep in the hallway with her.
An old man, who pityingly observed how badly Kaassassuk himself was being played along by the children, finally advised him to go to the Talorsuit mountain to ask Pissaap Inua, literally the Lord of Power , for help. Kaassassuk made his way there twice and, despite great fear, survived the rough treatment by Pissaap Inua. Although the boy had now gained superhuman strength - he could move boulders with ease - he had to keep it secret at Pissaap Inua's request until two predictions came true. Until then, Kaassassuk should continue to endure the tortures and mockery of the settlement residents.
It was not until the following autumn that Pissaap Inua's first prediction came true. The residents of the settlement found a large trunk of driftwood in the sea, which they brought to the beach and moored there so that they could move it to the settlement the next day. But Kaassassuk crept to the beach that night, tore the ropes, shouldered the tree trunk and carried it to the settlement all by himself. The next morning everyone was very surprised what had happened to the tribe, but since they could not explain how the tribe got into the settlement, they dismantled and distributed it. Kaassassuk was further mocked.
In winter Pissaap Inua's second prophecy came true. Three bears climbed an iceberg right in front of the settlement and while the men were hesitantly considering how to hunt the animals, Kaassassuk stormed through their midst, climbed the iceberg and killed the two larger bears with bare hands. He left the bear cub to the other hunters, who now flattered him because they had seen his immense power with their own eyes. But Kaassassuk did not listen to them, but took the bears to the old woman's house so that she could make warm bedding out of the furs.
At the banquet that followed, two girls died while Kaassassuk hugged him because of his unaccustomed strength, but those present excused this out of awe of his strength. During the course of the evening, all the inhabitants of the settlement - with the exception of the old woman and the compassionate old man - fell victim to his vengeance due to Kaassassuk's strength.
The next day, Kaassassuk took possession of one of the now abandoned kayaks and learned to use it. He traveled the coasts and became famous and infamous for his strength. He was always looking for new challengers and defeated them in competition until he finally heard of Usussaarmiarsunnguaq (Usugsaermiarssúnguaĸ), the son of Usussaarmiarsussuaq (Usugsaermiarssugssuaĸ), who lived far in the north. When Kaassassuk arrived at the settlement there and asked Usussaarmiarsunnguaq to compete, he was met by a slim, inconspicuous man. The fight began, but as hard as Kaassassuk tried, Usussaarmiarsunnguaq kept slipping away from him. After long fighting, Usussaarmiarsunnguaq eventually threw the challenger far out to sea.
Kaassassuk accepted his defeat and now that he had found someone in the competition who had proven to be stronger than him, he no longer challenged anyone to fight.
Public perception
Watercolors
Jakob Danielsen , a Greenlandic hunter who was born in Kangerluk in 1888 , moved with his family to Qeqertarsuaq when he was 16 . There he continued to work as a whale and seal hunter and sled dog guide. Instead of the usual carving, Danielsen taught himself to paint . In addition to very detailed motifs from the life of the Greenlandic hunters, Jakob Danielsen, who was also known as a “storyteller”, made sketches of the lively facial expressions of other storytellers, which were then passed around to the audience and provided further amusement. Jakob Danielsen also illustrated the story of Kaassassuk with several watercolor drawings .
He died in the spring of 1938 and was buried on the Lyngmarksfjeld north of Qeqertarsuaq in a typical Greenland stone grave. His drawings are kept and exhibited in the National Museum in Copenhagen and in the Museum of Qeqertarsuaq.
Bronze sculpture
The Greenlandic artist Simon Kristoffersen (1933–1990), who mainly executed his works in soapstone , had already made several Kaassassuk sculptures in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of these sculptures, which dates back to 1971, on behalf of the Statens Art Fund , the state-Danish Arts Foundation than 600 kg plastic from Bronze implemented and stood from 1974 until the end of 1986 in the garden of Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen .
As a gift to Greenland, this sculpture left Frederikshavn on November 2, 1986 on the ship Hvidbjørnen ( German polar bear ). The trip led via Tórshavn ( Faroe Islands ) and Reykjavík ( Iceland ) to the east coast of Greenland. The ship got caught in a storm and heavy seas and it was even feared that the moored statue could tear itself away. After a good two weeks on the east coast, the Hvidbjørnen crossed the Prins Christian Sund and reached Qaqortoq on November 21st. After a stop, we continued north via Kangilinnguit , Nuuk and Sisimiut . The ship anchored off Kangerluarsoruseq and both the Hvidbjørnen and the statue were “baptized”. The Kaassassuk sculpture was given the name Angalatoorsuaq , which in Greenlandic means something like the great well-traveled . On December 17, 1987, the ship finally reached Nuuk and the Plastik and was officially handed over. Since then she has stood in front of the Greenland parliament building; the original soapstone from 1971 is in the parliament building.
The sculpture shows the moment in which Pissaap Inua Kaassassuk gives his strength and is intended to symbolize the idea of Greenland's independence.
Comic
Christian Fleischer Rex from Nuuk published a comic in 2008 in Milik-Verlag with the story of the orphan Kaassassuk, which is called Kaassassuk - iliarsuk in Greenlandic , Kaassassuk - den forældreløse in Danish and Kaassassuk - The Orphan in English . The plot of the comic was based on Knud Rasmussen's version of Jaakuaraq Eugenius.
Stamp
From 2009 to 2011 POST Greenland issued postage stamps on the subject of “Grønland - Tegneserier” (“Greenland - Comics”). The motif Kaassassuk from the comic by Christian Fleischer Rex was the third and last stamp in this series.
| designation | Issue date | Face value | Pictured comic | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grønland - Tegneserier I | June 21, 2009 | DKK 15.50 | De første skridt ( Eng . The first steps ) | Nuka K. Godtfredsen |
| Grønland - Tegneserier II | May 1, 2010 | 23.50 DKK | Buuarsikkut | Robert Holmene |
| Grønland - Tegneserier III | May 9, 2011 | DKK 20.00 | Kaassassuk | Christian Fleischer Rex |
song
Peter Olsen from Greenland has composed and written a song entitled Kaassassorujunnguarooq , or you say poor little Kaassassuk , which was released by Muzart in 2009 in the version by Danish classical guitarist Erling Møldrup .
ship
The Kaassassuk (code OZKQ , control number D 3185 , IMO number GR 6-402 ; 1899 BRT ) is a motor and fishing vessel from Royal Greenland , which was built in Norway in 1988.
Soccer
In the spelling of Kâgssagssuk , the legendary figure is the namesake of a football club in Maniitsoq , which became Greenlandic football champions in 1989 with the men's team . The women's team's best placement was third in 1990.
literature
- Hinrich Johannes Rink : Eskimoiske eventyr og sagn . CA Reitzels boghandel, Copenhagen 1866 ( completely readable on Google Books ).
- Knud Rasmussen : Myter and sagn from Grønland . tape 1 . Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1979, ISBN 978-87-11-52790-0 ( readable on Google Books ).
- Knud Rasmussen , Philip Rosendahl (foreword), Jakob Danielsen (illustrations), Hans Christian Huus (English translation), Robert Petersen , Carl Christian Olsen (Greenlandic translation): Kâgssagssuk - Sagnet om den forældreløse . Lyngby Kunstforening, Copenhagen 1967, foreword.
- Tupaarnaq Rosing Olsen, Miki Jacobsen (illustrations): Kaassassuk - den forældreløse . Atuakkiorfik, Nuuk 1994, ISBN 978-87-558-0985-7 .
- Aviâja Susanne Larsen: Kaassassukmyten fra Aron til i dag . Afdeling for Eskimologi og Arctic Studies, Institute for Tværkulturelle og Regional Studies, Humanistic Faculty, Københavns Universitet, Copenhagen 2008.
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.érudit.org / Birgitte Sonne: "Who's afraid of Kaassassuk? Writing as a tool in coping with changing cosmology" , Études / Inuit / Studies, Volume 34, Number 2 (2010), pp. 107–127
- ↑ Birgitte Sonne: Krop og klæ'r: Bare ben og kamikker i ældre inuit-kilder. in the Tidsskriftet Grønland
- ↑ Kirsten Thisted: Kampen om Knud - Knud Rasmussen i en selfstyretid , Tværkultur, 2010, pp. 37-44, especially p. 43
- ↑ Knud Rasmussen , Philip Rosendahl (preface): Kâgssagssuk - Sagnet om den forældreløse . Lyngby Kunstforening, Copenhagen 1967, foreword.
- ↑ Driftwood was the main source of wood in Greenland for centuries and meant for the Kalaallit to be able to produce boat frames, rafters, drying frames for fish, harpoons and other tools.
-
↑ To explain the narrative culture that allows the speaker to act out the narrated plot, a short section of the story presented by Jaakuaraq Eugenius is completely translated from Danish:
Autumn passed and winter came. Ice covered the sea and one morning when all the holes in the ice had frozen over, there was suddenly an enormous noise in the whole settlement. Kaassassuk and his foster mother were still asleep when they heard the first neighbors call that three big bears had climbed onto an iceberg just below the houses. It was very loud when everyone was getting ready to hunt, and only after it was completely quiet again, Kaassassuk turned to his foster mother and said: "May I not go downstairs and look at the bears too?" Kaassassuk did not have his own kamiit (ie fur boots) so he asked his foster mother if he could borrow hers. She was still drunk asleep on her wooden bed and half joking, half serious she took off her kamiit and threw it into the pit of his stomach and said: “But then get me both a mat and a blanket for my wooden bed made from the skins of the bears ! ”Kaassassuk hurried to put on the foster mother's kamiit and he tied it carefully while she watched in amazement, because she had never seen her poor foster child so determined. - ^ Philip Rosendahl : Jakob Danielsen - en grønlandsk painter in the Tidsskriftet Grønland
- ^ Exhibition of the works of Jakob Danielsen in the Qeqertarsuaq Museum , December 6, 2012 ( Memento of November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Dansk Biografisk Leksikon: Simon Søren Ignatius Kristoffersen
- ↑ Here (Haagen 2004: 98) Ref., Mentioned in http://eskimologi.ku.dk/omuddannelsen/baprojekterspecialer/specialer/aviaja_larsen_speciale.pdf/ ( Memento from November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Inspektionsskibet Hvidbjørne Grønlandstogt (PDF; 1.0 MB), Søværns-Orientering, No. 4/88, February 15, 1988. The article contains a photo of the Kaassassuk sculpture moored on the ship.
- ↑ Kaassassuk in Comicwiki DK
- ↑ 'Kaassassuk' titartakkanut nersornaasiuttakkamut innersuunneqarpoq , Sermitsiaq AG, May 10, 2010
- ↑ Universal Postal Union, Greenland Comics I ( Memento of November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (archived)
- ↑ Universal Postal Union, Greenland Comics II ( memento of November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (archived)
- ↑ Universal Postal Union, Greenland Comics III ( memento of November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (archived)
- ↑ Peter Olsen: Kaassassorujunnguarooq , melody, Greenlandic and English text
- ↑ Greenland Song Collection Qaqqat akornanni qooqqutigut ( Memento from November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Danmarks Skibsliste 1999, udgived paa foranledning af Soefartsstyrelsen Skibsregistret, p. 60 and p. 138 ( Memento of November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.3 MB)