Sedna - Inuit Mother of the Deep - Extra Mythology

myths are not stories that are untrue rather they are tales that don't fit neatly into the historical record which serve as a foundation to a culture deep in the ocean below the snow and thick ice hidden in the frigid depths lives of being both feared and revered the goddess sedna her temper is fierce but when she's appeased her gifts are not only generous but life-giving however she was not always so powerful in fact her story began when she was a mortal woman blissfully ignorant of what was to come [Music] thanks so much to curiositystream for helping us tell today's tale within an igloo in the frozen arctic where a father and his daughter sit down to a dinner of bannock bread and polar bear stew familial tensions begin to fester you see the daughter sedna had come of age and many suitors sought her hand in marriage but in a classic mythology move she refused to marry any of them now some say this was because she was lazy i mean why move out and start her own family when her father provided her with everything she needed right others say she was such a skilled huntress that she felt she didn't need a husband to take care of her or maybe simply no man was good enough for her but no matter the reason her father was pretty anxious to get her out of the house little did he know how great the consequences of that impulse would turn out to be that very night a violent blizzard swept in and just as the family was finishing their meal a very handsome stranger appeared at their igloo seeking shelter a necklace with two canine teeth hung from his neck and he was very charismatic and charming so sedna and her father welcomed the man in and he weathered the storm with them that night but the next morning when the sun rose and the blizzard had passed the man had vanished the only trace left was a set of paw prints in the snow outside seeing this sedna's father realized that his lead sled dog must have transformed himself into a man to trick them and seek shelter from the storm which i was unaware sled dogs could do but apparently seemed pretty normal to pops and at first he figured no harm no foul but when a few months later sedna began showing signs that she was pregnant he was furious i mean what would everyone think of him when he was the grandfather of puppies or whatever monstrous children she might bear so in the first of a few cold-hearted moves he took sedna out to a remote island and abandoned her on its frozen shores but she wasn't all alone out there the loyal sled dog this time keeping his true form cared for her by swimming out with tender meat to sustain her with until one day she gave birth to six children three of which were human and three that had dog-like ears and noses and while she loved all of her children she knew that those with the more dog-like features could never have a good life with her people so she sewed a boat out of seal skins placed her three dog children in it and pushed it into the water toward the south and some say from those three children the european and first nations people were descended meanwhile sedna and her remaining children lived on the island for some time with the good boys still swimming out to bring them food as needed that is until sedna's father finally took pity on her and the remaining children and paddled back out to the island intent on bringing them home okay dad better late than never i suppose she bundled up her children boarded her father's boat and shoved off toward her old home but just as the island vanished from their sight a great storm ripped through the ocean lightning flashed thunder boomed torrents of rain fell in sheets and massive waves rocked the boat so violently it was sure to capsize any minute and it was in this maelstrom that sedna's father showed his true colors once more desperate to save himself and lessen the weight on the craft he threw sedna overboard she managed to cling to the side of the boat for dear life but that was only until her father threw away any chance at a redemption arc in a panic he drew his knife and cut off her fingers joint by joint until sedna could no longer hold on and slid into the sea but as she sank deeper and deeper the water changing from gray to blue and blue to black something miraculous happened cedna began to transform her legs fusing together becoming a fishtail and then as she passed from the mortal realm into the underworld the smallest joints of her dismembered fingers turned into the first fish the larger joints became the seals and walruses and the very largest became the whales she was no longer sedna the young woman but sedna the goddess of the underworld mother of sea creatures to this day sedna remains in her deep sea realm controlling all of the animals who live there but she always keeps a keen eye on the surface dwellers as well for instance when humans disrespect the ocean by overfishing or polluting the water with trash she withholds her bounty from humanity by tangling all of the sea creatures in her hair causing famine and suffering but it's said she can be soothed many songs are sung to her at the beginning of each new hunting season and offerings are made in her honor but when things get really bad a shaman can enter a trance-like state and visit sedna in the spirit realm there he'll listen to her as she describes how she's been wronged by humans and soothe her by combing out her hair releasing the animals and this is one of her greatest comforts for as powerful as she is she can no longer comb her own hair now several versions of sedna's story exist across inuit cultures passed down from generation to generation and it makes sense even today since it's so expensive to ship food to the arctic many inuit families rely at least partially on hunting and fishing to sustain themselves so making sure sedna and in turn the ocean is cared for is a top priority and this myth while also providing an origin story for many sea mammals also gives a face to the bountiful sea and once this primordial force has an identity humans are more easily able to relate and remember that nature requires not just respect but also care and attention so while it's heartbreaking that sedna was made to sacrifice her hands to gain the power to sustain humanity it should also embolden us all to make sure we're as good as we can be to our oceans and our planet because the earth is quite literally the reason we're able to tell myths in the first place but you know another big reason we've all gotten to enjoy the retellings of mythological tales around our campfire has been due to our fantastic writer for this show jack and in some bittersweet news they've decided to move on from ec taking a new job at the cdc helping with the vaccine rollout then going back to school to study environmental gis in the fall and i think i speak for everyone on the crew when i say that while i'm sad to see them go i couldn't be prouder of them and i can't wait to see what new ways they make this world a better place thanks so much for all the stories jack good journey and if you'd like to revisit some of their great mythological retellings ad free the best route to that campfire is over on nebula our bike creators for crater streaming service that's home to a ton of our favorite educational entertainers on the internet such as hello future me moz and philosophy 2 plus you get access to exclusive nebula originals including some of ours and extended cuts from fellow creators like legal eagle whose extra analysis i just always find super interesting and because curiosity loves supporting independent creators when you sign up for their service you get nebula included absolutely free which of course is on top of curiosity streams thousands of award-winning original series and big-budget non-fiction videos curated across their massive online learning platform and one series we've been watching to the surprise of no one who knows us is called women who made history it's a docu-drama with just the right amount of soap opera over-the-top cheese that covers some of the most famous women who shaped our world such as joan of arc catherine the great and elizabeth the first heck they even named an entire epic after earth and you can get access to all this content for an entire year for less than a month of other streaming services just head to curiositystream.com extra credits and you'll get a subscription to both curiosity stream and nebula for 26 off the regular price that's under 15 for both services again for an entire year not only will you be elevating your content watching game to the next level but you'll be helping out extra credits in the process thanks so much for your support a huge thanks to ahmed zion turk alicia bramble casey muscha dominic valenciana joseph blame kyle murgatroyd and o reels one for being our legendary patrons [Music] uh you

Channel: Extra History

Views: 172,035

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Id: W3dkfLwc1IE

Length: 8min 45sec (525 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 11 2021