next page previous page home

Having chewed on Aagjuuk to define what they might mean, we should then proceed with a closer look on Sivulliik. The Orphan Boy (Iliarjugaarjuk) this time does not visit an old woman but an old man, Uttuqalualuq.

We can easily imagine the igloo here representing the northern hemisphere. But why think in terms of space? We should rather try to imagine a chase in time around some stable point shaped like an igloo. The pyramid is a map of time-space and so could we regard the igloo. We are living inside a dome.

The crack presumably represents the break between the old year and the new year (or between the break between two other periods of time - like at daybreak).

The tailbone corresponds to the rear coat-flap. Both presumably express that the boy's mother, presumably the sun of the old year (already lost to the boy), now should be devoured completely, without a trace. Time must swallow all, leaving nothing behind.

The Orphan Boy myth tells us - I think - that Sivulliik and Kingulliq are marks of ending - they are opposites to Aagjuuk which mark the beginning.