"The Sun's movement, direction, and points of rising and setting appear to have had profound spiritual significance for many Inuit groups. Charles Merbs, examining Thule Inuit culture burial orientation, suggests that the direction in which the body points may relate to the particular 'land of the dead' its soul will inhabit:

 'These spirit lands are not constant with regard to earthly topography, but relate instead to an extraterrestial object, the sun' ... ³⁵

³⁵ Merbs also notes that in some areas the gender of the deceased had a bearing on burial orientation. In this connection, Donald Marsh writes: 'They inclined an upright pole towards the west, away from the head, to signify that a man or boy was here. A pole slanted towards the north denoted a woman or girl' ...

In Igloolik this was most evident in rituals surrounding the burial of the dead. W. H. Hooper, an officer with Parry's expedition, witnessed the burial of Pootooalook, the wife of Takkalikkita, in Igloolik on 24 January 1823 and writes:

'The frozen earth prevented digging the grave more than a foot deep, in which the body was placed by the husband's desire, on its back with its feet to the Southward, as was the custom for full grown persons.

Infants are placed with the feet Eastwards, half-grown persons South-east, those in the decline of life South-west, and the very old people have their feet to the Westward' ...

Noah Piugaattuk could not entirely confirm this practice. He recalled, however, that adults tended to be buried with their feet facing 'the day', while children were placed with their feet facing the 'dawn' ...

The Inuit of Etah, in Northwest Greenland, were also particular about the placement of their dead and followed a similar principle in which the age of the deceased determined the orientation of the body relative to the diurnal progress of the Sun:

'Adults were always buried with head towards the east, while children were buried with the head to the north' ...

Some four days after the burial of Pootooalook, mentioned above, her grave was again visited by Takkalikkita. George Lyon, Parry's second-in-command, witnessed the scene:

'{Takkalikkita} now began a conversation, directed entirely to the grave, as if addressing his wife. Twice he called her by name ...

He next broke forth into a low monotonous chant, and keeping his eyes fixed on the grave, walked slowly round it in the direction of the sun, four or five times, pausing at each circuit for a few moments at the head, his song continuing uniterrupted' ...

The ritual circling of the grave is also mentioned in Rasmussen's account of funeral practices among the Iglulingmiut ... The grave is circled once in the direction of the Sun at the time of burial ... 'in order that the dead person may bring good weather' ... but three times on the anniversary of the death when relatives visit the grave ...

Among the Polar Eskimos the practice was even more pronounced. Each sunrise and sunset on 'the five days following upon the burial {of a relative} ... they must go up together to the grave, and go once around it in the same direction as that of the sun's circuit of the heavens' ...

In the Bering Sea area similar rituals were accorded the newly born as well as the dead:

'On the third or fifth day after the birth of a child in Western Alaska, the new mother traditionally emerged from confinement, marking her return to social visibility by circling the house, again in the direction of the sun's course.

Finally, on the fifth day after a human death, the grave was circled in the direction of the sun's circuit by the bereaved to send away the spirit of the deceased' ...

The custom of walking around the outside of the house early each morning in the direction of the Sun is noted by Rasmussen for the Igloolik area. This practice is said to give one long life ... "

(Arctic Sky)