In Greenlandic Inuit religion, a tupilaq was an avenging monster fabricated by a practitioner of witchcraft or shamanism by using various objects such as animal parts and even parts taken from the corpses of children. The creature was given life by ritualistic chants. It was then placed into the sea to seek and destroy a specific enemy. The use of a tupilaq was risky, however, because if it was sent to destroy someone who had greater magical powers than the one who had formed it, it could be sent back to kill its maker instead, although the maker of tupilaq could escape by public confession of her or his own deed. Because tupilaqs were made in secret, in isolated places and from perishable materials, none have been preserved. Early European visitors to Greenland, fascinated by the native legend, were eager to see what tupilaqs looked like so the Inuit began to carve representations of them out of sperm whale teeth. Today, tupilaqs of many different shapes and sizes are carved from various materials such as narwhal and walrustusk, wood and caribou antler. They are an important part of Greenlandic Inuit art and are highly prized as collectibles.
Publicity versus secrecy
The making of a tupilaq started most often at night, in secrecy. The shaman would don the anorak backwards, with the hood over his face, and engage in sexual contact with the bones used to make a tupilaq, singing and chanting during the entire process, which could take several days. The making of a tupilaq was risky to its own maker if the attacked person made it rebound: in this case, public confession was the only rescue. The magic consequences of situations of concealment, and the neutralizing effect of public confession was believed also in several other areas of life, thus, this is an example of the more general topic of secrecy versus publicity.
Concealment
Concealment or secrecy could raise magic consequences in several areas of life:
It could make harm for the community if somebody concealed his/her taboo breach.
Secrecy was also preliminary for the functioning of so-called formulae.
Neutralizing effect of public confession
Thus, concealment was a preliminary for several magical effects. If this was broken, unintentionally or intentionally, the effect could lose its power.
Angakkuit in some groups resolved the consequence of taboo breach by achieving public confession of the breacher.
Hunting means killing, and animals were believed to have souls as well. Efforts were made to avoid the revenge taken by the game and to please the game symbolically. Such would be the danger inherent in the first kill of a boy and it was "neutralized" by a public ritual, in which each adult member of the community had to make an incision into the head of the game, or eat a piece from it. Thus, the belief was, that public partaking in a dangerous thing reduced the danger, that it has a neutralizing effect.
Meanings of the same term in various Inuit cultures
Inuit cultures were far from being alike, although there were some similarities. The tupilaq concept had variants. It might be a man-made object, a ghost-like being or a haunting soul. In some cultures it was exactly the shaman who had to deal with it. Such distant groups like the Caribou Inuit, Greenlandic Inuit, Iglulingmiut Inuit and Copper Inuit knew the concept of tupilaq, but the details differed: ;Igloolik ;Caribou Inuit ;Greenland ;Copper Inuit
