Anningan (the Moon Man)

The brother in the sky

Across the Inuit Arctic the moon is a man and the sun is his sister. The story of how they came to the sky, told in slightly different forms from Greenland to Alaska, begins with a brother who visits his sister in the dark and a sister who discovers who he is; she flees with a burning torch and becomes the sun, and he chases her with a torch that goes out to embers and becomes the moon. His pursuit never ends, which is why the moon follows the sun and sometimes catches her, in an eclipse. The name Anningan, common in English-language books, reflects the Greenlandic Aningaaq; in Iglulik he is Taqqiq, the Moon Spirit.

The Moon Spirit's work

In Iglulik accounts recorded by Rasmussen, the Moon Spirit is a powerful and on the whole benevolent figure. He lives in a house in the sky, travels by dog-sled, helps angakkuit who visit him in spirit, can give luck in hunting, and is linked with the conception of children. He also punishes people who break taboos. The moon's monthly disappearance is explained in some tellings as his absence while he hunts.

Regional differences

In Greenland, Aningaaq's house in the sky and his neighbours are described in detail in Rink's collections; in parts of Alaska the moon is linked with a man called Igaluk in popular sources, though those accounts are less securely documented. As with the Sea Woman, the moon's name and role differ by region, and this entry reports those differences rather than choosing one.