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Loon Mask (Komun) A more recent story of my Uncle Johnny-Komun Ruben who as a young boy showed signs of a potential shaman's apprentice. As young boy Johnny was given a toy drum and stick beater to play with. Being a warm summer day there were few people outside, he was inside the summer skin tent with his parents. He commenced to play with his new toy. Singing in his native tongue he began singing quietly to himself while beating his drum. Someone outside heard him singing an old shamans song about the king loon Tudlik. He ran into the tent to tell my Uncle's parents that while Johnny was singing a magic song, a large King Loon Tudlik was circling overhead and calling out in its own tongue. Upon seeing this, Johnny's mother, now a devout Christian, took Johnny's toy drum and stick and broke them in two. She swore to all present that her son would not become a future Shaman, as they were now Christians and the old religion was frowned upon and its practitioners in disfavor. This mask is my interpretation of a story
told to me by my parents relating to my uncle Johnny Komun Ruben, my
father's older brother. This story took place around 1912 in Canada's
western arctic where medicine were still known to be practised at this
time, christianity was spreading through the Inuvialuit. |
