By Heddy Johannesen
Sedna is the Goddess of the Sea. She is known as Sanna, Nerrivik, Nuliajuq, or Arnarquagssaq. She was a beautiful young Inuit woman pursued by the hunters of the village. She was vain and rejected them all despite her father’s protests. Then one day a handsome man arrived and asked her father Anguta for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The stranger hid his true appearance from them. The father agreed, but the man lied to her father, assuring Anguta she would live in a castle and be happy.
Once they arrived on the island Sedna became upset. The man was a bird in disguise and lived in a messy bird nest on a barren rock. He fed Sedna raw fish. Sedna cried and pleaded for her father to return and rescue her from the island. Sedna’s father heard her cries on the wind and hurried to rescue her.
