When an Eskimo shaman (Angakok) is unable to solve a problem with the help of authority, intrigue or ice spirits summoned from the snow-covered tundra, then he goes to an extreme measure - creates a tupilaka. A ruthless killer, alive, but created from dead flesh, he meekly serves his master, killing those whom the shaman points to.
At their core, tupilaki are analogous to the zombies, which, according to legends, are created by Caribbean voodoo sorcerers. However, if a zombie is a human body animated in the process of a ceremony, usually a whole, then a tupilak is a kind of constructor made of parts of a person, animals, and even inanimate objects.
Tupilac is created at night in the shaman's needle, when no one can interfere with witchcraft. Such a servant-killer is created from sealskin, deer offal, bird feathers, bear claws, sinews and other materials at hand. But an obligatory part of tupilak is the child's body, without which nothing will work.
Having fastened the creepy polar Frankenstein together with sinews and leather straps, the shaman proceeds to the main part of the rite - the revival of the monster. To do this, he puts on his parka backwards, puts a hood on his face and copulates with his product. The Eskimos believe that in this way the sorcerer is able to breathe life into his brainchild.
After the monster began to show signs of life, the shaman threw it from the shore into the sea, giving the order to find and destroy a specific person or group of people. It was believed that this is the surest way to get rid of enemies, much more reliable than independent reprisals.
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According to legend, the tupilac is driven only by hatred, and the creature will not stop until it completes the task set by the owner. It is incredibly difficult to escape from the tupilak, because when creating it, all the obstacles that the monster might face when completing the "order" were taken into account.
Parts of the seal helped the tupilak to move quickly through the water and under water, the hooves of the caribou deer - tirelessly run across the tundra, the feathers of birds - to rise high into the sky, and the fangs of the walrus and the claws of the bear easily deal with the overtaken victim. The child's body was necessary in order to endow the monster with the rudiments of the mind necessary to complete one task.
The corpse of an adult was not suitable for these purposes. Although such a monster could be more effective and cunning, the sorcerers feared that an overly intelligent creature might rebel against its creator. A child, not too experienced and less independent, is what is needed to control a dead body.
The Eskimos believed that it was impossible to stop the tupilak, and only after completing its task the shaman's product would again turn into dead flesh. However, in creating the ruthless killer, the shaman knew well that he was acting at his own peril and risk. The Eskimos were sure that a more powerful shaman could intercept the control of the tupilak, and then the monster could well be turned against its owner.
To neutralize the tupilak, who hunts for his creator, there was only one way - to tell his fellow tribesmen about the ritual performed. The creation of monsters from dead bodies was a condemned action among the Eskimos, and usually the shaman after such a recognition did not expect anything good.
No, the inhabitants of the camp did not kill their sorcerer, but his family, after revealing an unpleasant secret, was forever covered with shame, and the shaman himself could be expelled from human society forever. In the Eskimo belief system, a shaman is always a positive hero and a kind helper, and recognition in black magic completely deprived him of his authority. The taboos on manipulating dead bodies are directly related to the funeral rites of the inhabitants of the Arctic.
The Eskimos believed that all animals and objects around were animated and after death needed burial. Therefore, before killing and eating a deer, seal or fish, the Greenlandic asked the creature for forgiveness. The parts that remained unclaimed were usually thrown into the sea, thus performing a kind of funeral rite and thus earning the final absolution. Therefore, any mystical manipulations with the remains, animals, or, even more so, a person, aroused disgust and horror among the Eskimos.
With the advent of Christianity, the Eskimos were surprised to discover the similarities between the tupilac and the devil - both of these entities had horns, hooves, tails and wings. Confused northern parishioners only that God himself created the devil-tupilak, and he returned to fight the creator. Therefore, is it not logical to assume that somewhere there is a more powerful sorcerer, and the priests, for some reason, hide his name from the parishioners.
The Europeans, faced with the legends of the tupilacs, really liked the eerie mystical creature. Scientists and tourists willingly bought local crafts on this subject, which caused the emergence of a whole industry of special souvenirs. Each master represents tupilaka in his own way, since there is no canonical image of the monster. Figures are massively carved from wood, stone and bone and can be found today at souvenir fairs and exhibitions of handicrafts around the world.