sedna

price: $110

catalog # GG19 -- SED

Sedna, an inuit sea goddess, has recently had the honor of having a planetoid in our solar system named after her.  Alas, the rest of Sedna's story is not so happy.

Our sedna is in transformation from human to sea goddess.  She is made in papier mache. 

the story of sedna

 Sedna was a beautiful Inuit girl who lived with her father. She was very vain and thought she was too beautiful to marry just anyone. She turned down the hunters who came to her camp wishing to marry her. Her father became concerned that they would soon have no food to eat, and no one to care for Sedna.
 Soon her father saw another hunter approaching their camp. The man was dressed elegantly in furs and appeared to be well-to-do even though his face was hidden. Sedna's father married Sedna to the strange hunter.  Under great protest, Sedna was placed aboard of the hunters kayak and journeyed to her new home. Soon they arrived at a barren island. Her husband turned out to be a raven in disguise.  Sedna's new home was a few tufts of animal hair and feathers strewn about on the hard, cold rock. The only food she had to eat was fish. Her husband, the raven, brought raw fish to her after a day of flying off in search of food.
 

Sedna was very unhappy and miserable. She cried and cried and called her father's name. Through the howling arctic winds Sedna's father could hear his daughter's cries.  Sedna's father decided it was time to rescue his daughter.  He paddled through the arctic water and collected his sad daughter. But her husband wasn't about to let her go so easily.

The big black raven attacked the kayak and  flapped his wings on the ocean. A vicious storm began to brew. Sedna's father, in his fear, threw Sedna overboard in an attempt to save his own life.  

Sedna grasped the edge of the kayak, but her father, terrified by the raging storm,  grabbed the paddle and began to pound against Sedna's fingers.  Her frozen fingers cracked and fell into the ocean. Affected by her ghastly husbands powers, Sedna's fingers turned into seals. Sedna attempted again to swim and cling to her father's kayak. Again he grabbed the paddle and began beating at her hands.  Sedna's hands, frozen by the arctic sea, again cracked off. The stumps began to drift to the bottom of the sea, this time turned into the whales and other large mammals. Sedna could fight no more and began to sink herself.

Sedna became the goddess of the sea. Her anger and fury against man is what drums up the violent seas and storms.

the previous description of Sedna's story comes from "Sedna" at: http://www.hvgb.net/~sedna/story.html

masks@arlymasks.com

home • what's new • masks • ordering • about the artist • resources