Sedna
Goddess of Ice and Snow
The Sedna Tales tell of a wilful, strong young woman and a great storm.
Long, long ago, when Sedna was a young girl she refused suitors from her own clan, instead Sedna chose a mysterious lover who turned out to be a sea bird in disguise. On hearing what had really happened, her father set out to rescue his rebellious daughter.
Finding Sedna in the nest of the Sea Bird, he spirited her away. Father and daughter began the long journey home in a skin boat. The angry and abandoned seabird made a great storm to stop them. Fearing the great power of the Sea Bird, the father decided to rid himself of his daughter. Her fearful father threw Sedna into the sea.
Trying to save herself, She grasped the sides of the boat, pleading with her father to pull her back into the boat. The selfish father, fearing for his own life, swung his knife chopping off her fingers. Sedna soon sank below the waves and was gone. When Sedna’s fingers fell into the water, the fingers became whales, seals and polar bears, her nails became whalebone.
As the young woman sank into the sea she was transformed into the mystical being known as Sedna, Mother of Oceans and ruler over all life in the Sea.
~The blessings of Sedna are still sought by the people of the North who know it is
She who sustains them~