Qallupilluit
- Origin
- An Inuit tradition, still told to warn children away from the floe edge (Cousins, an Iqaluit-born Inuk, in Nunatsiaq News, 2024; Inhabit Media says all Inuit know of the qalupaliit). The earliest written record found is Franz Boas's The Central Eskimo (1888), under the name Kalopaling. The Qikiqtani Inuit Association now republishes a Boas tale in Inuktitut and English.
- How we treat it
- The label covers the qallupilluit as Inuit tell of them, including the story's purpose of keeping children safe near breaking ice. It makes no claim about whether the beings exist, and it does not cover outside retellings such as the 2024 horror short film that drew a backlash.
- Routes out
- Inuit voices come first: Cousins in Nunatsiaq News (2024), then Elisha Kilabuk's book from the Iqaluit publisher Inhabit Media. The Qikiqtani Inuit Association page follows; it is an Inuit organisation's page, but its English text is Boas's. Boas's 1888 record comes last, read as the earliest written account rather than the tradition's own voice.
The qallupilluit are beings of Inuit tradition who live beneath the sea ice and take children away. Cousins, an Inuk from Iqaluit, told Nunatsiaq News in 2024 that the story warns children who play at the floe edge as the ice breaks up, where they could drown.
The Iqaluit publisher Inhabit Media introduced Elisha Kilabuk's 2011 children's book The Qalupalik by saying all Inuit know of the qalupaliit, beings under the sea ice who carry unwary children off on their backs. In a 2024 Nunatsiaq News report, Cousins, an Iqaluit-born Inuk, explained what the story is for: it warns children who play at the floe edge in spring and summer, as the ice breaks up and drowning becomes a danger.
Franz Boas's The Central Eskimo (1888) calls the being Kalopaling. Boas wrote that Kalopaling lived in the sea, had a human-like body and wore clothes of eider-duck skins, and so was sometimes called Mitiling. He said Inuit feared its huge hood, into which it put drowned kayakers, that it could not speak but only cry out, and that its feet were very large, like inflated sealskin floats.
The Qikiqtani Inuit Association publishes a tale from Boas in Inuktitut and English on Inuitmyths.com. In it, a grandmother and grandson with no relatives rely on a few Inuit who share seal meat and blubber. When the hungry boy will not stop crying, the grandmother loses her temper and calls Qallupilluk, who comes in at once; she puts the boy into its large hood and he vanishes almost straight away. The name has several spellings: qallupilluit, Qallupilluk (the Association), qalupalik and qalupaliit (Inhabit Media), and Kalopaling (Boas). In 2024 Nunatsiaq News reported that a short horror film based on the qallupilluit faced a cultural backlash.
"Kalopaling is a fabulous being that lives in the sea. His body is like that of a human being and he wears clothing made of eider ducks’ skins. Therefore he is sometimes called Mitiling (with eider ducks). As these birds have a black back and a white belly, his gown looked speckled all over. His jacket has an enormous hood, which is an object of fear to the Inuit. If a kayak capsizes and the boatman is drowned Kalopaling puts him into this hood. He cannot speak, but can only cry, “Be, be! Be, be!” His feet are very large and look like inflated sealskin floats."
- Qallupilluit (Inuktitut and English, from Boas 1888), Qikiqtani Inuit Association, Inuitmyths.com
- Horror short film based on Qallupilluit faces cultural backlash, Nehaa Bimal, Nunatsiaq News (2024)
- The Qalupalik (children's book by Elisha Kilabuk), Inhabit Media, Iqaluit (2011)