Ilira...
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"It was deep into February, in Barry Lopez's 'Artic Dreams,' that the
name Ilira first appeared. He was referring to the beliefs of the
Central Eskimos which are partly described by the word ilira.
Ilira is the fear that is associated with awe."
- Jerry Cassell, "Paddling Ilira", Wooden Canoe, No.46 |
| "... Someone who can infect you with that same attitude. They are
the ones who frequently sneak down the edge along the trees instead
of out in the middle of the bowl; those who carry ropes; who turn
around and go back a lot. The eskimos call it ilira. Nervous Awe."
- Black Diamond catalog |
"... If we are blinded by darkness, we are also blinded by light. When too much light falls on everything, a special terror results. Peter Freuchen describes the notorious kayak sickness to which Greenland Eskimos are prone. 'The Greenland fjords are peculiar for the spells of completely quiet weather, when there is not enough wind to blow out a match and the water is like a sheet of glass. The kayak hunter must sit in his boat without stirring a finger so as not to scare the shy seals away. . . . The sun, low in the sky, sends a glare into his eyes, and the landscape around moves into the realm of the unreal. The reflex from the mirror-like water hypnotizes him, he seems to be unable to move, and all of a sudden it is as if he were floating in a bottomless void, sinking, sinking, and sinking. . . . Horror-stricken, he tries to stir, to cry out, but he cannot, he is completely paralyzed, he just falls and falls.' Some hunters are especially cursed with this panic, and bring ruin and sometimes starvation to their families. - Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek |