The Netsilik Inuit live on the Arctic coast. Their name means, "people of the place where there is seal." They were nomadic hunters and sometimes spent several years on journeys to various destinations. In 1923, the explorer Rasmussen reported 259 of them and reported how the women birthed alone in a small igloo. She pushed on her knees and the baby was born in a small hollow in the snow.
I have never had the privilege of being in an igloo but to me it is suggestive of another type of womb within the earth. As I contemplated this what became obvious to me is the lack of connection between the modern birthing woman with nature. This brings a question to mind how did the primitive woman experience birthing and what can she teach us?
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