Walking Bear

Endearingly called the "King of the North", the Polar Bear, or Nanuq, is the greatest predator of the Arctic and a powerfully respected animal.  He is the one animal that is at home both on land and water.  He is built for his environment and has no troubles surviving the long, harsh winters.

Some Inuit believe that how we live our lives affects what we become in the afterlife. Apparently, the best reward for a life-well-lived is to return in the form of the polar bear.  This is because the ‘King of the Arctic’, as he is endearingly called, is strong enough to survive the long, cold winters. Instead of carving polar bears only in walking positions or other poses often seen in nature, Inuit carvers began to make bears in upright positions, often standing on one hind leg.  This pose represents the polar bear in a happy state of dancing and celebration. Some carvers claim that dancing bears represent a form of shamanism and transformation between a human and a bear.