No longer is Sedna the only distant icy body in our solar system bearing an Inuit name. Today, the Minor Planet Center posted a new entry: Sila-Nunam.
This is a most curious naming, evidently a merging of a male god - Sila - and a female deity - Nunam, who were mates. Online reference material presently is scarce, but following is a summary of what I’ve located thus far.
First the astronomy: Sila-Nunam was discovered on Mauna Kea on February 3, 1997 and initially labeled 1997 CS29. Later s/he received the minor planet designation 79360. The body is not particularly large, and will not be given dwarf planet status. At discovery, Sila-Nunam transited 23 Cancer 37 and presently (as of GMT today) moves through 13 Leo 21. I’ll generate a monthly ephemeris for this body in the near future, and those of you owning the Galactic Trilogy CD will receive this and an assessment of initial keywords by e-mail. As well, I’ll post keywords on my website in the near future.
This Kuiper Belt Object holds a very round orbit (eccentricity 0.0117, rounder than all traditional planets except Venus and Neptune), weighing in with an orbital period of 291.26 years. This period promises naming of a body with resurrection or creation attributes. The inclination is a very slight 2.24 degrees. The north node crosses the ecliptic at 4 Aquarius 20. The perihelion degree lies at 9 Virgo 02. The node and perihelion notations are heliocentric.
And the mythology: Pretty much the only initial information I found was on a Word Press blog at the Balladeer’s Blog, which I highly recommend (especially for some of the aside humorous parenthetical notes).
According to the blog, Sila is a god of weather and forces that bring things do life, often occurring as the wind or the “breathing of the world,” and refers to the breath of life of living things. He refers to singing, humming and tale-telling, all of which are coordinated with breathing. It was believed that Sila gave powers to shamans. Inuit warnings, especially those rendered to children (don’t throw rocks at walruses) came from Sila and extended to the quality of a nagging conscience (consistent with the object’s perihelion in Virgo). He created humans from wet sand and breathed life into them. Bad weather such as blizzards and winds come from Sila, seen as punishment for violating taboos. It is said he would inflict disease onto those guilty of mistreating game animals. As well, his breath could heal, but those requesting healing must abandon possessions and retreat into solitude. He was depicted as clean shaven, with long hair and bare-chested to show his ability to endure the physical environment he commanded.
Nunam was an earth goddess and the wife of Sila. She wore a coat that stretched to her knees and upon which hung miniatures of land animals (except caribou in some notations). She was known to be the source of rocks and trees and those things not animate or breathing. Young children grew from the ground around her like flowers extending from her body. Initially Inuit women did not possess vaginas, according to the lore, and the ripe, ready to pluck children climbed up the legs of women, fertilized later when the moon god, Tarqeq, created vaginas. (I’m not sure but I think I heard something similar uttered by a candidate in a recent Presidential debate here in the U. S., during the discussion of is conception life and what to do about contraception). Musk oxen presumably hatched eggs buried deep within Nunam’s body (a bit of a parallel to Haumea’s birthing methods). Nunam mated with Sila and created a son, Kallak. Later, Nunam joined with her, Kallak and produced a child that Kallak later took as wife and created those two spawned the Inuit people. Some tales tell that Nunam’s brother’s were killed by Sila.
How interesting that with the ongoing storms in Alaska and the virtual weather-created isolation of the cities Nome and Cordova, this new Kuiper Belt Object comes to light. And how interesting that this body bears the name of both the female and male principals in the story. Is this the avatar of synthesizing male-female natures? Certainly, the transgender, transsexual news of this past year makes more sense (Chaz on dancing with the stars and all the controversy of that; the soldier arrested for Wiki-leaking classified documents is suggested to be gender confused in the case building against him). And how curious that when the U. S. Presidential debates are rabid with “when is a human created?”, abortion and contraception issues, we have the naming of Sila-Nunam.
Beyond this, I just encountered this object less than ninety minutes ago. I’ll be giving her/him a good deal of thought, and again, as soon as schedule permits, I’ll create some keywords and more observations. I’ll certainly be watching upcoming transits to her/his position in Leo from the personal planets in Aquarius.
More soon.