{"id":79287,"date":"2024-12-03T04:23:58","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T17:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=79287"},"modified":"2025-05-01T21:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T11:39:10","slug":"greenland-monster-hunter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/greenland-monster-hunter\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Maria, Greenland’s mythical monster hunter\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greenland is home to some of the world\u2019s oldest storytelling traditions, dating back over 4000 years.<\/strong> Greenlandic Inuit culture is steeped in terrifying stories of monsters, myths and legends <\/strong>\u2013 each offering valuable life lessons about respecting nature and each other.<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember the first time I learned about one of Greenland<\/a>‘s monsters \u2013 the Qivittoq, a wandering spirit and mountain walker. I was listening to a friendly Greenlander sharing myths from her home country as we sat at Copenhagen Airport. Lykke, who is half Danish, half Greenlandic Inuit, told me about the terrifying creature as we waited to board a plane towards said monster. She wasn’t to know that I have an irrational fear of zombies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was terrified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, coming across Maria Bach Kreutzmann’s work years later as a bonafide ‘monster hunter’, I was intrigued. Who would want to go searching for these mythical creatures through historical documents, archives, and, more importantly, in person?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘The reason I call myself a monster hunter is because it’s an easy way to explain to people what I do,’ Maria laughs when I ask her. ‘I use that title when I give talks in schools. When I tell kids I disseminate culture, they don’t understand what that means. But when I tell them I hunt and find the monsters from our stories like Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter universe, they get it.’  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a writer who deep-dives into culture through traditions and lifestyle, I’ve always been fascinated by Greenlandic Inuit storytelling, such as the art of Uaajeerneq<\/a> \u2013 mask dancing \u2013 which dates back 4000 years. Passing on stories of resilience and survival through generations via verbal storytelling often requires giving those lessons a visual form so they are easy to remember.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Because our history hasn’t been historically<\/em> written down and we still pass a lot of stories down orally, I collect stories and talk about mythology in visual ways,’ Maria says. ‘People often come up to me to tell me stories and myths they grew up with, and my job as a monster hunter is to collect these stories, document them, and recount them to others.’  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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