Speaking with Elders

During Cultural Week, a few of the elders in the village came to talk to the kids.  It was very interesting to hear them speak about their past and history here in Alaska.  I thought I’d share some of their stories with you.

Old Koliganek

Koliganek has been moved twice.  There is what is known as “1st Old Koliganek” and “2nd Old Koliganek.”  1st Old Koliganek was located on the Nuyakuk River.  I’m not sure when they moved from 1st Old Koliganek to 2nd Old Koliganek, but in about 1964, they moved from 2nd Old Koliganek to New Koliganek (where we live now).  The village was moved due to flooding and an earthquake that happened on Good Friday that year.  During the flood, all the women and children (and eventually the men) were evacuated via helicopter to other villages (mainly New Stuyahok and Ekwok).  The first sno-go came to New Koliganek in the late 1960s (it “looked funny though”).  Electricity came to the village around 1968.  TV arrived came in the early 1970s.  The first phone was in the village council in the mid-1970s.  There was one phone for the whole village!  There was no airport.  Planes would land behind the village, and it was first come, first serve, just get in the plane!  No reservations!

Hunting

The drawing on the top is a spear and throwing board.
On the bottom in a kayak.

They used to use specially shaped boards, called throwing boards, to throw 3-pronged or 3-barbed arrows.  The boards would give them more leverage so they could throw the arrows harder and faster.  The barbs or arrows were usually made of walrus tusk because it is ivory and hard and would not break.  Sometimes, moose bone was used to make fish arrows.  They would hunt for fish after they turned red from spawning and were in the slews and no longer traveling upriver.  They also used these boards for spearing seals.

When it came to hunting to bears, they were very brave.  They would lay down in a bear’s known path with a handmade metal knife, attached to a long stick, and wait for the bear to cross the path.  They would stab the bear in the throat, because that’s the only area there are no bones. “They were so brave in those days.  Would you like to hunt a bear like that?”

Travel

There were not any sno-gos.  They used dog sleds instead.  They did everything with dog teams: hunting, gathering wood, traveling, etc.  Everyone had a dog team, even the women.  Dog teams were mostly huskies, no labs.  “It used to take forever to go to Dillingham!”

Measurement

They used their hands, arm lengths, and finger widths for measuring, not tape measures.  Everything was made for the individual, with their own body measurements.  Nothing was mass produced.

Making Kayaks

One of the elders, sketching a diagram of a kayak.

Moose ribs were used for the bottom of the kayak, and were slowly bent into the perfect shape so that the boat would not tip.  They were fitted into wooden frames usually.  Then, they were covered with stretched caribou hides that had the hair removed by keeping them wet until they almost turned sour, and then the hair is just removed.  The kayak is made waterproof by covering the hide with bear fat or sticky-head oil/fat.  The kayaks that were made with only one opening and mostly covered were used more for people by the ocean.  Those people would use seal-gut rain parkas.  The parka sits over the ring of the kayak when they sit in it, and seals around the ring.  This allows the person and the inside of the kayak to become completely waterproof, inside and out, if they tipped over.  When they made kayaks upriver, they wanted to make kayaks more open so they could use them for more storage (nets, fish, etc.).

Dishes

Dishes were made out of roots of trees.  Everyone had their own bowl and utensils.  No one ever did anyone else’s dishes.  You brought your own dishes when you went somewhere to eat.  (BRILLIANT!)  Before metal pans, they would heat rocks and put them in bowls of water to heat the water to boiling point.

Animals

The warmest furs are rabbit, otter, beaver, fox, squirrel, and muskrat.  They never ate fox or wolf.  Fox was used for bait or for dogs, but needed to be cooked very well.  They would use fox for coats or insoles.  Northern people would eat mink, otter, or wolverine.  Many parkas were made of squirrel and caribou

The elders also talked a lot about Yup’ik values.  Here are some of the important values they had to share:

Be Resourceful

When you go out in the wilderness without resources, you have to become resourceful.  Use whatever you have available to you.  If your shoes have a hole, sew it up right away.  Take care of things as soon as they happen.  Even now, you should have a survival kit every time you travel, even men.

Long ago, even men had a version of a sewing kit with a needle, thread, and tools that they would take out in the wilderness to fix things (such as mend furs and clothing) because they would be gone for a month or so at a time.

One of the students, using an ulu.

Do Not Be Wasteful

Do not waste food.  Do not be picky eaters.  Try food, even if you are not sure of it.  Do not be a fool being wasteful, just because it seem like it’s easy to get things.

Be Helpful to Your Neighbor

If you see someone that needs help, help them right away.  Do not expect to be paid; just help them.  It makes them happy.  It is a good feeling to help others.  If you see any elders, it brings you luck to help them.

Speaking Yup’ik

Listen closer, and you will learn.  Listening helps you learn.  The more you listen if your parents speak it, the more you learn.

Tool Usage

Young girls are not as good with ulus.  They should practice more.  They should also learn and practice sewing.

Culture Week

So, this week was Culture Week at the school.  Because it was the first week of moose hunting, we were going to have a lot of absences.  So, the staff decided that, instead of fighting absences and make-up work, we would alter our curriculum to fit the needs of our community.  We allowed students who wanted to go moose hunting to go out (and even offered adults a fuel stipend for each student they took out on a cultural activity).  For the kids that came to school, we had activities that were culturally relevant as well.

Peeled poles for the fish racks

One of the finished fish racks

With the middle school and high school kids on Monday and Tuesday, we built a fish rack in the morning.  In the afternoons, we had elders come in and talk with the students.  

On Wednesday, the kids went down and split fish with ulus (traditional Alaskan knives) in the morning, and then we went berry picking the in afternoon.  

A selection of ulus

Splitting fish with an ulu

A rack full of split fish

Thursday, the weather was bum in the morning, so we had the kids work on pictures slideshows of this week the morning.  Then the older kids taught the elementary kids NYO (Native Youth Olympics) events.  They taught them the events below.  (I’ll do my best to explain how they work.  Unfortunately, I don’t want to post pictures with my students’ faces because I don’t have their permission to do so.  Instead I’ve posted links, in case my description doesn’t make sense.)  On Friday, we had a small NYO event for the elementary kids to show off their skills to the community, then we had a big potluck to finish off the week.  It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!

NYO Events

• Kneel Jump - Kids start down on their knees.  They use their arms as leverage to jump up and forward onto their feet.  The goal is to land on both feet, with as much distance as possible.
• Stick Pull - Two kids start out sitting, facing each other.  Their feet are propped against one another.  They are holding on to the same stick (they take turns with their hands either on the inside or outside so it’s fair).  They pull on the stick until they pull their opponent completely towrads them or their opponent lets go.
• Seal Hop - Kids start out in a push up position (usually, girls have their hands flat on the ground, and boys are on their knuckles.  For our purposes and the age of the kids we were working with, we only taught them with their hands flat on the ground).  The kids hop across the floor in this position.  If you were really being judged, your butt would have to stay down.  Time doesn’t matter, only distance.

All these kicks require a little set up.  There is a ball (about the size of a softball) attached to a string, which is hanging over the top of our basketball hoops.  The other end of the string is attached to a weight which is placed on the floor so the height of the ball can be adjusted.

• Alaskan High Kick - First, the kids sit on the floor, facing the ball.  They hold one foot with the opposite hand (e.g. they hold their left foot with their right hand).  They balance on their other hand and kick the ball with the foot they are not holding.  The height of the ball is raised after each kick until the competitor can no longer kick the ball.
• One Foot High Kick - This one usually has a small running start.  The kids jump straight into the air, bending their kicking leg and kicking the ball.  They have to land on the same foot they kicked with, and keep their balance.  
• Two Foot High Kick - Very similar to the one foot high kick.  This one, kids jump with both feet, keep their feet together to kick the ball, and land on both feet, keeping their balance.

Superstitions and Other Weird Things

This blog would’ve probably been better if I posted it closer to Halloween.  But, what can ya do?  I’ve discovered life up here is a bit different.  They have different superstitions and beliefs up here.  Some sound familiar to things I’ve heard about before, others are a little more strange to me.

Hairy Man

We’ve all heard about Big Foot, right?  I suppose every place has some sort of large, hairy creature.  Down in Colorado, we call it Big Foot.  We don’t usually pay any mind to the idea of such a creature.  It’s not real, right?  Who knows.  Apparently there was a special on the Discovery Channel or something about Big Foot eating all the elk in Manitou Springs.  Well, I know all those Manitou people are slightly crazy, and usually pretty high...but why it made it on the Discovery Channel, I have no idea.  Anyway, up here, they call him “the Hairy Man.”  I suppose it falls into the same category as Big Foot.  Extra-large, extra-hairy creature that eats the animals.  The people up here will swear to you that they’ve seen the hairy man.  And, they run away from him, because he’s scary.

Northern Lights

This one is pretty basic I suppose.  All the kids have told me that if you whistle at the Northern Lights, the lights will snatch you up.  They’ve told me about a kid they knew that disappeared.  Good thing I can’t whistle very well!  Ha!

“Little People”

This one has a whole day devoted to them.  January 18 is “Day of the Little People.”  Around here, they call them “Sintheaqs” (I’m not sure if that’s spelled correctly, as it’s a Yup’ik word, and I don’t speak Yup’ik).  It’s pronounced “sin-the-ucks.”  I’m pretty sure that different areas have different names for them.  They’re little, gremlin-like creatures that come out and cause havoc.  Everyone’s afraid of them, like they fear the Hairy Man.  They don’t talk about them much, other than their devilish creatures and no one likes them.  When things go wrong, and no one can explain it, they always blame the “little people.”

Bad Bread

How many of us has tried to bake something and it’s gone terribly wrong and tasted awful?  Apparently, when that happens, you should throw it away immediately, otherwise someone in your family will die.  eekk!

Spiders

Only males can kill spiders.  If females kill spiders, it will rain for days.  Females must trap the spiders and put them back outside.

Hunting Customs

When someone gets their first moose up here, it is customary to give it all away to the community.  Because subsistence is the way of life up here, almost everyone who is old enough will have a moose tag during moose season.  So, when the young kids shoot their first moose and give it away, the older family members will also be able to get moose to stock their freezers for the winter.