Here's an excerpt from George Guthridge's book The Kids from Nowhere. Basically, it's a book about a teacher (George Guthridge) who went to Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. He taught and led a Future Problem Solvers team to the national championship. It's an inspiring read. One part in particular hit me in regards to naming. In the following excerpt the kids face their school's teachers to solve a very practical problem. "The council has just received word that the local Headstart Program might lose its federal funding. There is too much absenteeism among preschoolers the program serves. What can be done?" So, here it is:
The next Monday, Bruce, who has scored the booklets, announces the winner.
The kids have beaten the teachers by fifty points.
Most of the teachers' solutions involve games and rewards designed to increase attendance. The kids, on the other hand, looked at the possible root causes of the problem. They noted that , since Eskimo children are named for a recently deceased loved one, disciplining a child can be an affront to the dead. The result, they argued, is that children in the village are often spoiled. The team proposed a return to discipline similar to that in the old days: renew the elders' disciplinary council and reestablish the gravel ring whre errant children were forced to exercise until exhausted. They also suggested developing a process in shich elders, not just anyone, will award certificates to kids with excellent attendance.(pp.181-182)
What do you think?
Piurci
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Aciryaraq "How to name"
Question: How did you get your name?
I find naming practices in the Cup'ik/Yup'ik culture absolutely fascinating! So much so that I even wrote a 17 page paper on it in my Oral Sources class senior year at UAF. My finding: there's still an awful lot more for me to learn here.
Often people get more than one name. A friend of mine is named Paangelria "Rower". That is the name she goes by. However, she has another, "secret", name Ananagaq. Only her mother knows that name of hers.
Names are usually given after someone dies. The deceased's name, ateq, must then be given to someone else. I imagine this could be to someone older or a newborn, either way. In a sense, I think it's the deceased's spirit that is being given back to life. I really wonder if this is what it was like traditionally and whether or not people still see it this way.
My college advisor, Walkie, would always tell me about his namesake. His name is Kumaggaq, who was a woman who helped the likes of Father Lineux write Yup'ik and translate the Bible. Now, Walkie carries on that "spirit" by teaching the Yup'ik language including writing and everything. Further, Kumaggaq was a woman so people sometimes know him by that name Arnaq "woman".
Oftentimes the relationship of the recipient of a name and the namesake's kin will continue that relationship. For example, a baby might be called "Grandpa" because his/her name was somebody's grandpa before he died.
To me, this all seems to delve deeply into Cup'ik/Yup'ik metaphysics. Their metaphysics-I've had explained-is circular in nature. If treated right, animal spirits would return out into a newborn thus creating a cycle of life and death. Now I'm not sure but my impression is that it's similar with humans yuut/cuut and their namesakes.
If asking someone their name, you could even ask Kituuga atren?, which literally translates as "Who is your name?" but may be better translated as "Who is your namesake?" Maybe there's an implication here that the spirit in some sense lives in the name...Maybe.
Piurci
I find naming practices in the Cup'ik/Yup'ik culture absolutely fascinating! So much so that I even wrote a 17 page paper on it in my Oral Sources class senior year at UAF. My finding: there's still an awful lot more for me to learn here.
Often people get more than one name. A friend of mine is named Paangelria "Rower". That is the name she goes by. However, she has another, "secret", name Ananagaq. Only her mother knows that name of hers.
Names are usually given after someone dies. The deceased's name, ateq, must then be given to someone else. I imagine this could be to someone older or a newborn, either way. In a sense, I think it's the deceased's spirit that is being given back to life. I really wonder if this is what it was like traditionally and whether or not people still see it this way.
My college advisor, Walkie, would always tell me about his namesake. His name is Kumaggaq, who was a woman who helped the likes of Father Lineux write Yup'ik and translate the Bible. Now, Walkie carries on that "spirit" by teaching the Yup'ik language including writing and everything. Further, Kumaggaq was a woman so people sometimes know him by that name Arnaq "woman".
Oftentimes the relationship of the recipient of a name and the namesake's kin will continue that relationship. For example, a baby might be called "Grandpa" because his/her name was somebody's grandpa before he died.
To me, this all seems to delve deeply into Cup'ik/Yup'ik metaphysics. Their metaphysics-I've had explained-is circular in nature. If treated right, animal spirits would return out into a newborn thus creating a cycle of life and death. Now I'm not sure but my impression is that it's similar with humans yuut/cuut and their namesakes.
If asking someone their name, you could even ask Kituuga atren?, which literally translates as "Who is your name?" but may be better translated as "Who is your namesake?" Maybe there's an implication here that the spirit in some sense lives in the name...Maybe.
Piurci
Angutet Arnat-llu "Men and Women"
I know that this is a highly involved topic. Men and women in the Cup'ik/Yup'ik culture each had their own roles in general. The men did the hunting while the women watched the kids and did the sewing, cooking, and other household tasks so the men could go hunting.
It's fascinating to me some of the taboos they had...and I know that their are a lot more. A teacher and local, James, mentioned during class the other day that each had their roles. He touched briefly on the men's roles in that there were hunters pissurtet and helpers ikayurtet. That's not to say that the ikayurtet didn't also hunt but that their main role was to help out in the village like gathering water, firewood, chopping wood, etc.
I certainly don't know all the tasks they would perform. One taboo mentioned was that men couldn't touch women or even walk down wind from a woman lest his hunting ability be lost. It was almost a form of cooties, but deadly serious. Life and death in a sense depended on the hunters ability to "bring home the bacon". If they happened to touch a woman, they'd wipe off the "cooties".
In fact, back 20-30 years ago or so men would sit on one side in buildings while women would sit on the other. This changed with western influence. However, I've definitely witnessed remnants of this mentality. For example, at the aformentioned funeral, men were on one side and the women were on the other...for the most part. Interesting: I definitely need to do some more reading on this.
It's fascinating to me some of the taboos they had...and I know that their are a lot more. A teacher and local, James, mentioned during class the other day that each had their roles. He touched briefly on the men's roles in that there were hunters pissurtet and helpers ikayurtet. That's not to say that the ikayurtet didn't also hunt but that their main role was to help out in the village like gathering water, firewood, chopping wood, etc.
I certainly don't know all the tasks they would perform. One taboo mentioned was that men couldn't touch women or even walk down wind from a woman lest his hunting ability be lost. It was almost a form of cooties, but deadly serious. Life and death in a sense depended on the hunters ability to "bring home the bacon". If they happened to touch a woman, they'd wipe off the "cooties".
In fact, back 20-30 years ago or so men would sit on one side in buildings while women would sit on the other. This changed with western influence. However, I've definitely witnessed remnants of this mentality. For example, at the aformentioned funeral, men were on one side and the women were on the other...for the most part. Interesting: I definitely need to do some more reading on this.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Cumikluku "Pay attention"
As much as I seem "stuck" out here, I love it out here too. The only way I could explain it is God really. I really love working with the students and others in the community. I notice too that I enjoy just hanging out with people. I don't really have to say anything; they don't either. Just being in another person's presence is really a neat experience. It illustrates to a very minor degree what it is like to be in God's presence.
I was freezing my butt off all weekend. The mercury was hovering around freezing with a frigid northerly. Mark Agimuk and his son took me out on the tundra for the weekend. I thought that it was absolutely fascinating. We took a long boat ride down the Ningliqvak out to Hooper Bay where we entered a shortcut passing Old Chevak Cev'allraq. Many of these shortcuts were originally dug out by the old timers. Erosion over a lil' time created quite substantial rivers like the shortcut we took. Mark pointed out two mountains in the distance to the north, namely Nasqulek "one with a head" and Ingrissaar (???). Nasqulek in particular is interesting because it has a head like feature just to the west. It is said that it lost it's head and it fell down on the tundra there.
We passed the shortcut and briefly stopped at Mark's summer fish camp. Then, we went out to the Aprun River, which can be taken all the way to the Yukon River. We found a strip of tundra and started some hunting. We were hunting for ducks and geese. Mark used a 12-gauge and his son used some other gun (I can't remember maybe a 410, I don't know). They used some binoculars, or qinrutek, to locate a likely patch of tundra. I followed Mark as he and his son split up. I learned a number of words and ways that Eskimos hunt. We knelt down on our knees on the wet and frozen brown tundra and waited for the birds to fly. ("on one's knees" is ciisqumingaluni, and lavluni is "being in a crouched position") Mark mentioned that this is how they hunt without decoys and everything. They shot a few ducks but only managed to get one. As Mark turned and shot, "Pow!" The duck was hit and slowly made its way down. Mark was saying, "Nunamun iggluten. Nunamun iggluten." which translates as "fall on the land". Unfortunately, it landed in the middle of a small lake.
That evening, we set up camp, had some cup of noodles and they took off for some more hunting. Noticing a white fox and some lagit/tuutangayiit "canadian geese". We caught five geese and a few more ducks before it was all said and done. I walked along the banks of the Tengluk River as they hunted and the son went down. It was chilly and I had to walk to stay warm. It was also stunningly gorgeous out and I enjoyed my walk along the river while the sun went down. I returned to the 8-man ginormous Cabela's tent and we all went to bed.
The next morning we awoke at 10ish, ate breakfast of hot doggies, sweet rolls, and coffee before making a break for the mouth of the Aprun River. We saw and went after a couple of seals near the mouth of a smaller river in the bay (Kuiggaq). To no avail, we caught none. We did do some more bird hunting though as we saw a bunch of swans, or qugyuut. They scrammed from the area but I learned a couple of vital lessons in hunting without even really hunting myself.
I had a tendency to get down on my knees and I'd delve into my thoughts. I was cold and would stare down at the tundra, nunapik. Suddenly, Mark stood up, twirled, and shot a duck nailing it. it happened so fast I don't think I could ever think that fast. Ducks are sneaky cumiknarqellriit. Afterwards I watched and noticed that Mark was ever scanning the tundra. So I did as well.
The ride back home was FRIGID. We arrived at about 7:30PM after 2-3 hours of boating. I was very cold but all right. When I got into the shower however, my feet, knees, and hands were beet red. Great trip, great fun. Quyana.
Piurci
I was freezing my butt off all weekend. The mercury was hovering around freezing with a frigid northerly. Mark Agimuk and his son took me out on the tundra for the weekend. I thought that it was absolutely fascinating. We took a long boat ride down the Ningliqvak out to Hooper Bay where we entered a shortcut passing Old Chevak Cev'allraq. Many of these shortcuts were originally dug out by the old timers. Erosion over a lil' time created quite substantial rivers like the shortcut we took. Mark pointed out two mountains in the distance to the north, namely Nasqulek "one with a head" and Ingrissaar (???). Nasqulek in particular is interesting because it has a head like feature just to the west. It is said that it lost it's head and it fell down on the tundra there.
We passed the shortcut and briefly stopped at Mark's summer fish camp. Then, we went out to the Aprun River, which can be taken all the way to the Yukon River. We found a strip of tundra and started some hunting. We were hunting for ducks and geese. Mark used a 12-gauge and his son used some other gun (I can't remember maybe a 410, I don't know). They used some binoculars, or qinrutek, to locate a likely patch of tundra. I followed Mark as he and his son split up. I learned a number of words and ways that Eskimos hunt. We knelt down on our knees on the wet and frozen brown tundra and waited for the birds to fly. ("on one's knees" is ciisqumingaluni, and lavluni is "being in a crouched position") Mark mentioned that this is how they hunt without decoys and everything. They shot a few ducks but only managed to get one. As Mark turned and shot, "Pow!" The duck was hit and slowly made its way down. Mark was saying, "Nunamun iggluten. Nunamun iggluten." which translates as "fall on the land". Unfortunately, it landed in the middle of a small lake.
That evening, we set up camp, had some cup of noodles and they took off for some more hunting. Noticing a white fox and some lagit/tuutangayiit "canadian geese". We caught five geese and a few more ducks before it was all said and done. I walked along the banks of the Tengluk River as they hunted and the son went down. It was chilly and I had to walk to stay warm. It was also stunningly gorgeous out and I enjoyed my walk along the river while the sun went down. I returned to the 8-man ginormous Cabela's tent and we all went to bed.
The next morning we awoke at 10ish, ate breakfast of hot doggies, sweet rolls, and coffee before making a break for the mouth of the Aprun River. We saw and went after a couple of seals near the mouth of a smaller river in the bay (Kuiggaq). To no avail, we caught none. We did do some more bird hunting though as we saw a bunch of swans, or qugyuut. They scrammed from the area but I learned a couple of vital lessons in hunting without even really hunting myself.
I had a tendency to get down on my knees and I'd delve into my thoughts. I was cold and would stare down at the tundra, nunapik. Suddenly, Mark stood up, twirled, and shot a duck nailing it. it happened so fast I don't think I could ever think that fast. Ducks are sneaky cumiknarqellriit. Afterwards I watched and noticed that Mark was ever scanning the tundra. So I did as well.
The ride back home was FRIGID. We arrived at about 7:30PM after 2-3 hours of boating. I was very cold but all right. When I got into the shower however, my feet, knees, and hands were beet red. Great trip, great fun. Quyana.
Piurci
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Mouse food
Last week was another nice, restful week. No more xcountry running. But it was still filled with interesting things. Clotilda Stone, Eggsualek, passed away a week previously so the Catholic Church held her funeral. The procession was rather fascinating. It started with a full house and the close family members, who were women, all laid roses on her wooden plywood casket. The sons and daughters were all seated in the front row, with the women on one side and the men on the other. It seems like she was an amazing lady; I wish I could've met her. Then singing and worship preceeded some preaching both from the Catholic priest and Eggsualek's son. Some people came up and gave remarks about her life. Then, someone opened the casket with a Makita to reveal the corpse.
A long line formed of people who "walked the line" giving their condolences and blessings to the family one by one after seeing the casket. I was nervous to make a faux pas. So, I paid very close attention to the people ahead of me, esp. the guy directly ahead of me. Passing the casket, I dipped my hand in the water and made a small cross on Eggsualek's right shoulder. I guess it's some kind of blessing, but I don't know.
I was kind of nervous walkin the line, too, since I didn't know much of the family that well. One of the elder's daughters works at the school and so I know her. But I wanted to show how sorry I was that they lost their mother. The guys especially, since they didn't know me, were not very receptive.
After closing the casket up, they took her out to be buried. Four guys walked her with a cross in front to the cemetary where there was an open grave awaiting down at the end next to her son and husband. We put the casket in and buried the corpse. It was hard, back-breaking work, but fun all the same to help out. After filling the hole, some tundra was put on top probably to keep the dirt in place. While there, Elias, one of Eggsualek's sons, explained to me that the cemetary was the first runway for Chevak.
The funeral lasted from about 3:30 to 6:30 and was supposed to start at 3PM. From the cemetary I went over to the Tribal Council building for a potluck upon the invitation of my fellow coworker. "Neryartua!" "You're gonna come over and eat!" She said. The people who lose a loved one will give away lots of food and goods to show their grattitude toward the people who have comforted their morning. That's the best I can understand it. Moose stew, seal, seal oil, Eskimo ice cream of all kinds, breads, and you name it was there for the eating. I had some moose stew, herring eggs, a few kinds of akutaq "Eskimo ice cream" including some with mouse food.
Akutaq consists of Crisco, berries, fish, etc. mixed together to form a tasty, allbeit very unhealthy, treat. In fact, the word means "thing mixed together."
I visited a couple of friends from the village this weekend. On Saturday evening, I went over and visited John and his wife Teresa. They offered me some BBQ silver salmon, rice, and veggies. Yummy! They had gone out and collected mouse food, which are roots of some sort that mice collect and can be dug up and collected. Teresa taught me the words for the 3 things you'll see in mouse food. Marallaq are tubers, a few inches long and stringy. Utngungssaq are small tear-drop shaped about the size of a pea. They are sweet and delicious. We were pulling out the neqnialquq, which were black and inedible really.
I also got my first indication for being able to build a qayaq. First thing's first, I need to go out on the nunapik, tundra, and find some wood. One piece needs to be 2 and 1/2 cagneqs long. A cagneq is a traditional measure the span of one's arms, their wing span. Also I need to find one that is a stump, i.e., it curls upward, for the front of the qayaq. I hope to get started soon. I better go looking.
On Sunday eve, I visited another good friend of mine, his wife, and family. The night was peppered with stories of hunting, fishing and alangruqs, ghosts or apparitions. If I go and buy 3 yards of fabric, Mary offered to make me a huge overcoat qaspeq (a sweatshirt with a large front pocket), that it'd be very weather proof. I've got some work to do so chao for now.
Piurci
A long line formed of people who "walked the line" giving their condolences and blessings to the family one by one after seeing the casket. I was nervous to make a faux pas. So, I paid very close attention to the people ahead of me, esp. the guy directly ahead of me. Passing the casket, I dipped my hand in the water and made a small cross on Eggsualek's right shoulder. I guess it's some kind of blessing, but I don't know.
I was kind of nervous walkin the line, too, since I didn't know much of the family that well. One of the elder's daughters works at the school and so I know her. But I wanted to show how sorry I was that they lost their mother. The guys especially, since they didn't know me, were not very receptive.
After closing the casket up, they took her out to be buried. Four guys walked her with a cross in front to the cemetary where there was an open grave awaiting down at the end next to her son and husband. We put the casket in and buried the corpse. It was hard, back-breaking work, but fun all the same to help out. After filling the hole, some tundra was put on top probably to keep the dirt in place. While there, Elias, one of Eggsualek's sons, explained to me that the cemetary was the first runway for Chevak.
The funeral lasted from about 3:30 to 6:30 and was supposed to start at 3PM. From the cemetary I went over to the Tribal Council building for a potluck upon the invitation of my fellow coworker. "Neryartua!" "You're gonna come over and eat!" She said. The people who lose a loved one will give away lots of food and goods to show their grattitude toward the people who have comforted their morning. That's the best I can understand it. Moose stew, seal, seal oil, Eskimo ice cream of all kinds, breads, and you name it was there for the eating. I had some moose stew, herring eggs, a few kinds of akutaq "Eskimo ice cream" including some with mouse food.
Akutaq consists of Crisco, berries, fish, etc. mixed together to form a tasty, allbeit very unhealthy, treat. In fact, the word means "thing mixed together."
I visited a couple of friends from the village this weekend. On Saturday evening, I went over and visited John and his wife Teresa. They offered me some BBQ silver salmon, rice, and veggies. Yummy! They had gone out and collected mouse food, which are roots of some sort that mice collect and can be dug up and collected. Teresa taught me the words for the 3 things you'll see in mouse food. Marallaq are tubers, a few inches long and stringy. Utngungssaq are small tear-drop shaped about the size of a pea. They are sweet and delicious. We were pulling out the neqnialquq, which were black and inedible really.
I also got my first indication for being able to build a qayaq. First thing's first, I need to go out on the nunapik, tundra, and find some wood. One piece needs to be 2 and 1/2 cagneqs long. A cagneq is a traditional measure the span of one's arms, their wing span. Also I need to find one that is a stump, i.e., it curls upward, for the front of the qayaq. I hope to get started soon. I better go looking.
On Sunday eve, I visited another good friend of mine, his wife, and family. The night was peppered with stories of hunting, fishing and alangruqs, ghosts or apparitions. If I go and buy 3 yards of fabric, Mary offered to make me a huge overcoat qaspeq (a sweatshirt with a large front pocket), that it'd be very weather proof. I've got some work to do so chao for now.
Piurci
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Iraluq
It's been about a month since my last post and a lot has happened as I've been overly busy. I thought I'd start with the word iraluq, meaning moon or moonth. (Ha ha ha) Somebody has previously mentioned that Yup'iks traditionally had 13, not 12, moonths. This calendar would be a better fit than our 12 moonth calendar. But I imagine only a few elders, teggenret (lit. hard ones), still know or have heard of the 13 moonths.
I'm a bit nastalgic since the x-country season is over. The Chevak boys had a chance to win regions for their 8th straight year but struggled at Regionals in Dillingham. I went with them and routed them on at the halfway point. It was cold! Brrrrrrr!!! It even started to snow during the races. Our star, Harald, however won the regional title for his fourth straight year with a PR 16:38. Now that's really flying. Between the girls and guys, 5 made it to state in Palmer this last weekend. I'll see shortly how they did.
Dillingham seems like an interesting place. After the races, I got to walk around in the blowing snow. The three of us walking around looked like snowmen with plenty of snow sticking to our coats. It's small with lots of tundra, some trees, and some mountains in the distance. I've always wanted to visit Wood-Tikchik Park out there. Maybe some kayaking and climbing out there lies in the future. Everything was completely dead on Saturday though. Nothing going on. Nobody driving the streets. Nobody even walking the streets.
I shot a gun for the first time this last week. A few of my students took me out for owl hunting. (These owls we were looking for were small ones called anipat) They taught me how to shoot a 22 and I did a few times in vain. Those darn owls are fast and it's tought to see them well at dusk. Ap'ang hit one but when it hit the tundra he lost it because it was already pretty dark. We were going for these owls for decorative purposes. They have pretty feathers and make great dance fans or trinkits or whatever.
Moose hunting season ended as October started. I didn't get to go. Rats! I really wanted to do some packing. I love packing heavy weights. However, on Sunday after I got back from Dillingham, my roommate Ken had brought home a moose he had caught that weekend. So we spent all night cutting and packing the meat in the freezer.
I went out for a 15-miler yesterday. It was nice. As I started, it was a bit windy and rainy, but the wind soon died down and by the end the sun was shining. It was an absolutely glorious day to run! I got to watch locals get out in their boats to go seal hunting. I also observed some builders driving long pilings into the tundra. Ping ping ping! And a dog joined me for the last 7-mile portion. He looked tuckered by the end, but he could still woop me. Or should I say, "Woof me!"? Ha ha ha.
Piurci
I'm a bit nastalgic since the x-country season is over. The Chevak boys had a chance to win regions for their 8th straight year but struggled at Regionals in Dillingham. I went with them and routed them on at the halfway point. It was cold! Brrrrrrr!!! It even started to snow during the races. Our star, Harald, however won the regional title for his fourth straight year with a PR 16:38. Now that's really flying. Between the girls and guys, 5 made it to state in Palmer this last weekend. I'll see shortly how they did.
Dillingham seems like an interesting place. After the races, I got to walk around in the blowing snow. The three of us walking around looked like snowmen with plenty of snow sticking to our coats. It's small with lots of tundra, some trees, and some mountains in the distance. I've always wanted to visit Wood-Tikchik Park out there. Maybe some kayaking and climbing out there lies in the future. Everything was completely dead on Saturday though. Nothing going on. Nobody driving the streets. Nobody even walking the streets.
I shot a gun for the first time this last week. A few of my students took me out for owl hunting. (These owls we were looking for were small ones called anipat) They taught me how to shoot a 22 and I did a few times in vain. Those darn owls are fast and it's tought to see them well at dusk. Ap'ang hit one but when it hit the tundra he lost it because it was already pretty dark. We were going for these owls for decorative purposes. They have pretty feathers and make great dance fans or trinkits or whatever.
Moose hunting season ended as October started. I didn't get to go. Rats! I really wanted to do some packing. I love packing heavy weights. However, on Sunday after I got back from Dillingham, my roommate Ken had brought home a moose he had caught that weekend. So we spent all night cutting and packing the meat in the freezer.
I went out for a 15-miler yesterday. It was nice. As I started, it was a bit windy and rainy, but the wind soon died down and by the end the sun was shining. It was an absolutely glorious day to run! I got to watch locals get out in their boats to go seal hunting. I also observed some builders driving long pilings into the tundra. Ping ping ping! And a dog joined me for the last 7-mile portion. He looked tuckered by the end, but he could still woop me. Or should I say, "Woof me!"? Ha ha ha.
Piurci
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