Uses
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Ritual use
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Home use
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Making
2005
Uses
Aron Crowell: How would you use this? This is a snow beater. Is that what you would call it? Do you have a Chukchi name?
Nicolai Etteyne: [Says its Chukchi name]. It’s a very important thing for old Native people. They use for rituals, for snow beatings [beat snow off garments]. Old men, they need a helping hand, when you see them, they’re walking with [it as] a stick all year around. When you visit your friends – we don’t have a bell – you go up and clean your shoes [with it]. And they know someone is here and they invite you in. We believe it protects from bad spirits, because they put it on a door, and it look like he himself protects your home. If somebody comes, he himself cleans the people of bad spirits. They use for [it] rituals, many things.
Aron Crowell: So when you use the snow beater on yourself, you’re protecting yourself?
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes.
Aron Crowell: From bad spirits?
Nicolai Etteyne: It’s mostly used for wintertime, like I said. When your parka is frozen, you can just take it off and clean it. It’s the first use, because if you’re wet your clothes can freeze and won’t get warm again. Second, it’s used for rituals.
Ritual use
Aron Crowell: Could you talk about those a little please?
Nicolai Etteyne: My friend flipped boat in the ocean, and we could not find his body. The elders, they took this stick and a tied a rope to it and his things, and started asking what happened with our friend. It’s used for that.
Aron Crowell: . . . When you were here before with the group, they were talking about using these to lift someone’s head. Do you remember that? Head-lifting was a way of telling.
Could you describe that?
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes, it’s also when men are dead, they would use head-lifting. The ropes would tie to here and put on head of dead man and start asking questions. If the dead man did this [nods head], then it is ok. If he doesn’t lift his head, then he don’t want to do it.
Aron Crowell: So what kinds of questions?
Nicolai Etteyne: All kinds of questions: they can ask the future; they can ask, if he had things, who he is giving it to; who is owner of his dog team. His older son or daughter or a friend may ask him. Whoever he answers to is the one he wants to have it.
Aron Crowell: So, who he answers.
Nicolai Etteyne: It’s a very important thing in our culture.
Home use
Aron Crowell: Are there stories you have about this?
That would be good.
Nicolai Etteyne: I just know about it, a very important thing. If I present a [says its Chukchi name] to my best friends from our Chukchi culture, this is good for your home. We hang ours close to the door. Save your family, your home from bad things.
Aron Crowell: You hang it in the door? I don’t quite understand this.
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes, a little loop here [at end]. You can hang it anywhere.
Aron Crowell: Mm-hmm. And you keep it inside the house and that protects the entrance. Then when you go out you take it.
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes. You just take it and go.
Aron Crowell: Everybody or just the adults?
Nicolai Etteyne: In my family, because we travelled a lot of the time with my dad – we go hunting, we go fishing – and we take this with us, [says its Chukchi name].
If you start to freeze, your collar and head freeze, you just clean it up and you’re comfortable
Making
Aron Crowell: What’s this made out of?
Nicolai Etteyne: Reindeer horn, antlers.
Aron Crowell: So you have to carve it and bend it into shape?
Nicolai Etteyne: No, you just, with a knife of some kind, you just cut along. Some people cut from inside.
Aron Crowell: So you just cut off the parts sticking out?
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes.
Aron Crowell: So it’s just the central part of the antler.
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes just the central part. You take off all this.
Aron Crowell: Do people have designs on this? There’s some kind of little design.
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes some people like to make. It’s better to handle, these parts.
Aron Crowell: Is there a little drawing on there?
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes, they have designs.
Aron Crowell: Does this indicate who owns this?
Nicolai Etteyne: Yes, you can see who owns it by looking at the design.
Aron Crowell: Oh, so each person has their own design? Do you put this on all your property?
Nicolai Etteyne: No, maybe some people do this so you can see who this belongs to.
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