Alaska Native Collections – Sharing Knowledge

2002

Materials

Aron Crowell: This [bottom trim] part is wolverine?

John Phillip, Sr.: That’s not wolverine.

Neva Rivers: Carayukuyuungatuq. Melqurri nanillritneng aturluni. Aqsakuyuugut.

(Maybe it’s a piece of bear. It’s using the thinner part of the fur. It is the abdomen part.)

Joan Hamilton: Shorter fur, normally like this, would normally indicate maybe from the stomach, lower area.

Neva Rivers: Carayiit tungulrianeng tangtukenka black bear-aneng pilarait. Melqurrit taugaam iqtunganateng. Carayayaagaam tua pikliu.

(The ones they call black bear that I see are called carayak.

Their fur seems to be thicker. It may be from a bear cub.)

John Phillip, Sr.: Unaunani.

(It is very soft.)

Joan Hamilton: That indicates possibly some kind of a young bear.

Neva Rivers: Qimugtet, qimugkauyagaq tua wii neqakaaqa.

(Dogs, it makes me think of a dog.)

Joan Hamilton: We used to save dog skin too. We didn’t throw away anything. Mana-qaa iruaneng pillruuq [was this (side panel) from the leg]?

Neva Rivers: Aqsam tunginun maken ilulirneraneng [it is from the abdominal area, the inner part.]. Inner part of the animal always has thinner hair.

Joan Hamilton: Mana-mi?

(What about this [narrow bands]?

John Phillip, Sr.: Tuntullilria-w’ maa-i.

(Maybe it’s caribou/reindeer.(1))

Neva Rivers: Iruitneng maa-i.

(Here from the legs.)

Design

Joan Hamilton: Qaralissutii cauga?

(What is the decoration?)

Neva Rivers: Mana [this] red thin one, uitercimauq [red ochre] here. I think they just take the piece, clip off the hair and make it fancy. Imallu-qa sinew-neng ivalungqerrluteng [and their thread was sinew]. They know how to cut out the things that they used long time ago, the best part to use for where. They save it. When they have enough to make the whole thing, they put them all together.

Aron Crowell: Why did people make such beautiful clothing?

Neva Rivers: I think it’s them making styles from the ancestors, they go on to the young. The new generation will try to follow that. Remember I told you earlier? We have all the different designs, depending on where people come from. See, we know all the different patterns they have. So we can know where people come from, from my area or Kusquqvaq [Kuskokwim], from Bethel area, any place. We have the same kind of things but different. All the places have different patterns of their own.

Joan Hamilton: And the way they place the decorations. It’s because of the strong identification with your origin. Niitlalruriakut elpeneng nalluyagucaqunang [we would hear that we shouldn’t forget your identity]. There’s a saying, “From the time before you were born, always know who you are. Don’t forget who you are.” And that’s part of this whole thing of reinforcing who you are. It was more to do with identification, identification of what village you were from, and then within the village, identification with what family you came from.

Aron Crowell: Did your clothing also say something about your success as a hunter?

Neva Rivers: Atkumi iliigni tagnellrunga alngarlu explain-arluku. Anguyagssuutellermegneng-llu qaralingqerrluni. Uggun-llu ancillengqerrluni, pitgam tumellrani.

(I saw one parka that explained that. It had decorations from the time they had war. It had [a design that marked] a hole this way where something went through, the path of the arrow.)

That’s a good mark. They made a design for that, [showing] he’s the one that had that wound. So they have that design for rest of their [clothing], when they don’t fight. And they know about that trademark, or hoop, whatever they use for their trademark.

Joan Hamilton: Iliin nukalpiaq-mi? Aturait-qa assinrulallruut?

(What about a good hunter? Was their clothing better?

(2))

Virginia Minock: When, I grew up, my grandma used to tell me stories. When there’s a man that’s a good hunter, and they have one daughter, or they have other daughters but they favor this one, they dress her up really neat to make sure that people understand that it was a great hunter’s daughter or their favorite daughter. They made parkas where at the front, it’s fancy.

Neva Rivers: [Gestures U-shaped hemline.]

Joan Hamilton: Aanama qanrutellruanga tamakucineng-gguq aturlallruukut-llu wangkuta.

(My mom told me that we used to wear that kind.)

Virginia Minock: They’re better to wear because of that, you know . . .

Joan Hamilton: Pektellerni [when walking]. For movement, they’re much better to have that style. Sewing, the quality of stitching was really admired. But that doesn’t necessarily have to do with your kin, it’s just that the artistry is truly appreciated.

And with all of that work, at that time it required a lot more energy, putting into something like this, rather than just putting solid skins together. They took great pride in the way they looked. It also indicates elluarrluki uum pilallrungatai [she did this with great care]. It’s indicative of how talented and how much you enjoy and all of this special-ness of the child.

Connection with animals

Aron Crowell: Do people think that there’s some spirit of the animal, or some connection to the animal that’s still in the clothing? That’s in the skins?

Virginia Minock: When they come fresh, when they just bring in an animal. That’s the only part I know about, before it’s cut up or while it’s drying, that the spirit is still there. And it’s going to go out and tell the rest of them, this family took good care of me, this family is a good place to stay.

Taugaam ukut apcaaqut, nauga wangkuta qanrucimalalriakut ca tamarmi yungqertuq?

Imna-llu pitarkaq itrutaqatgu taun-gguq, tauna-gguq pitarkaq yungqertuq. Taum-llu-gguq yuan uitarcurlakuni ilani qanrutarkauluki uitacurlagniluni taumun pissqevkenaku. Tua-llu tauna tuqumtua-w’ tau-wa amiirluku amia aturaqliuskuni yuan-qaa cali nayurciqaa? Wallu-qaa aturauresskan yuan uniciiqaa?

(They are asking, you know we were always told that all animals have spirits? When an animal is brought into the house, we were told that that animal had a spirit. If the person who caught it doesn’t take care of it, that animal would somehow tell his relatives/neighbors not to go to him. Then when that person who killed it skins it and it becomes a piece of clothing, does its spirit still live in it? Or when it becomes clothing does its spirit leaves the skin?)

John Phillip, Sr.: Taringessiyaanritaaqa qanllertek.

(I don’t really understand what you are talking about.)

Neva Rivers: Elpekumanarqeciquq-gguq-qaa tavaten taum elpegnarqeciquq-gguq-qaa tauna? Tauna pitarkam yua elpekumaciquq aturaurtengremi-llu?

(Can the spirit of the animal be felt? Can the spirit of the animal be felt even when it becomes clothing?)

John Phillip, Sr.: Qamiquqainanek kiingan cugguinek qamiquqainanek wolverine-am pianek pingqellrunga, taugaam augkunek-llu-qaa pitangqellian alainrat-ggun imkut qater. Augkut qaterliarnek pilallrat tamakunek qaralilirluki una-ll’ pillrua tau-w’ aanama. Wiinga cauciitellruaqa tauna wani taugaam tauna wani apaurluqa wani nukalpiarullruuq. Aipaagni wani elliin taumek pilivkallruanga tauna tamana wani canek pitaqelauciin im’ umyuaqluku taumek wani pilivkallruanga.

(I had a hat made of wolverine head to its chin, and it was about the time there were white beads. Those white beads were used for decorations that my mom made for me. I didn’t know what it was, but my grandfather was a great hunter.

Maybe he told her to make one for me with his catch, and maybe he thought of that and let her make one for me.)

Neva Rivers: Tangrruarutekluku. Uumeng tang acitraanermineng augna qetunraqa taum yuan elpekumalliamiu picurillrulria. Yuan taum ilani qanrutellrungatai elluarrluni pimaniluni taukut ullagyuki ilain. Apa’urluan tumekluku taumeng acitaa nacaarrameng elliin pitallraneng nacarrakaar. Elpekumakuniu, aparrlugaa-gguq aturluku ellitun piqayuut wani-wa. Tamatum nacarriutellran taum pulamarrlugnganaku.

(Look at it as an example. Ever since he let his son wear it, maybe he felt the spirit and became a good hunter. Maybe the spirit of that animal told his relatives that he was well taken care of and told them to go to him. His grandfather gave him a hat to wear [from the skin of an animal] that he caught on his own. If he is aware, he does things as his grandfather did. He is kind of doing like the one who gave him the hat.)

John Phillip, Sr.: Pissquumaluku.

(Let him do that way.)

Virginia Minock: Because he caught it [the wolverine] by hand. And it was his pride to give it to his grandson, and the head part as a cap.

Neva Rivers: His grandpa wished him to be like him and made a cap, gave him a good wish to be like him when he’s out hunting, [to be] a really good hunter just like his grandfather.

Joan Hamilton: The closest I’ve come to ayuquciput [our traditions], closest is like the Orthodox Jews. They say while you’re working on something, reflect on what you’re doing. It’s sort of the same way I think about when you’re sewing with skin. Think about the animal and how it gave itself to you so that you can be warm or dressed. It’s sort of interpreted as prayer, but to me that limits the essence of what we’re talking about. Instead it’s taking moments to reflect on what you’re doing and the animals that you’re using.

You know, how they became involved with you. It’s a lot more complex than just praying. It’s not the same thing. It’s taking focus on what you’re doing so that you can devote yourself to the task on hand. And it’s not just a narrow little task, it’s all these: the animal gave itself to you, the sinew gave itself you, you learned it from your mother, you learned it from your grandmother, apa’urlurpeneng [your grandfather] and all. There’s so many things involved that it helps you to be grateful for life, mana quyakluku tamalkuan [to be thankful for all of this].

Aron Crowell: And those things are aware of you too.

Joan Hamilton: They are, yes. Because then if you, takaqluki elluarrluki alukekumteki cal’ tainqigciiqut [if you respect them and take care of them carefully, they will come back]. They are aware if you eat your food, treat the skin with respect and not waste. Others will come back to you and say, “She’s really grateful to us for sacrificing ourselves for her own use.

Next time she needs it, we’ll make ourselves available to her.”

Aron Crowell: And is that part of the idea of the clothing too that the animal gave itself and it’s been used in a beautiful way, a very thoughtful way.

Joan Hamilton: And non-wasteful way, mm-hmm. It’s a connection. It’s the true essence of communing. And it’s part of learning, how you don’t just learn how to sew it, but you learn about the different ways they used to do it, and you learn your history at the same time.

Neva Rivers: Mm-hmm.

Joan Hamilton: So it gives you more a sense of belonging, like what she was saying, you know, generations back.

Neva Rivers: “When the hunter comes with a seal,” at home my grandma used to tell my sister, “Unguvauq cali,nalaigu [it is still living, kill it].” My sister would take a kegginalek [ulu] and cut it just above the eyebrows.

(3) Tava-llu pirraarluku [then after that], you have to give it water. I put water in here [shoulder joint], water in here [other shoulder joint]. Merrciluku, qanrulluku-llu, ilaani-gguq qaruskiiki mer’put-gguq neqnirquq [Let it drink, then tell it to tell its relatives that our water tastes good]. Ilaani-gguq taisqekiiliki wangkutnun [tell it to tell its relatives to come to us].

Joan Hamilton: It’s like even after the seal has been killed, talking to it implies that we still know that it has feeling.

Neva Rivers: Ca tamalkurmeng living-arniat-ggu.

(They say every living thing has a spirit.)

Bladder Festival

Neva Rivers: Sunday there was a Louie Bunyan’s Bladder Festival. We call it Bladder Festival, Nakaciurluteng.(4)

Joan Hamilton: Nakaciurluteng, ii-i [Bladder Festival, yes]. They have what’s known as in Hooper Bay, Louie Bunyan Bladder Festival, but it’s in name only. They don’t use the bladders like they did.

Neva Rivers: Just to named it for festival to honor Louis Bunyan.

Joan Hamilton: Louis Bunyan was one of four people who was very effective in policy making as far as maintaining subsistence and marine mammal protection for subsistence use. And he died recently, so we tend to name things after people died, including our own names.

Neva Rivers: Ii-i [yes]. It’s the nakacuk [bladder] that we save. They used to save all the sea mammals’ bladder. That’s why I blown one up for my grandson, the way I used to see my papa doing and my mama. I soak it in water and blow it up, very clean and still in my house. I blow it up and think about my background. This are the ones that they used to save, because they’re still living.

They put them away. And in the wintertime, they soak them again and blow them up, and they hang them all in a qaygiq [men’s house].(5) And qayalinguarluteng [they pretend to make a kayak], that piece of qayaq [kayak] frame.

Joan Hamilton: Rack for a small kayak.

Neva Rivers: They hang up all the ones that have been saved, all the bladders they have caught in the springtime. They keep them all the all summer long. They dry them and put them away. And when the time comes to make them go away back to the sea, they blow them up again. They hang them up, and all the boys will do it. All the boys will be naked. And they use water, and they splash it on them, and they splash it out. Maybe twice I’ve seen that kind of thing, but girls never came around with them, only men and boys in the qaygiq.

In the wintertime, they carried them all out to the water where they opened a hole in the river, and they put them in there.

They give them all back to the sea. That’s what they used to do long time ago. It’s a Bladder Festival. We had a Louie Bunyan’s Festival, but now the way they do it, we don’t use bladders. It’s only just to name it for that, we call it Bladder Festival. Just to picture it for that.

Joan Hamilton: Piyaureskuneng-gguq assinruyartuq.

(They say that if they start doing that again it would be better.)

Neva Rivers: I don’t know. I think they will not do it the way we did it a long time ago, but we tell the story about it.

Teaching

John Phillip, Sr.: Tauna umyuaqluku tamana tamaa-i. Tauna umyuaqluku piamku elliin pillra cali wiinga iluperanka maa-i ayautetuanka ekluki snuu-kuumun taluyanun-llu wangtun pinrilengramki. Ciuqlirmi tut’garaanka tangvagtellua pirraarlua patukartaqamki maaten pinaunka aka patukarartiyagallinilriit canegnek.

Tamaa-i tamana umyuaqutnguluku ellaita wangkutnun, ici-w’arcaqerluku wiinga wani piyumiitekaaqa taum apa’urluma pillra tamaa-i tuaten.

(I think about that time. I think about that time doing what he [my grandfather] used to do, and so I bring my great grandchildren by putting them in the snow-go [(snow machine)] and go to the fish traps even though I am not bringing them exactly the way I was brought there. Before that time I brought my grandchildren to watch me, and after I do that they look for grass to cover them. They thought of that for us, you know, especially for me, I want to do what my grandfather did for me.)

Neva Rivers: The way your grandpa gave you the nacaq [hat].

John Phillip, Sr.: Tua-i makucetun, makucetun aturatun pitaluku yuutekngamteggu wangkuta yugni. Ca wani umyuaqutngulartut taqumalria ukuunrilngermi aturaunrilngermi wall’ calissuun. Keputengqertua-llu wani apa’urluma tuqullrungraan.

Camani elliin keputiinek tegumiaqluku. Cana’assuutiinek-llu. Tuacetun tua-i tamana umyuaqluku . . . tamakut umyuaqurluki-w’ tau-i pilaamki tauna umyuaqurluku pilarqa. Kiimi taum qanrutenritaanga apa’urluma. Amllertut apa’urlunka qanrucestenka. Tamaa-i tamakut tuaten umyuaqluki unguvavkangnaqluku tamaaggun catairutengraan.

(Like this, like our clothing, because they are our way as Yup’ik people. Anything made can make us think, even though it isn’t this, even though it isn’t clothing or a tool. I have my grandfather’s adze although he has died. I have his adze stored down there. I also have his carving knife. That is how I thought of it . . . think on those things, because I do that and think of them. My grandpa wasn’t the only one that told me important things. I have many grandfathers that used to talk to me. Those, those like that, think about them, try to keep them alive that way even though they are gone.)

Neva Rivers: He’s showing [them], the way his grandfather did to him when he was small.

Bring them out, show him the way he’s been taught. And when he’s walking that way, he might step into his grandfather’s footsteps. For that little boy cingumaluku tumellri atusqumaluki [he encouraged him to follow his traditions].

Joan Hamilton: So these different objects can be outward signs or indicators of what he was taught, and they can be an ice-pick, carving implement or a hat. When he sees that [hat], he thinks of his grandfather and grandmother who made that, and then where they used to walk. It’s like continuation. These implements and clothing are like reminders. He’s still passing it on.

John Phillip, Sr.: Taumek wani-wa quyakanka makut aam, wani-wa makucinek akallanek wangkuta kingunemteni wani mikcuaraat elitnaularaaput makunek akallat umyuaqluki waten. Nutaan nallunricessqelluki makut color-aarit-llu cat taqumalriit. Nutaan nalluvkenaki waten mecikluki ellaita cautiit nalqigcugngaciqait. Tau-i, maa-i elitnaularaput cali kingunemni makunek aka.

Piagartelluki mikcuaraungraata makuneg’piitnek calivkaraqluki waten akallarnek.

(Because of that I am thankful of these. We as Elders teach our little children, and it makes us think of the old things. We also want them to know what the colors of these things are also. They will know, and when they see them, they will know what they are. Today we teach them to our children in my village. We let them learn about them even when they are small children and let them work on the things that belonged to the people of the past.)

Joan Hamilton: And, as a learning tool, it’d be good to have these close to the origin. They can use that to make things themselves, so they can have a real understanding of their culture and what they used to do. Same way he did with the hat that his grandparents made for him.

Aron Crowell: So it’s by doing that you really make the connection to the generations.

Virginia Minock: And bring them home. They need to go home!

It’ll be like meeting their grandparents.

Neva Rivers: And someday, that they will need it, if they don’t have a job, they will turn back to the way we used to do [things] a long time ago. If you do the way we did a long time ago, you will have something to wear and something to eat. The way he said, the river is yours, you can have it. This river will feed you. That’s the way we try to explain it. And the seals that we kill, we do it in front of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I do the seal and blow it up the way I used to do and hang it out this winter, the last one I made. I let it freeze outside. People saw it, and it’s still blown up, all the flippers are all blown up and the hands. Everybody looks at it and goes, ‘Gee Neva, you make me think of my background.” And that’s the kind I try to show them. Everybody stop by and look at it, “How did you do that?”

Sometimes [when] I make [things I] go back to my traditional way. Now [when] I’m going to dress-up my grandson, I will make him something the way we used to dress up long time ago.

So that can be living by looking at a picture. That’s how my grandma told me long time ago, they used to do stuff like that. Because I don’t want to lost my culture, taking out that sinew from maklak [bearded seal], blow that seal up, blow up that bladder for him, my grandson’s first catch.

Joan Hamilton: Tauna-ll’ caliaqaqavgu cal’ tamana neqakluku.

(And when you work on that you think of that.)

Neva Rivers: Makucitun tua nacarratun. Caliatun makutun. Ellinguarturaulluku.

(Like this hat. Like these ones that were worked on. You compare and copy.)

Makut maa-i taitellrit assiqapiartut [what they brought here is so wonderful]. [Makes me] think a lot about my background, seeing all these things they used to make. That’s what I’ve been trying to continue to my children, but my children aren’t listening and my grandchildren are interested.

[From discussions with Joan Hamilton (Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center and Museum), Virginia Minock, John Phillip, Sr. and Neva Rivers at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), 4/22/2002-4/26/2002. Also participating: Aron L. Crowell, William Fitzhugh, and Stephen Loring (NMNH), Suzi Jones (Anchorage Museum), and Ann Fienup-Riordan.]

1. A tuntu is a “caribou” and also “reindeer” (singular; plural is tuntut). To distinguish between the two, a caribou is sometimes called tuntupik or tuntupiaq (literally, “genuine caribou”) and tuntu is applied to reindeer. Tuntuvak is “moose” (Jacobson 1984).

2. A nukalpiqaq [great hunter] is a “good hunter and provider, a man is in prime” (Jacobson 1984). According to the Elders, this can also be a woman.

3. A kegginalek is a “woman’s semi-lunar knife” in the Hooper Bay-Chevak dialect. In other areas, uluaq is the Yup’ik word for it (Jacobson 1984). This type of knife is also called ulu in English, which is the Iñupiaq word for it.

4. A nakaciuryaraq or nakaciiryaraq is a “bladder feast, a traditional celebration involving the ceremonial use of inflated sea-mammal bladders” (Jacobson 1984).

5. A qasgiq—qaygiq in the Hooper Bay-Chevak dialect—is a “men’s community house, ‘kashim,‘ steambath house; originally a moderately large structure in which the men of a community resided and worked; also used for sweatbaths, dances and feasts” (Jacobson 1984).

South of the Yukon River, parkas were usually made without hoods. To keep warm people wore fur hats made of arctic ground squirrel, caribou, fox, mink, wolf, or otter.(1)

Yup’ik Elder Annie Blue of Togiak said, “Our ancestors used various kinds of skins for hats to keep their heads warm in the winter…I have seen people wearing uivqurrat [circular skin caps] made out of squirrel and mink skins. The hats were decorated.”(2)

Just like parkas and boots, hat styles varied considerably between villages, from circular caps to heavy hoods that were hung with tails and tassels.(3) Zagoskin noted that the most highly decorated Kuskokwim hats were for ceremonial occasions.(4) On Nunivak Island, men and boys wore fur hats during the Messenger Feast and Bladder Festival.(5)

1. Nelson 1899:32-34

2. Meade and Fienup-Riordan 2005:321

3. Beaver et al 1984:4; Nelson 1899:32-34; Michael 1967:211-12; Varjola 1990: 256-57

4. Michael 1967:211-12

5. Curtis 1930:69; Lantis 1947:57