Cultural Week

While Christina is busy putting together a post about our Spring Break adventures, I thought I'd show you some of the events from our recent Cultural Week here at Rocky Mountain School. The kids have been talking about it all year, so I was really looking forward to spending some time immersed in Yup'ik culture. I think we both learned a lot about the culture and history of the people here that will help us better relate to and teach our students in the future. The Yup'ik people were the last Native group to be contacted by outsiders, less than 200 years ago, so their culture and language are much more intact and integral to their way of life than is the case for others native peoples of Alaska. Here's a look at some of the activities and events we were a part of last week:

Some of my students, preparing for the opening ceremonies.

Travis put together our Cultural Week events and activities. 

We were all very impressed with his leadership.

A shot of one of the dances for the opening ceremonies.

Our cultural week also included a wellness fair. Tobacco, alcohol, and drug awareness...

...as well as issues related to survival in the bush.

The kids (and some adults) playing an ice breaker game.

Our amazing resident storyteller, Jack Dalton. We were all enthralled, not only by his storytelling, but by his wisdom about the Yup'ik people. We've already invited him back next year to do a creative writing residency in September. Can't wait to work with Jack next year and have the students write stories of their own!

The boys and men went to my room for a talking circle. I was impressed that a couple of my boys spoke up during the circle- a real sign of maturity and leadership among the Yup'ik people.

The boys making dance fans in my room. They sanded, painted, and feathered(?) them.

The finished product.

They ordered boxes of fur for the skin sewing portion of cultural week. 

The closest I've come to a wolverine!

And a wolf!

Moose season is typically in September, but they applied for a special subsistence tag for cultural week. They drove out 15 miles, shot it, quartered it, and carried it back on their Hondas. 

One of my students helped some of the elders cut up the meat. When they were done they had bags of meat laid out to take to the elders of the village. I jokingly asked, "Hey, where's my bag?" One of the elders thought I was being serious, but when I demurred, she responded "You can't say 'Where's my bag?' to a Yup'ik!" and she got up, picked up one of the bags of meat, said "This guy lives alone, he doesn't need this much!" and grabbed a hunk of meat and put it in a bag for me. Now I know the magic word whenever I'm in the mood for moose meat!

Students and villagers sewing fur in the library. 

The day after I hung up my traps for the season, Gary called me saying he had a box of smelt guts if I wanted to use them to try and catch a wolf. I couldn't resist, so I put out a few sets over cultural week. While I didn't get a wolf, I did catch my 15th (and final) fox of the season. 

Displaying my season's catch outside. It was a thrilling first season trapping in Alaska!

We've been making a better effort to go for a walk every evening. Not hard to muster up the motivation with views like this.