Have Alutiiq Word of the Week lessons delivered to your computer (see left hand column of this page, below)
1) Join our RSS Feed and weekly lessons will be delivered to the menu bar of your internet browser
2) Sign up for our email broadcast and weekly lessons will be sent to your email address. Email Amy Steffian to add you name to the broadcast.
Financial support generously provided by:
Alutiiq Heritage Foundation
National Science Foundation
Kaigluni : Hungry
Kaigakameng kenirtaartut. : When a person is hungry,
they cook.
Digging for clams on Buskin Beach in winter,
Courtesy the Jarvela Family
Throughout
northern environments, late winter and early spring are the leanest times of
year. There are fewer sources of fresh food in these seasons and bad weather
can make foods that are available hard to reach. Moreover, by late winter, food
stores from the previous summer are often exhausted. For many of Alaska's
Native peoples, late winter was once a time of hunger.
The
Alutiiq term for late winter was "cutting the salmon into strips," a
reference to rationing the last pieces of stored fish. Historic sources note
that communities managed this period of shortfall by subsisting on intertidal
resources. In February and March large quantities of shellfish, seaweed, and
invertebrates were collected by families waiting for the return of sea mammals,
birds, and fish to coastal waters.
Hunger was also problematic
during the early years of Western colonization. Native people forced to work
for the fur trade had little time to complete the subsistence activities needed
to sustain their families through the cold season. And when ice covered
intertidal areas, people resorted to eating clothing and leather items to
prevent starvation.
Alutiiq Language 
