Weekly language lesson provided by the Alutiiq Museum & Archaelogical Repository. http://alutiiqmuseum.org Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:04:21 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/images/M_images/rss.png http://alutiiqmuseum.org Weekly language lesson provided by the Alutiiq Museum & Archaelogical Repository. http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=704&Itemid=91 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 Word of the Week - Season 12, Lesson 32 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=701&Itemid=91 Salaq : Shell Qutmi salanek amlertaartut. : There are a lot of shells on the beach. Clam shell beads, Uyak Site, Larsen Bay Tribal Council Collection. The Kodiak Archipelago has more than 3,900 km of shoreline, much of it covered with intertidal organisms. Most beaches have dense concentrations of shellfish, marine invertebrates, and plants. The region's rocky shores are home to thick patches of barnacles, mussels, chitons, limpets, snails, and sea urchins, while sandy beaches hold clams, cockles, and tellins. Only the exposed cobble beaches of Kodiak's outer coast, and areas with heavy fresh water drainage lack intertidal fauna. In addition to food, this abundance of shellfish provided Alutiiqs with raw material. In the prehistoric era, shells were used as both cutting and scraping tools and they were fashioned into decorative beads. A collection of worked shell pieces from the Uyak site in Larsen Bay illustrates the process of creating beads from a clamshell. First the shell was broken into small pieces. Next, the pieces were ground into circular disk with the aid of a sandstone abrader. The final step was to drill a hole in the center of the disk. Some shells were particularly coveted for decoration. Dentalium shells, the white, tusk-shaped shells of scaphopods, were obtained in trade with the people of Southeast Alaska. They were used to decorate clothing and worn as earrings and nose pins. Dentalium shells were considered extremely valuable. Historic sources indicate that a pair of delicate dentalium could be traded for an entire squirrel skin parka. Alutiiq Word of the Week - Season 12: Lesson 31 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=700&Itemid=91 Qenaluni : Sick Allrani suk qenataartuq. : Sometimes a person gets sick. Blood Letting Horn from Old Harbor, KANA collection, Alutiiq Museum Before contact with Europeans, injuries were the most common cause of pain, disability, and death in Native societies. People suffered from drowning, hypothermia, falls, animal attacks, injuries caused by other people, smoke inhalation, poisoning, insect bites and infections, as well as degenerative conditions including cancer, arthritis, and periodontal disease. Among Alutiiqs, sickness was combated by two distinct types of healers. Medical specialists treated physical injuries with herbal remedies, bloodletting, and even surgery. Their knowledge was considered secret, but could be passed on to a special person. In contrast, shamans managed illnesses caused by misalignment with the spirit world. They prevented disease by insuring that people acted correctly. When sickness was attributed to the supernatural, shamans worked with dances, gestures and chants to establish the cause and develop a cure. With the arrival of Westerners, Native people were introduced to infectious diseases from the Old World. Across the Americas millions of indigenous people, who had no immunities to these diseases, were killed by colds, influenza, tuberculosis, small pox, and venereal disease. Epidemics were a grim fact of life during Kodiak's early historic era. In the first half of the 19th century, there were four deadly out breaks of respiratory illness and a devastating small pox epidemic. In 1837, this epidemic killed 738 Native people in the Kodiak region, and spread to Prince William Sound and the Alaska Peninsula where many others died. Alutiiq Word of the Week - Season 12 : Lesson 30 Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=699&Itemid=91 Qanqyuk : Wave Kal'uni qangyut angtaartut. : The waves are always big at Karluk. White caps build near Old Harbor Rough water is a fact of life in the Gulf of Alaska, where high winds and large open space produce big waves. Heavy seas are particularly common in the fall and winter, produced by frequent, powerful storms. Waves regularly reach heights of 20 feet and can build to over 30 feet. Around Kodiak, the distance the wind travels over open ocean (known as fetch), compounds the severity of heavy seas. Storms approach the archipelago across vast stretches of the North Pacific, allowing waves to build. For mariners, waves present many challenges. Making forward progress, steering, launching, landing, and avoiding hypothermia are all more difficult in rough water. Classical Alutiiq boats - skin covered kayaks and angyaqs - were expertly designed for this dynamic ocean environment. Bow pieces were carved from a single piece of wood to insure their strength, and they were curved to help propel boats over the waves. A light weight, flexible, wooden frame allowed vessels to bend with pressure and a skin cover sewn with waterproof stitches insured a dry boat. A boater's skills were also critical to safe travel. Alutiiq men learned to launch boats in the surf by watching the rhythm of the waves and finding a lull in the breakers. They also learned to paddle from a kneeling position, using their bodies to help steer through rolling water. Alutiiq Word of the Week - Season 12 : Lesson 29 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://alutiiqmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=698&Itemid=91 Stuuluq : Table Stuulumi nertaartukut. : We eat at the table. Alutiiq Museum exhibit illustrating an Icon corner. Western-style furnishings are fairly recent additions to Alutiiq houses. In prehistoric times, Alutiiq builders fitted their homes with earthen benches. Woven mats and bear hides covered these benches, providing dry, comfortable places to sit and sleep. Household rafters, and pits and boxes built into the floor, provided places to store belongings. Historic descriptions suggest that Alutiiqs began using Western furniture in the late 1800s, as European-style houses became common. Most houses were modestly furnished with a table, a few chairs, and small beds, although wealthier families might also have a sofa, a rocking chair, a sewing machine, or a piano. Today, a special stuuluq can be found in many Alutiiq homes. Families who practice the Russian Orthodox faith keep a small shrine in a corner of their living room where they display icons and an oil lamp – or lampada. This corner is a reminder of the presence of God and a place where family members pray. Below the shrine there is often a table. As priests are not always available to lead services in rural Alutiiq communities, local church readers use such tables to hold their religious books. Families also store oil, water, wicks, and their Easter kulich, a sweet bread, on their corner tables. Alutiiq Word of the Week - Season 12 : Lesson 28 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:00:00 +0100