Lucille Davis and Valen Reft, 2006
Among societies without a written language, storytelling is an important way to record history and teach lessons. Events, accomplishments, values, spiritual beliefs, and even survival techniques are passed from generation to generation through people rather than books.
In the Alutiiq world, stories like the discovery of Chirikof Island, recount the pursuits of ancestors, explain unusual events, discuss the dangers of wandering far from home and provide examples of model behavior. Legends explain the cosmos–the origin of people, the stars, and the animals.
The Discovery of Uqamaq–Chirikof Island
Southwest Chirikof Island, 2005
In 1851, Arsenti Aminak, an Elderly Alutiiq man, welcomed Finish naturalist Heinrich Holmberg into his ciqlluaq—sod home. Here Aminak shared a story from his childhood, the discovery of Chirikof Island. Holmberg documented Aminak’s story with the help of Panfilov, an interpreter of Alutiiq descent who was working at the Russian artel in Three Saints Bay.
From:
Holmberg, Heinrich Johan, 1985, Holmberg’s Ethnographic Sketches. Edited by Marvin W. Falk and translated by Fritz Jaensch. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks.
Produced with the support of the Munartet Project.
Action and mystery, long journeys and valuable lessons—these are the ingredients of Alutiiq legends. In a village terrified by an enormous octopus, people work together to kill the beast. A young man apprentices to a whaler and learns mysterious secrets about hunting the largest sea mammals. A community mistreats Raven and his grandmother, and the people die of starvation.
Unigkuat shares sixty-two traditional tales from Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago, compiled from stories told by Alutiiq Elders over the past 150 years. In each legend, readers learn about the Alutiiq world—the origins of the moon and the sun, how animals can sometimes appear as people, the importance of respectful hunting, and most of all how generosity, bravery, and perseverance are essential to a happy and successful life.
Illustrated by thirty community artists.
