AMIQ – SKIN/HIDE ARHANEK AMIIRTAALLRIIT, TAUMI-LLU ATKULILUTENG. – THEY USED TO SKIN SEA OTTERS AND THEN MAKE COATS OUT OF THEM. Across the Alutiiq world, animal hides were once essential material for clothing, bedding, and boats. Alutiiq people stitched cormorant and caribou skins into parkas, wrapped their families in plush bear hides for sleeping, and […]
SIGTUNAQ – SITKINAK ISLAND ARWEGET SIGTUNAMEN AG’UT. – THE WHALES ARE SWIMMING TO SITKINAK ISLAND. Sitkinak is one of the Trinity Islands, a group of three large, windswept, grassy islands off the southern coast of Kodiak. Sitkinak is the largest. It stretches about 30 km east to west, forming the southern boundary of Sitkinak Strait. […]
UNUK – NIGHT AGYAT AKIRTAARTUT UNUGMI. – THE STARS ARE BRIGHT AT NIGHT. In the northern hemisphere, the autumnal equinox is the September day when the sun shines directly on the Earth’s equator, creating roughly equal periods of light and darkness. The equinox is the official first day of fall. In Alaska, however, the season […]
QUIRIQ – HOARY MARMOT QUIRIT QUILITARTUT. – MARMOTS ARE FAT. The Alutiiq word for marmot may come from quili- a root word meaning fat. This in an apt description. Hoary marmots are the largest member of the squirrel family. These plump mammals that can weigh over ten pounds and eat heartily during the summer to fatten up […]
NASQUALEK – ALEUT TOWN CUUMI SUUGET NASQUALEGMI ETAALLRIIT. – PEOPLE USED TO LIVE IN ALEUT TOWN. Afognak Village grew from a pair neighboring towns—Russian Town and Aleut Town. These small communities were built about a mile apart on the western shore of Afognak Bay. At the south end of the area lay Rutkovsky village, also […]
KAUGCIRLUNI – TO HAIL LLAAMI KAUGCIRTUQ. – IT IS HAILING OUTSIDE. Hail is precipitation that forms in storm clouds and falls to Earth as pieces of ice. Hailstones are created when updrafts carry water droplets into cold air. The droplets freeze and stick to each other as air currents repeatedly cycle them through clouds. Each cycle […]
USPELLUKU – MEASURE NUQAQ USP’RKUTA’AQA. – I AM GOING TO MEASURE THE ATLATL. All measuring systems rely on uniformity, a standard way to record things like length, weight, and volume. Today we use rulers to measure inches and feet, or a scale to record kilos. Before the adoption of the contemporary measuring systems, like the […]
KAC’AMAASAQ – HALF DRIED FISH KAC’AMAASANEK AWA’I PILITAAN’ITUT. – THEY DON’T MAKE HALF DRIED FISH ANYMORE. Fish are a dietary staple in Alutiiq communities, a food that can be harvested in abundance in summer and fall and preserved to eat through the rest of the year. Just as there are many ways to catch fish, […]
PUPIK – PIMPLES PUPIKA PUKSUWAQA. – I PINCHED MY PIMPLE. From pimples and boils to burns, sores, and rashes, skin irritations are a common problem. The Alutiiq word pupik can be used to describe all of these conditions. Early accounts of Alutiiq communities report that skin ulcers were widespread, often caused by insect bites. Alutiiq healers lanced boils […]