PAMYULEK – METEOR AKGUA’AQ PAMYULEGMEK TANGELLRIANGA. – THE OTHER NIGHT I SAW A METEOR. A meteor is a piece of space rock that burns as it falls through the Earth’s atmosphere, creating a bright streak in the night sky. The Alutiiq term for meteor—pamyulek—comes from the word pamyuq for tail or handle; something that extends […]
CISLLAT – PEG CALENDAR PAAPUKA GUI CISLLANGQ’RTAALLIA. – MY GRANDMOTHER HAD A PEG CALENDAR. Charting the passage of time was once a relative process. Alutiiq people noted the seasons by following changes in the natural environment and in the economic and social activities that accompanied the yearly cycle. With the introduction of Russian Orthodoxy, however, the Alutiiq […]
AGYAQ, MIT’AQ (KAR) – STAR AGYAT UNUGMI ANTAARTUT. – THE STARS COME OUT AT NIGHT. In the Alutiiq universe, stars live in the first of five consecutive sky worlds, closest to earth. This world is also home to the moon and northern lights, and the place where people go after dying for the fifth and […]
YAASIIK – BOX CAQINKA YAASIIMEN LLIITAANKA. – I PUT MY STUFF IN BOXES. In classical Alutiiq society, craftsmen fashioned wooden boxes in many shapes and sizes to hold food, water, and objects. Hunters carried small rectangular boxes packed with supplies in their kayaks. Women cooked traditional dishes by dropping hot stones into oval wooden containers […]