PAAPUSKAAQ – MIDWIFE UKALUTEN, PAAPUSKAAQ IWA’ARU! CARLIANGQUTARTUQ. – HURRY, GET THE MIDWIFE! SHE’S GOING TO HAVE A BABY. Each Alutiq community had at least one midwife, a healer versed in herbal medicines and the arts of bloodletting, surgery, and childbirth. Appointed by her community at a young age and apprenticed to an older midwife, […]
TAQUKA’AQ – BEAR TAQUKA’AT YUGNITAARAAT, “SUK”. – BEARS ALWAYS SAY, “PERSON.” The brown or grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) is the largest terrestrial mammal in North America. The Kodiak Archipelago is home to more than three thousand of these enormous creatures, which have long been a source of food and raw materials for Alutiiq people. […]
SUARUAQ – DOLL NUTAAN SUARUALITAARTUT INEQSUNASQANEK. – NOWADAYS THEY MAKE BEAUTIFUL DOLLS. Dolls were once signs of spring in Alutiiq communities. Elders recall that most toys were stored through the dead of winter, beginning at Russian Christmas, and could only be removed from storage when signs of spring signaled the rebirth of the year. […]
QAYAQ – KAYAK QAYAQ MIKTUQ. – THE KAYAK IS SMALL. The Alutiiq kayak is a wood-framed boat covered with sea lion skins. Carved from driftwood, craftsmen once built each lightweight frame to fit the specific proportions of its owner. In the past, single-holed and double-holed boats were the most common, although Alutiiq craftsmen developed […]