Lla – Weather; Sky; Outdoors; Universe; World Lla Asirtuq. – The weather is good. The world’s cultures have a great variety of beliefs about the sky. Tlingit people see the sky as an upside-down bowl with a hard surface. Their sky has layers that provide a home for the souls of those died from violence. […]
Kasukuak – Akhiok Kasukuarmiu’ak taugkuk. – Those two are from Akhiok. Surrounded by grassy hills and tundra flats, Akhiok is Kodiak’s southernmost Alutiiq village. The present location of this remote community, ninety miles from the City of Kodiak, was settled in 1881. Additional residents moved here from Kasukuak in nearby Humpy Cove. The original community […]
Cilrayuk – Dragonfly Cilrayuk alingtaakait. – They used to be afraid of the dragonfly. Did you know that Alaska has an official insect? In 1995, the state’s school children awarded the dragonfly this special honor. The four-spotted skimmer (Libellula quadrimaculata) took the prize. Like the other 30 species of dragonflies in Alaska, this insect can […]
A grant from the Alaska State Museum will help the Alutiiq Museum preserve a piece of recent Kodiak history, the revitalization of Alutiiq dance. Thirty years ago, members of the Kodiak Alutiiq community began researching Alutiiq dance, with the goal of creating the first traditional dancers in a century. Elders’ knowledge, ethnographic research, and assistance […]