Kulic’kiiq–Snipe Kulic’kiit miktut, kesiin piturnirtut.–Snipes are small but they taste good. The common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a shorebird found around Kodiak’s grassy coastal meadows, ponds, and fields during summer. This member of the sandpiper family breeds yearly across northern North America, then heads south to winter in warmer climates. A small bird, snipes have […]
Akarngaluni–Round Mayaciik akagngauq.–The ball is round. In the Alutiiq language, the suffix -sqaq, meaning “thing,” can be added to an intransitive verb to create a noun. For example, add -sqaq to akagngaluni, a verb meaning “to be round,” and you get akagngasqaq, “a thing that is round.” To Alutiiq people the circle is a meaningful […]
A $5,000 grant to the Alutiiq Museum from The CIRI Foundation will support the development of Coloring Alutiiq, a coloring book featuring Alutiiq clothing and tools. The project, which begins in May, is a collaboration between the museum and Hanna Sholl. Sholl, a graphic artist and skin sewer, will create the illustrations working from photographs, […]
Ungalarmiut–Prince William Sound People Ungalarmiut yaksigtut.–People of Prince William Sound are far from here. Prince William Sound lies at the center of the Gulf of Alaska, between the Copper River delta and the Kenai Peninsula. Steep, glaciated mountains rim this wide, forested embayment, filled with fjords and islands. Like Kodiak, Prince William Sound is known […]