MiskiiRaq; MiskiiRiat – Spider Ugnerkami miskiiRiat amleritaartut. – In the spring there are many spiders. (Click sentence to hear Alutiiq words spoken) There at least 350 species of spiders in Alaska, belonging to seventeen families. Spiders are not insects. They are close relatives of ticks and mites and belong to a group called arachnids. […]
Quuq; Nuya’itstaq – Hide and Seek Uswillraraat quuq’rtut. – The children are playing hide and seek. (Click sentence to hear Alutiiq words spoken) Hide and seek is one of many popular outdoor children’s games long played in Alutiiq communities. According to anthropologist Kaj Birket-Smith, who visited the Chugach Alutiiq people in the 1930s, children […]
Culu’ulluku; Culurt’slluku – Beach It PaRag’uutateng culurtaarait. – Sometimes they beach their boat. (Click sentence to hear Alutiiq words spoken.) Most fishermen who know Alutiiq words are familiar with culu’ulluku, a term that means to beach your boat. Whether intentional or accidental, beaching is an age-old way of reaching the shore. In classical Alutiiq […]
PRiis’tanaq – Dock PaRaguutat pRiistananun taitaartut. – The boats come to the dock. (Click sentence to hear Alutiiq words spoken.) In Alutiiq communities, where boats are essential for travel, subsistence activities, and work at sea, docks are a necessity. Although Alutiiqs once landed their skin-covered boats on the beach and stored them around their […]