MAITAQ – SEPTUM PIERCING MAITARTUUMARTAALLRIIT ARNAT. – WOMEN USED TO WEAR SEPTUM PIERCINGS. In classical Alutiiq society, men, women, and children often wore nose rings. The placed these decorations through a perforation in the nasal septum, the piece of cartilage that divides the nose. In Alutiiq the septum is known as kucurwik, a word derived from […]
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 […]
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 […]