Dead — Tuqumaluni Iqallut tuqumaut. – The fish are dead. Death in traditional Alutiiq society was followed by a set of rituals that moved the deceased from daily life to the afterlife. In the Alutiiq universe, people were reincarnated five times. After their fifth and final death, the human soul ascended to the fifth of […]
African-American Person — Alap’aaq, ARap’aaq Alap’aaq Nuniamen taillria. – An African-American person came to Old Harbor. African American people began living and working in Alaska in the late nineteenth century. Although their history in the Far North is poorly documented, they came to harvest natural resources and to work for government agencies like other colonists. […]
Net — Kugyaq, Kugyasiq Kugyasiq aturtaaqa. – I use the net. Alutiiq people captured salmon with a variety of traditional tools. Streams were dammed with logs or stone weirs and the fish trapped behind them speared with special fish harpoons. Larger quantities of salmon, and perhaps herring and Dolly Varden, were captured with nets woven […]
Elder — Cuqlliq Cuqllit amlen’irtut maani awa’i. – There are not many Elders around anymore. The world’s cultures respond to aging in very different ways. Some societies believe that the aged have less to contribute than the young, considering the elderly a social burden. But in Alutiiq society, older people hold a distinguished, highly respected […]