Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Kivgiq Sivulliq


Kivgiq (the messenger feast) has begun! This is a major event this week. There are about 18 dance groups in town and about a thousand visitors. I was able to witness the opening ceremonies during which all of the dance groups entered the gym, singing and drumming. It was simply spine tingling. I've never been to the Olympics, but I can imagine one gets a similar feeling there.

My friend sat next to me and helped me to understand a lot of what was going on...the behind the scenes scoop, if you will. For instance, one group's leader recently passed so they carried a picture of him during their entry. Also, she knew which groups had brand new atikluks and sometimes who made them! The group in red atikiluks is one of Barrow's four dance groups. The young woman holding the banner on the right works in our office. Of course, I knew that, my friend didn't need to tell me that one :)

Once all of the dance groups had entered the high school gym (amid much cheering and clapping) the emcee related that during traditional Kivgiq, villages reported that they could hear the sound of the drums from the far away site of the event. The groups were invited to sing and play as one so we could be heard from the villages. With my trusty iPhone, I recorded this for you. It gave me chills listening to this unified sound, and you can see it moved several folks to get up and dance!





[Kivgiq (pronounced kiv-ee-yuk) is the messenger feast. Many years ago, whaling captains held similar celebrations in gratitude for a successful whaling season. They sent messengers (runners to the villages to invite them to the celebration. They asked for gifts through the messengers and if the invitation was accepted, the invitee had to honor the request of the gift. Messengers might say, 'If you'd accept my invitation, I'd like five gallons of berries.  Dancing, singing, and storytelling were in abundance during the event. Then, Kivgiq ceased to occur during that dark time when there was an attempt to abolish all things culture-based. Lucky for us, Kivgiq is alive and well again!]

Back to today's events: After the dance groups had all entered, the messenger runners were called forward. Each group was represented. The runners had to race to one of the hotels and back to the gym. The winner got to light the seal oil light with an elder of his/her choice from his/her village. Also, that runner's dance group was honored with being the first to perform today. The winner was a young man from Pt. Lay, shown here with the traditional seal oil light.

Lighting the seal oil lamp has a trick to it. First you need to put in dry moss. Once you get that lit, it acts as a kind of wick and you get this beautiful light. My friend told me that this knowledge was being lost, so when they added it to the Kivgiq ceremonies, elders made sure representatives from their villages knew how to light the seal oil as they might be winners of the race! This has served to restore the knowledge for all!

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