Sunday, July 24, 2011

Feast Your Eyes On This!

In Barrow, the event that marks the feast celebrating the catching of the spring whales is called Nalukataq--it means blanket toss. In Point Hope, the celebration is called Quaraq. It lasts for three days and has very distinctive events on each day.

On the first day, one notices that the boats of the umailiks who have caught whales have been brought onto land and placed in a single row with their crew flags flying and paddles tilted upward.

 The upward tilted paddles signify the crew has caught a whale. [In Point Hope, there are two clans. Only crews from one of the clans caught whales this spring. Had the other clan also caught whales, all of the activities about which I am relating would be repeated on the celebration grounds of the other clan.]

On the first day of celebration, we all arrive at the gathering place around the umiaqs. We sit on the ground to get out of the brisk wind that is blowing. The umailiks greet the people, thank them for all of their support, thank God, and seem to humbly accept the honor of having been chosen by the whales to receive this gift of bounty and sustenance. After the speeches are finished, the crews pass out mikigaq, which is fermented whale meat that has been marinating for days in pots. This is a good time to talk about preparations for this celebration.
The women on the crews that caught the whales have been hard at work for a good month in preparation for the event. Mikigaq has been cut and marinated. Other pieces of whale meat that will be handed out as Quoq have been cut and stored in the ice cellars.

Maktak has been cut and stored. Hunters have gone back out from the crews that caught the whales in search of other animals to add to the feast. Hunters from all over the village are out in the hope of catching additional food to add to the feast....and they have been successful.

In some houses, donut dough is being prepared, in other houses, Eskimo ice cream is being prepared. The two items are favorites of mine. First of all, the donuts are delicious, especially when you get them hot out of the fryer. Forget glazed, chocolate dipped, or sugar coated, these plain donuts will knock your socks off. Then there is the Eskimo ice cream. This is prepared with a mixture of lard and oil. Into this is mixed in whatever flavoring the cook desires. I had one "scoop" that had tuttu meat in it and another that had berries. I really like the berry one. It was really rich to my taste and I couldn't eat much, but really liked it. We were also treated to various fish spreads that were prepared for the feast, my favorite being the sheefish spread. Very mild, white fish that makes a great spread for the ever present pilot bread. Back to the activities at hand....

Our instructor mentored us on the proper way to receive our shares. 1. Always carry plenty of ziploc bags. 2. Always have your bag open to receive your share; don't make the giver wait on you. 3. Always make sure you don't miss any of the rounds of distribution. 4. Always say thankyou. Mikigaq is a delicacy truly prized by the Inupiaq. It had a bit of a sweet and sour taste...not bad, but I couldn't quite get used to the texture. Once all of the mikigaq was distributed, that day's activities were over. Time to go home and get ready for the following day.

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