Noah's...Raft?

I previously posted the Inupiaq legend of the first disaster and how it's suspiciously similar to a story found in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon. The second disaster, in Inupiaq legend, is an age-old classic that can be found in virtually every culture on earth, it seems.

A certain man had a dream one night that he was standing on the top of a tall mountain surrounded by water. He couldn't see anything or anyone else but water. He called for help, and he heard a voice call to him. He saw himself come across the water to where he was. The apparition of himself told him that there was going to be a great flood and that he needed to warn everyone and to build a great raft.

When he woke up, he began to do just that. Everyone laughed at him and called him crazy, except for four men. They helped him to build the raft. When the rains started to come down, they put their tents on the raft, and the waters rose. Eventually the waters covered everything. After the flood began to subside, the people saw a rainbow, which they had never seen before. They took it as a sign that the flood was over.

The man later saw another vision in which he heard a great Voice call to him and tell him that all people would descend from him and that they would think great things of him.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't end happily. While pondering where a man's spirit goes when you die, or what a spirit is, he ends up gaining two familiar spirits and becomes the first sorcerer. He becomes evil and has many people killed. He is later outdone, however, by another sorcerer.

Coincidences from the Book of Mormon

I'm currently taking a class to finish getting my professional teaching license. It's entitled, "North Slope Inupiaq History, Language and Culture." We are studying some of their creation stories and other legends. One of them is particularly interesting.

Over the course of their oral history, they have legends of four major disasters. The first of these occurred at the end of a paradisaical period. The climate was much warmer and people didn't have to work for what they had. There was one boy who grew up and was the perfect child. He was helpful, kind, and thoughtful. Everyone loved him.

One day, as he was thinking near a pond, he heard a voice calling him. He looked around, but didn't see anything. The voice called again, but again there wasn't anyone. After a third time, he saw a man unlike anyone he had seen before with a long, white beard and hair. He was afraid because he had never seen anyone like that before, although people lived to see the 5th and 6th generations of their descendants. The man told him he was a prophet who had chosen this boy for his goodness to warn his people of a destruction to come.

He told him that to begin with, there would be great earthquakes. People wouldn't die from these. However, they would warn of things to come. Soon after, the sun would be eclipsed by the moon for three days and a nearby mountain would erupt. After that, all but very few people would be dead and the climate would change so that the people would have to wear warm clothes, deal with winter hardships, and be industrious.

The boy warned the people and they were responsive, but even so most of the surrounding populations of people were wiped out.

This story, and others of interest, can be found in the book, "People of Kawerak."

Back to School Night

The girls are starting to learn the art of Eskimo dancing. They would stop when we would get out the camera, of course, but we did catch a little bit of it.




They are wearing there traditional Atukluks (pronounced Atooglooks). Our friend Gail help me cut them out.

Whaling

Last night, our neighbor who is a son of a whaling captain invited me to go with them whaling. I was excited to go, because outsiders only get to go if they're invited. I would get to see the natives whale. They do it more or less the same way that they have for hundreds of years.

The plan was to leave at the crack of dawn (about 5 or 6 in the morning), and I could come back when someone went back to get lunch for the crew. It didn't end up working that way, though. Between members of the crew who hadn't gotten to sleep in time the night before and others who couldn't find a babysitter, we didn't end up leaving until 12:30 or 1:00.

We rode out onto the ice to their spot. It was about 1-2 miles out. There was a channel in the ice about a mile wide where crews were whaling. I got my camera out to take pictures, but of course it wouldn't work with the cold.

I figured out that the way they hunt whale is they wait for the whales to come close to the edge of the ice, then as the whale passes by their spot, they smoothly launch their boat and approach the whale from behind, then they harpoon it with a harpoon attached to a buoy. This way, they can trace it when it goes deep. They then get it with a harpoon that has an explosive in it.

It didn't take too long for a whale to come by close enough for the crew to give chase. I stood looking on as they got ready to launch their boat, when one of the members pointed to a spot on the boat and told me to get there. It's not very common for outsiders to be allowed to help out, so I was pretty honored. Over the course of the day, we chased after about 5 whales. Some of them were within about 20 yards of us.

Another whaling crew was able to get a buoy attached to a whale, but they lost track of it under the ice.

There was a period of about 30-45 minutes when no whales came close enough, but on the other side of the channel there was a group of whales playing and splashing around. It was pretty cool to see. I probably ended up seeing at least 12 whales, all of them bowhead whale.

I'm going to be really sore tomorrow!

My New Parky

Here it is! My beautiful new parky made by our good friend Emily. She gave us a really good deal on it.



Ellora loves to climb inside and go to sleep. It is so warm and cozy.









I can even fit both girls in it (one in the front and one in the back) for those super cold days.

Ancient Native Homes

These are the homes the natives used to live in. Some as little as 30 or 40 years ago. They are mostly underground with thatched roofs. They are supported by whale bones and a few pieces of drift wood. They have a hole cut in the center of the roof to let smoke escape. This particular one has one small room just inside and a narrow hall to another room. The other room had collapsed so it is only a hole in the ground now. These homes are a little ways away from the current village. About 30 years ago they moved the entire village to make it easier to bring in electricity and plumbing. They still use some of the old thatch homes to store their game meat.