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From the Brink of Oblivion Nunivak Islanders Revive the Spirit of Cup'iq Dance 12/18/02 by Ted Horner It was like a homecoming - 65 years
in the making.
Planeload after planeload of visitors arrived in the tiny Nunivak Island village of Mekoryuk last week. Many came from Nelson Island, just a few miles away across the Bering Sea. Others came from as far as Anchorage. Some were from Nunivak Island and hadn't returned for 30 years. For many, even elders, it was their first time. In olden days, before the traders, missionaries and the eventual parade of governmental agencies, the people of Nunivak Island used to travel to the mainland of Alaska in skin boats powered by sail. During times of celebration, neighbors from other camps and settlements were invited to the island to feast, dance and exchange gifts. The gatherings were major social events in the lives of people providing a break in the otherwise relentless pursuit of survival in the harsh Arctic climate. A traditional ritual accompanied the invitation of guests to island celebrations. A "Festival Messenger Stick" served as the traditional "invitation card" which was carried by a Nunivaker to the villages being invited. It signified, "Come and celebrate with us!" Then, as early Christian missionaries
arrived to the remote western Alaska communities in the late 19th Century,
the "heathen" practices of these traditional celebrations,
including Eskimo dancing, were forbidden by the churches.
However, the remote and sparsely populated island of Nunivak, didn't see the arrival of the church until well into the 20th Century when missionaries came from Norton Sound to establish the Covenant Church. According to historical records, early church missionaries rounded up the traditional dance drums and other ceremonial artifacts and tossed them into the ocean. The bewildered people were informed that their dance celebrations were seen as evil in the eyes of the Christian God. In 1937, the giant drums of the Nunivak Cup'iq dancers were silenced, and would not be heard for the next 65 years. "We've been ashamed of our language and Eskimo dancing," said Samuel Smith, who led the movement to restore the cultural dance practices in the community. Smith said the denial of traditional values and practices has been very painful to the Cup'iq people, whose language is unique to all of Alaska. "Our elders have been spiritually abused," Smith added. "Things are ready for our cultural revival." As an alcohol abuse and wellness counselor in Mekoryuk over the past 25 years, Smith has seen the personal and social devastation of a people who have been denied their cultural identity. He found that alcohol and drugs are often the refuge of people lacking a sense of personal identity. "If we start to be part of ourselves we don't have to do drugs to feel better about ourselves anymore," Smith said. Despite a renaissance of Alaska Native
culture in the 1980s and a revival of Eskimo dancing, particularly in
the nearby Nelson Island villages of Toksook Bay and Tununak, the Nunivak
village of Mekoryuk remained steadfastly opposed.
Though many have been quick to blame the church for the demise of Eskimo dancing, local Covenant Church Pastor Larson King states that it is the people themselves who have resisted the return of the dances. "It is not the church's place to moralize about Eskimo dancing," Pastor King said. "There are many misconceptions." He stressed that it is important to distinguish "a clarity between Christianity and traditional spiritual values". "I don't see the two as conflicting," King added. "The church does not mandate personal beliefs." He does acknowledge that earlier leaders of the local church may have acted to ban the practice of dancing, but that is the fault of a few "bad" individuals and not the church in general, he said. Ironically, though Eskimo dancing
was seen as contrary to Christian beliefs, the practice of mask making
has continued and even flourished in the community. Nunivak Island still
produces some of the finest Alaska Native masks.
While the late Pastor Peter Smith, father of Sam Smith, did not support Eskimo dancing, he himself was a master mask maker and carver. King offers no explanation for this contradictions except to say that mask making has been, and still is, an important part of the local economy. ***** Over recent years, there has been a slow, but relentless movement within the community of Mekoryuk to revive the traditional Cup'iq language and culture. Traditional Council President Howard Amos and wife Muriel, a certified teacher have been working to establish a Cup'iq Immersion program at the local school. With help from the University of Alaska Fairbanks they are developing a Cup'iq language dictionary and have re-mapped the entire Nunivak Island re-discovering the traditional Cup'iq names of ancient sites and landmarks. In 1997, village elders were still opposed to Eskimo dancing in the village, but by 1998 students in the local school were clamoring for the opportunity to learn and practice their traditional way of dancing as schools in other parts of the region had done. "We did a community survey and the idea to bring back dancing was popular, particularly with those in the late 20s and early 30s," said Howard Amos. "Local people supported the idea." Then a pivotal Nov. 2001 community
meeting called by Sam Smith brought together the local church and those
in the village who wanted to see the return of Eskimo dancing.
"We had a meeting one day and the church got involved about the dance issue," Amos said. "Larson King said that the church was not hindering or encouraging dancing. We discussed that it did not conflict with the church and that originally it was outsiders who were against public dancing." After nearly 65 years, the community decided to once again allow traditional Cup'iq dancing, but few were still alive who even remembered traditional dancing, much less the songs, the drumming instruments, and the costumes. "This past spring Sam (Smith) and I got together during Native Arts week at the school and we decided to build drums," Amos said. But they found that Cup'iq drums were not the same as traditional dance drums used by other villages. "The drums are huge by regular Eskimo drum standards," Amos said. By carefully studying photographic records and comparing the relative size of the drums to the people in the photographs, they used algebraic equations to determine the correct propotionate sizes . Both Smith and Amos were involved earlier in recreating traditional wooden kayaks, so they adapted these materials and skills to the construction of the drums. "We didn't know how to make drums but we knew how to bend wood," Amos said. "We used modern kayak hull material (nylon) for the drum head but it still didn't sound right. Then we put waterproofing on it and that did the trick." They now had drums but no songs or dance routines, but a 1999 interview with a Nunivak Elder Kay Hendrickson, conducted before he passed away, contained a few precious songs which have been used to keep the culture alive. "We videotaped Kay Hendrickson
who sang 15 songs for us and did three with the dance motions and put
them on CDs and spread them around," Amos said. Soon he had assembled
an eager group of villagers wanting to learn the traditional dances.
"We got our dance group together at the armory and set up a video screen and at first we practiced the motions as the tape played," Amos said. Surprisingly, the group did not start dance practices until early November but by the time of their debut on Dec. 12, the group had perfected two songs. To proudly present their Cup'iq dance group and honor their neighboring villages, the Native Village of Mekoryuk organized their first Qusngim Kevgia - Reindeer Messenger Festival. The three-day festival held last week included a reindeer roundup where visitors could purchase their own reindeer from the herd managed by the tribally run Nuniwarmiut Reindeer & Seafood Products, Inc. Customers could have the company butcher and package the meat or could do it themselves. Many preferred the later and soon a meat-cutting social event developed the first day, right on the tundra, as people like Paul John, Nick Therchik, Sr. and Joe Asuluk, Jr. from Toksook Bay were cutting their reindeer, with help from locals Henry Shavings, Sr., Clifford Whitman and Emory David. That night, everyone piled into the
school gymnasium. In a show of community support and unity, Pastor Larson
King of the local Covenant Church led everyone in prayer and followed
with the church choir singing several hymns for the occasion.
George Williams, Sr. presented the crowd with the Reindeer Messenger Stick crafted for the festival with a tuft of reindeer beard at the center of the stick to signify that this was an invitation to the Reindeer Festival. It was the first such artifact made and used in over 65 years. The veteran Tununak and Toksook Bay dance groups first entertained the audience with their well-known Yup'ik dances and songs. "Backstage" the Cup'iq dance group members were nervously adjusting their costumes in preparation for their first historic dance. The crowd erupted as the group proudly entered the gymnasium with their giant drums and unique headpieces. Following their first song, the applause was loud and long. If there was any question about the future of Eskimo dancing on Nunivak Island, it was answered in the silence following the clapping, when a single voice yelled, "Pamyua!" (Encore, once again), and the drums beat on.
Photography by Ted Horner |
