Birthdays and Blackberry Festival

Every morning I write the birthdays of the day on a white board at the front of the school. No problem, right? Well, we are a dual language school - so on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I must write it in Yupik! My birthday falls on Labor Day, and this next week students have no school while all the teachers fly to Bethel for professional development, so we covered the whole week:

"The Language of the Day Today is Yupik"

Happy Birthday - oh, look, there I am on Pekyun (Monday) - Mrs. E!!

 

We also have the Blackberry Festival going on in our gym this weekend.  Two bands alternate sets, playing, basically, country two-step music.  The most popular dance is the snowball dance where two people start out, then when the singer yells "snowball" those two go get two new partners, then when he calls it out again, those four get new partners, etc., until the dance floor is full. 

 

I loved the people watching, but couldn't stay too long, because the gym was hot and crowded.  My favorite part is seeing how the two cultures have entwined.  Most of the women there were wearing traditional kuspuks (but out of modern patterned cotton fabric), with regular blue jeans.  I watched a group of small brown-skinned children in their tiny kuspuks, huddled around an iPad (unfortunately, my photo came out blurry)!  It is very important for them to hold on to their culture, and they'll tell you that daily.  Whenever they introduce you to a relative, they will first tell you how they are related in their culture, but then explain what we would call the relation.  For example, in Yupik, first cousins are called "teasing cousins." Nephews and neices call any older male relative "Upa," for grandpa. An aunt would also be called "mom," and any other number of relatives may be called a sister or brother (then clarified with, "that's in our Yupik ways.  YOU would call them a second cousin, or great aunt, or whatever they may be).

 

There no blackberries at the festival.  In fact, there are no blackberries here in Toksook.  We have crowberries - a small bitter black berry that has come to be known as a blackberry.  There were no traditional foods served at the festival - nachos and pretzels with cheese were the hot sellers. But boy, was this town hopping with people from all over all weekend.

 

 In March there will be Cama'i - a traditional dance festival that I will be anxious to see!