MORE OF CHRISTMAS AND THE AHLOOK GAMES

Christmas here in Barrow was wonderful in every way.  Favorite things, of course, included talking with my family in Arizona, Washington, Pennsylvania and California and friends in Washington, hearing about their events leading up to Christmas as well as plans for the day and sharing mine.  My little granddaughters are growing by the minute.  Little Jordan’s voice is so clear and my heart melts listening to her talk about the many subjects on her mind.  She usually ends our wonderful and funny conversations with, “I’m sorry, Oma, but I have to go now, OK?”  Her little sister, Keira, isn’t far behind in conversational skills, I’m sure.  I long to see my children and grandchildren again and am continually grateful for their blessings to be working so far away, “up in that cold place” as Jordan says. 

Among other things that made Christmas joyful here was attending a church service with live music and carols.  Live non-Native music is rare in Barrow so I enjoyed listening as the pastor played a steel stringed guitar and led singing, accompanied by two Tongan people who played keyboard and percussion.  It’s been almost three months since I’ve seen or heard this sort of music so it filled a barely noticed, but still present void.

On Christmas Eve, I was invited to Trinidad’s apartment for homemade enchiladas.  She’s originally from Mexico and is one of the Behavior Health Clinicians who works at the main Health Department building here.  She learned from Julie that I didn’t have plans for the evening so invited me to join her and others for a meal and a game of Mexican train dominos.  I was grateful for the invitation and enjoyed getting to know her, three other clinicians, one of their husbands, another guest and two people from CHAP (the Community Health Aid Program).  When I arrived, Lloyd (from CHAP) was stirring a large skillet of homemade chili sauce on the stove and Trinidad was making people feel welcome with hugs and tall glasses of green tea or ice water. 

Jovana (one of the clinicians) and her husband, Tillman (AKA Tim), kept most of us laughing throughout dinner preparations and during the meal.  Jovana is small and has a very bright personality and sense of humor.  After puzzling for quite a while, I finally realized that Tillman looks and talks very much like a combination of John Wayne and my father’s best friend while I was growing up, Bayne.  Tillman didn’t wear a cowboy hat, but is tall and he gracefully shot back dry, witty comments to every one that Jovana made.  They seemed so comfortable together and covered a wide range of topics that made us all laugh and wait expectantly for their next volley.    

After a heart felt blessing, we all enjoyed homemade corn tortillas covered with the chili sauce, fresh vegetables and cheese along with several dishes others had brought.  Am still day dreaming about how enjoyable the enchiladas were.  Playing dominos until 10 pm was great fun, balancing strategizing to win with being nonchalant and trying not to smile when down to one domino.  I won twice and decided that it wasn’t an altogether good thing as I seemed to quickly transform from a welcome guest to an unwelcome viable rival for those more serious players.  Starting other players’ trains who weren’t able to make a move helped to put me into their good graces again and during breaks we all laughed at our competitive spirits.  I left earlier than most with heaping plates of left overs, hugs, and well wishes.   I’d really enjoyed the evening.

Christmas day found me surrounded by the wonderful gifts my family had sent…beautiful photographs of my daughter and her family and one of my parents, large bags of nuts and dried fruit, lotion, a soft and warm throw, hand warmers, boxes of tea, hats, mittens and a scarf from a cruise my parents took last year to Antarctica, and hand-knit socks.  I’m feeling very rich and well supplied for the coming months. 

I’ll be moving into my new apartment this coming weekend, so while out of town for the holidays, Bertrand and Kim lent me their Chevy Trail Blazer.   When Julie called in the afternoon, I asked if she’d like to ride along and attend the opening night of 2012-2013 Ahlook Games being held at Ipalook Elementary School.  The school is a little more than a mile away across the dike road between the two upper and lower lagoons and the temperature was minus 19ᵒ F.  Neither one of us would probably have attended if we didn’t have a vehicle at our disposal, so were happy at our good fortune.  On my drive to Julie’s, I discovered that driving is more disorienting than walking.  Streets looked unfamiliar from the height of the cab and from behind the frosted windshield.  I arrived late with my salad and was happy to finally join Julie and her beautiful and well-behaved Alaskan Husky, Yenta (Norwegian for “young girl”), for lentil eggrolls and good conversation before were off to the games.  

Because we were driving, neither of us had dressed as warmly as usual, so understanding the workings of the old heat controls on the dashboard became a priority.  We weren’t able to find the cab light which contributed to the difficulty of our urgent quest.  Not wanting to veer off of the road, I ventured to tell Julie, who is my boss, two levels up, that I’d do the driving, but that it was her job to figure out how to turn on the heat.  We had some good laughs on the trip over and were glad to finally walk into the school and join a large crowd of others in the (warm) gym where the festivities were to be held. 

A group of drummers sat in a long row while Inupiat moderators invited various groups of people to come dance on the floor in front of them.  Whaling captains were the first to be invited and were joined by family members.  Other groups included people who had served in any way at the several Christmas feasts that took place in churches around town earlier in the day.  One of the moderators spoke of their work, thanked them and commented on how tired they must be.  She said that the cure for a loss of energy was to dance…that it always reinvigorated the soul.  Many took her advice and seemed to thoroughly enjoy dancing after their already long day.  Young people and children were also invited to dance and many did.  It was inspiring to see children of all ages watch carefully as older ones and adults danced.  They worked at mimicking their movements and it left me wondering if this is the way Eskimo dancing is learned and passed on from one generation to the next. 

The drumming and dancing was riveting as it always is for me.  I love the slow, soft and steady united lead up to when the drummers beat loudly and the dancers become fierce hunters, telling an unspoken story with their swift and powerful movements.  Some of the dancers or people in the crowd cry out in what sounds like a loud, piercing and ancient voice heard centuries ago across the sea ice.  It makes one feel as though they’re in a different world altogether until the dance is finished and the crowds cheer and loudly applaud.  Men, young and old, seemed to be the most powerful dancers and received many shouts of “one more, one more!” when they had finished a dance.  The women dance beautifully with graceful movements and adapt to the louder beating with quicker, but still graceful waving of their arms.  They seem to keep both of their feet on the floor while dancing while the men stomp to the beat of the drums. 

With working the rest of the week and moving this coming weekend, I’m not sure if I’ll take in many more nights of the games, but have been told they’re very fun.  The list of events includes competitions that are open to all--foot races, crab walk, back to back push, paper pass relay, married vs. single events, one foot high kick, scissor broad jump, two foot high kick, broad jump, leg wrestle, arm pull, and middle finger pull culminating.  The games end on the evening of January 1st with the 2013 New Year’s Eskimo Dance.

I’ll post some photos of the dancing soon, and when in Washington in the spring, I’ll be able to upload the videos.  Like in Wainwright, the photos are enjoyable, but don’t come close to capturing the energy of the dancing and drumming like the videos do. 

Hope you all had a wonderful and meaningful Christmas!!!