Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway

A Time for Drumming

In Yup’ik language, the darkest part of winter is called Cauyarvik, “a time for drumming.” That’s because they hold their most important festivals then, and during a festival there’s always dancing and singing to drums. Sometimes the whole village travels to Kalskag or Avaucharak for the big weeklong festival.

People are very busy during the months before Cauyarvik, making new clothes and dance costumes, practicing dances and songs, and preparing the food and gifts. They’re so busy that few of them can help Mrs. Hoff as much as she wants, and she complains to Mr. Hoff about the unreliability of the villagers.

Sometimes, people prepare for years for their gifts. When they gave a feast for Panruk’s father, Grandma made twenty-seven pairs of fish-skin boots with woven grass socks, twenty fish-skin bags, twenty-one fish-skin coats, twenty-three grass baskets, and twenty-one grass fish bags. And others in their family made just as many gifts.

Mr. Hoff speaks about this custom in the qasgiq. He is dismayed by how many things are given away, and how much food is distributed. He hopes they will not be so foolish in their village as the other Yup’ik villages are. He says big feasts waste food, and it’s wrong not to save as much food as possible for the hungry times. He knows some people who have given everything they had to others, until they had nothing left. Those people are content because they show so much generosity, but they should have taken pride instead in saving.

The old men tell Mr. Hoff he must understand that in the Yup’ik way, the more you give, the more would come back. Giving and sharing is an important part of Yup’ik life.

The Mask Dance is held every year during Cauyarvik. The children love this festival best because the masks and animal carvings are so wonderful. A shaman is in charge of the Mask Dance because he’s the only one who can speak to the animals in the spirit world and ask them to come back next year. It’s the Yup’ik belief that animals and people are equal partners in the universe, and people must treat all animals with great respect. In return, the animals will respect the Yup’ik and will provide themselves as food.

But we should have known that Mr. Hoff hated shaman so much that there would be trouble.

For the Mask Dance, they all dress in their best clothes. Minuk wears her caribou teeth belt. Grandpa wears his labrets, ivory buttons that fit into the holes pierced at the corner of his mouth. Iraluq and Taulan wear their short dance parkas and fancy long gloves. Mamma wears her new parka along with her long beaded earrings. Minuk’s proud of her family because they are dressed so beautifully.

After the men go into the qasgiq, Mr. Hoff asks the women to stand in front of the men’s house while he takes pictures of them with his Kodak. They’re laughing so hard that it takes Mr. Hoff five exposures to get a picture where no one is moving. Minuk can hardly wait to see those pictures.

The animal carvings are hung all around the center of the men’s house where they can watch the dances the men do for them. They are beautiful, one for each kind of animal and fish. The special masks the men wear are just as wonderfully carved.

Minuk and Panruk sit, holding their breath. The dance is the men do shows perfectly how each animal moves, and the calls the men make to imitate them are so real. Mr. Hoff has never seen the Mask Dance, so he and David come to watch. David comes to sit with Panruk and Minuk. Minuk can tell he likes the dances as well because he holds his breath, too.

Everyone must be very quiet while the dances are being performed. It’s believed that the spirits are in the qasgiq, and they’ll take fright if there’s too much noise.

But in the middle of the ceremony, Mr. Hoff suddenly jumps to his feet and shouts at the shaman. He says the shaman is the devil’s helper and the festival is the worst sort of heathenism. The men stand up and quietly tell Mr. Hoff to leave. Minuk’s father and some of his friends go to Mr. Hoff and take him by the arms and lead him out of the men’s house. David looks at the girls frightened, and then gets to his feet and follows his father.

The villagers were already upset that Mr. Hoff tried to interfere with Panruk and Qanrilaq, and he had not understood the giving and sharing at their festivals. But his interference in the Mask Dance was far worse. He might have ruined the hunting and fishing for the next year with his loud interruption. Mr. Hoff has gone too far.

Later, Mr. Hoff tries to speak to the men again but when he comes, everyone gets up to leave. They no longer accept his presence in the men’s house. Minuk feels sorry for Mr. Hoff. He wants to help them very much, but he’s so loud and rude that no one wants to listen to him anymore.

Minuk goes outside to the bank with her Grandpa to watch the northern lights. In Yup’ik legend, the northern lights are spirits of dead boys playing ball, and when the lights shift back and forth, that’s the boy who catches the ball, stumbles and throws it into the sky again. When the lights are deep red, it predicts that there’s to be a terrible battle, in which the ground will be covered with blood. Grandma once said she saw the lights with all the colors of the rainbow. But most nights, the lights are pale green, pink, or white. Grandpa likes to show them off along with the stars to Minuk. But today, he gets to his feet early and says that he wants to talk to all of the women.

Grandpa says that the men have decided that they will not allow the women to work for the Hoffs anymore. He thinks it’s good to learn new ways but not all of the men agree. Mr. Hoff has abused their hospitality by interfering with the Mask Dance. They won’t be interfered with anymore. Kasruq, the orphan, is also leaving the school.

Grandma is fond of Mrs. Hoff. She thinks of her like a young woman who is sometimes foolish. Minuk knows that Grandma will be sad. And Minuk will miss going to the Hoffs’ house very much. She’ll miss David and jolly Miss Oakes, and she’ll miss joking with the boys in the morning when she dishes their oatmeal. She’ll miss her dress with the white apron and the pocket, and she’ll miss the soap. She might not even be able to see the photographs Mr. Hoff took of all the women before the Mask Dance. She’ll miss talking to Miss Danfort and learning her opinions. And she’ll be sorry to not know what the boys are learning. Perhaps, Minuk will even forget how to speak English.

Why did Mr. Hoff have to do this? Why couldn’t he hold his tongue, as Yup’ik people do? Why did he have to have such bad manners?