September 17, 2010

Respect for Nature

Written by: Richard Larochelle, Math & Science Teacher, Bartlett High School

It was a late autumn Sunday; I went out boating on the Bering Sea with my family about ten miles from the village of Kotlik. A new school year had already started so our hunting days were limited. The weather was sunny and calm, perfect for seal hunting. In the late afternoon we saw a fleet of about 10 boats filled with families hunting a bearded seal. We joined in the hunting. Because we are at the mouth of the Yukon River, the water was fresh, not salty like the ocean. The village people still use spears and harpoons to seal hunt. This method ensures that the seal will not sink. After the seal is speared/harpooned it unravels and is a guide for us to “chase” the seal and capture it.

I had my wife Cami drive the boat, and our 8 year old son Kevin at the bow of the boat with a harpoon. I gave directions to Cami as we followed the wake of the seal. Each time the seal surfaced for air, the hunters yelled, “hey-heeey!” to scare the seal and take shorter breathes. It also let others know where the seal was. We were into the hunt for about a half an hour as we followed its wake. I encouraged Kevin to prepare to harpoon the seal. It surfaced and Kevin harpooned the seal!

Because it was Kevin’s first seal catch, the whole fleet cheered and congratulated him. Cami screamed in celebration and did some Eskimo dance motions. We brought the seal to the riverbank, gutted and cleaned it. My brother-in law advised me to cut off the head, give it a drink of water then throw it back into the sea. This age old Yup’ik ritual demonstrates respect and thankfulness for the seal giving itself to us. It is also believed that more seals will return in the next hunting season.

When we arrived in Kotlik, we stored the seal in my mother in-law’s smoke house. We explained that we would butcher it on Monday after school. Monday, Cami and I went to the smoke house to work on the seal, but found that mom butchered it earlier in the day. She explained that Kevin would have to do his first Eskimo dance in the spring and the seal needed to be distributed to our sister village of Stebbins during the potlatch.

Doing the dance was an “induction” for Kevin as a provider for relatives. This tradition reinforces the Yup’ik cultural values of respect for nature and celebration of a boy providing for a village.