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    Alaska Native Games and How to Play Them
    Alaska Native Games and How to Play Them
    Alaska Native Games and How to Play Them
    Ebook108 pages39 minutes

    Alaska Native Games and How to Play Them

    By Tricia Nuyaqik Brown, Joni Kitmiiq Spiess and Roy Corral

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    About this ebook

    The athletes of the Alaska Native games aren’t just returning to their roots. They’ve never left them. In this beautifully illustrated book, readers learn the history of twenty-five Native games that have been handed down through generations, how each one relates to the subsistence lifestyle, and how you can try them yourself, regardless of where you live.

    As Tricia Nuyaqik Brown shows, even though today’s competitions are a big media event in Alaska, the games themselves are really no different from those of long ago. Ancestral communities once pitted their strongest, their most agile, their fastest men and women against those from neighboring villages or tribal groups. Those games never died, but rather than gathering in a sod meeting place, competitions are now held in gyms and arenas. Each game today can be linked to some aspect of surviving in a harsh environment, of drawing sustenance from the land and sea. From the Seal Hop to the Bench Reach to the Four-Man Carry, these ancient games still require athletes to be in top physical condition and possess sharp mental focus. They hold dear the traditional Native values of honoring the elders, responsibility to tribe, sportsmanship, humor, patience, and hunter success. This book offers an engaging introduction to these games and their history, inviting people to jump in and try them for themselves!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Alaska Press
    Release dateAug 15, 2020
    ISBN9781602234192
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      Book preview

      Alaska Native Games and How to Play Them - Tricia Nuyaqik Brown

      ALASKA NATIVE GAMES and How to Play Them

      TWENTY-FIVE CONTESTS THAT SURVIVED THE AGES

      TRICIA NUYAQIK BROWN // JONI KITMIIQ SPIESS

      PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROY JAZHGUQ CORRAL

      Foreword by NICK ILIGUTCHIAK HANSON, ESKIMO NINJA

      Image: Turnagain Arm sunset, Anchorage, Alaska.

      Turnagain Arm sunset, Anchorage, Alaska.

      Dedicated to Sheila Randazzo, whose love for the athletes and the games has nurtured healing, and saved many.

      A PLACE TO SHINE

      Athletes across the Far North train and compete locally as they prepare for these big events:

      ARCTIC WINTER GAMES

      Biennial

      Past Host Locations:

      ALASKA

      Chugiak and Eagle River

      Fairbanks

      Kenai Peninsula

      ALBERTA, CANADA

      Grande Prairie

      Hay River and Pine Point

      Slave Lake

      South Slave Region

      GREENLAND

      Nuuk

      NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA

      Wood Buffalo (Fort McMurray)

      Yellowknife

      NUNAVUT, CANADA

      Iqaluit

      QUEBEC, CANADA

      Shefferville

      YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA

      Whitehorse

      JUNIOR NATIVE YOUTH OLYMPICS

      Annually

      Hosted by Cook Inlet Tribal Council

      1st-6th grades; Natives and non-Natives

      Anchorage, Alaska

      NATIVE YOUTH OLYMPICS

      Annually since 1971

      Hosted by Cook Inlet Tribal Council

      7th-12th grades; Natives and non-Natives

      Anchorage, Alaska

      WORLD ESKIMO-INDIAN OLYMPICS

      Annually since 1961

      Native participants only

      Fairbanks, Alaska

      Image: Iñupiat drums. Native singing, drumming, and dancing are a social highlight during the Games.

      Iñupiat drums. Native singing, drumming, and dancing are a social highlight during the Games.

      CONTENTS

      Foreword: The Value of Playing Games, by Nick Iligutchiak Hanson

      Introduction: Personal Best, by Tricia Nuyaqik Brown and Joni Kitmiiq Spiess

      PART I // ANCIENT GAMES AND MODERN MUSCLE

      Alaskan High Kick

      Arm Pull

      Drop the Bomb / Airplane

      Ear Pull

      Ear Weight

      Eskimo Stick Pull

      Four-Man Carry

      Greased Pole Walk

      Head Pull / Neck Pull

      Indian Stick Pull

      Kneel Jump

      Knuckle Hop / Seal Hop

      Nalukataq (Blanket Toss)

      One-Foot High Kick

      One-Hand Reach

      Scissor Broad Jump

      Toe Kick

      Two-Foot High Kick

      Wrist Carry

      PART II // JUST AS FIERCE, BUT NEARLY FORGOTTEN

      Bench Reach

      Caribou Wrestling / Musk Ox (or Moose!) Wrestling

      Fish Hook

      Nose Pull

      Old Ladies’ Game

      Swing Kick

      The Great Ones

      Acknowledgments

      More Information

      FOREWORD

      THE VALUE OF PLAYING GAMES

      by Nick Iligutchiak Hanson

      Across the country, fans of the NBC show American Ninja Warrior know me as the Eskimo Ninja. We Ninjas follow a demanding course that requires balance, strength, endurance, and focus, the same attributes required to play the Alaska Native Games of my ancestors: Seal Hop, Eskimo Stick Pull, Blanket Toss, and more. Our Games are a bridge from the past that helps us find the best in ourselves and each other. If it weren’t for World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) and Native Youth Olympics (NYO), I wouldn’t be where I am today.

      Growing up in Unalakleet, a small town in western Alaska, I was beat up and bullied because I’m half Iñupiaq and half mixed European. So I don’t necessarily look like I’m Alaska Native. They would call me White Boy and tell me You shouldn’t be here. Sometimes I was depressed, thinking things would never change.

      Once I got pushed into a pile of dirt, and a boy named Axel Johnson threw a rock at my face. He actually broke my front tooth. Washing up at home, I looked at my reflection. What is it gonna take to make this stop? I thought. Who am I and what am I passionate about? I decided I wasn’t going

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