Eskimo Olympics

[*****More photos to be added later; I am having trouble uploading them to the site.*****]

Some things are too amazing. Truly. And some of the best things in life cannot be planned, they just have to happen spontaneously. Such is my experience with the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, or WEIO.

I returned from Kodiak Thursday night, and found out the the WEIO had started on Wednesday, but would continue on until Saturday. So I went by on Friday, thinking it would be a fun way to spend the afternoon. Well, let me just say that it was one of the most interesting things I've ever done in my entire life. I stayed all day Friday, then went back on Saturday morning, and was there until after midnight Saturday night. It was truly incredible.

Let me just tell you about some of the events I saw -- photos truly cannot show you these events. I strongly recommend you check them out on YouTube:

• Two-foot high kick
• One-foot high kick; considered the premiere event of the olympics; the male gold-medalist tried (but failed) to tie the world record of 9' 8"
• Ear pulling; by far, one of the strangest athletic events I've ever seen. It's supposed to demonstrate one's ability to withstand severe pain. Yes, blood was drawn. And Caroline, who was working in the ER that night, saw some patients from that event who came in with ear lacerations.
  
• Ear weights
• Knuckle Hop; the strangest event which required SERIOUS athletic ability. Just watch it on YouTube....there's no way to explain this one. It's supposed to simulate a seal hopping across the ice.
  
• Blanket Toss; this one looks like serious fun!
  
• Seal-skinning
• Fish-cutting
• Native regalia competition
• Native drumming/dancing competition
  

Other events, which I did not see, because they occurred on the first two days of competition:

• Alaskan High Kick (another strange one to look up)
  
• One-arm reach
• Four-Man Carry
• Drop the Bomb
• Stick Pull (Eskimo style and Indian style)
• Arm Pulling
• Toe Kick
• Native Baby Regalia competition
• Miss WEIO competition
  

So, bear with me while I wax philosophically for a moment about the blanket toss. Here's how it works: 40 random volunteers FROM THE AUDIENCE go to the competition floor, to be the "pullers". The blanket is actually nine walrus skins sewn together into a large blanket, with a rope attached around the perimeter of the blanket. The pullers wear heavy gloves, and pick up the blanket and pull it taut. They then start waving the blanket up and down in sync, to form a trampoline of sorts. The competitor then gets up on the blanket, and the pullers start waving the blanket up and down to get the competitor started bouncing. Then they count to 3 in some native language, and yell some non-English version of "go!", at which point, they literally throw the competitor up in the air. The competitor then does some sort of trick, and then has to land back on the blanket. Each competitor gets a total of three jumps. Each jump is scored on height, the "trick", and the landing. The pullers, by the way, have to watch the jumper, because he/she doesn't always go straight up -- so the pullers have to move the blanket to make sure they catch the jumper. Jumpers can reach heights of 40 feet or more during this event.

Here's the thing: I can't get over the fact that the pullers aren't selected by the jumper, but are just random volunteers from the audience. Seriously, can you imagine the Summer or Winter Olympics where, if there were an American jumper, he would trust his score and his medal chances to some random volunteers? Heck no! He'd be worried that someone would try to throw the competition. Each jumper would come with his own cadre of 40 pullers. But apparently, that's not the way the Alaskan natives think.

In fact, I noticed that all of the competitors helped each other out in every event I saw. It was pretty amazing to see how friendly and helpful they all were to each other, rather than competitive with each other. For instance, in the high kick events, when a jumper missed the target (the jumper has to kick a target in the air; each competitor gets a total of three attempts to reach the target), the other competitors would go up to the person and comment on what he or she needed to do to improve the jump on the next attempt. They all cheered for each other when one of them succeeded, and they would all hug when one competitor would be eliminated from competition. Even the judges would hug each competitor who got eliminated from competition. Pretty amazing.

I also have to say that the natives are fun to watch and to listen to, in general. They're so happy and smiley, and they have such interesting accents. The main commentator, especially, was cracking me up throughout the two days I was there. He'd be commentating on an event, and then he'd suddenly exclaim: "I smell fry bread....for all you tourists, welcome to the land of fry bread....and seal oil....". After the particularly bloody and painful-looking men's gold medal ear pulling event, he announced: "Well, now. The gold goes to the one young man, and the silver to the other young man...." He was too funny. I asked someone about him, and they told me that he'd been a fierce competitor in many WEIO events when he was younger. But now he is hardly the picture of a master athlete; he's got a huge belly but little stick-legs, and he'd sit, leaning to one side, hardly moving, except for his mouth, which would alternate between commentating on the sports, on the food, and on general topics which interested him. He was hilarious.

During the seal skinning competition, which was really more of a demonstration because the seal hunting has been poor lately (yes, natives actually hunt seals for the competition, then the dead seals have to be flown to Fairbanks for the event), an elderly Alaskan native woman was commentating. Her sister was doing the skinning, and the commentator said "I'm translating my sister's English....to English". Then she'd burst out laughing, like she'd said the funniest thing in the world. There were so many of these funny comments and lines during WEIO. I only wish that there were a way for me to have recorded them, and put the recordings on this journal, so that you could hear them.

Finally, there were amazing arts and crafts at the event. I bought lots of souvenirs: a caribou-hide mask that looks like an Eskimo woman with timberwolf fur around her face like the hood of a parka; a spirit mask that looks like a raven-man; three walrus ivory carvings, and a birch-bark basket with a moose-hide covering and beaded decorations. The crafts are sold by the natives who make them. It was really cool talking to them, and finding out how they make them.

Just in case you're interested, WEIO's 50th anniversary is next year! Trust me, this event is worth the trip.

Oh, and one other thing, for all of my politically correct friends: up here, the word "Eskimo" is used. It's confusing, but basically "Eskimo" refers to two tribes up here: the Yup'ik and Inupiat. They basically crossed from the Bering Strait, and live on the western and northern coasts of Alaska. The other tribes are considered "Indians": Athabascans, Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit. They live either in interior Alaska (Athabascans) or along the Inside Passage and the Pacific Northwest (Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit). There are also the Alutiiq, or Aleutians, who live in the Aleutian Islands. No one uses the word "Inuit" up here, as it only refers to the Inupiat tribe. Basically, if you want to be politically correct, they're just grouped together as Alaskan Natives. There...does that help?