After making offerings to his relative at the annual feast the chief
mourner begins saving up his skins, frozen meat, and other delicacies
prized by the Eskimo, until, in the course of years, he has
accumulated an enormous amount of food and clothing. Then he is
prepared to give the great feast in honor of his kinsman. Others in
the village, who are bereaved, have been doing the same thing. They
meet and agree on a certain time to celebrate the feast together
during the ensuing year. The time chosen is usually in January after
the local feasts are over, and visitors from neighboring tribes are
free to attend. There are no set intervals between these feasts as has
been generally supposed. They are celebrated at irregular intervals
according to the convenience of the givers.
At the minor festival preceding the Great Feast, the usual invitation
stakes planted before the dead are supplemented by others placed
before the graves of those in whose honor the festival is to be given.
On these is a painted model of the totemic animals of the deceased.
The feast giver sings an especial song of invitation, requesting the
dead kinsman to be present at the approaching feast.
On the first day of the Great Feast the villagers welcome the guests.
Early in the morning they begin to arrive. The messenger goes out on
the ice and leads them into the village, showing each where to tie his
team. During the first day the guests are fed in the kasgi. They have
the privilege of demanding any delicacy they wish. After this they are
quartered on various homes in the village. Salmon or meat must also
be provided for their dogs. This is no small item, and often taxes the
resources of a village to the utmost. I have known of a village so
poor after a period of prolonged hospitality that it was reduced to
starvation rations for the rest of the winter.
Immediately on tying up their dogs, the guests go to the kasgi. On
entering each one cries in set phraseology, "Ah-ka-ka- Piatin,
Pikeyutum." "Oh, ho! Look here! A trifling present." He throws his
present on a common pile in front of the headman, who distributes them
among the villagers. It is customary to make the presents appear as
large as possible. One fellow has a bolt of calico which he unwinds
through the entrance hole, making a great display. It may be thirty
yards long. Sometimes they accompany the gift with a short dance. It
is considered bad form for one coming from a distance[23] not to make
the usual present, as in this way he purchases the right to join in
the festival dances.
[23] During the inter-tribal festivals, guests are given seats of
honor next to the headman of the village according to the distance
from which they have come. The back of the room (kaan), the place of
honor, is reserved for this purpose.
As soon as all are gathered in the kasgi, a feast is brought in for
the tired travelers. Kantags of sealmeat, the blackskin of the
bowhead, salmon berries swimming in oil, greens from the hillsides,
and pot after pot of tea take off the edge of hunger. After gorging
themselves, the guests seem incapable of further exertion, and the
remainder of the day is spent in visiting.