Eskimo Games from Gambell
These games came from long ago. As long as I can remember, these games have been a part of our life.
Hunting Games
In the winter when we were young, we played polar bear. The elders wanted us to learn how to kill a real polar bear, so we played this game. This is how the game was played.
Someone is the bear, and the others are hunters. First we chase the bear and tire him. When he is tired and panting, he acts dead. We look closely to see which way he turns, for some polar bear turn to the left and some turn to the right. Then we kill the bear with a lance, the way they killed them long ago. Next we pretend to cut him up. Hauling each other across the snow, we bring home our “game” and put it into a pit in the snow.
In this game, we dig deep into the snow and make houses, just like our sod houses. We make beds out of snow and add a shed to the doorway. A wick dipped in sealoil is our light. Outside, we make a polar bear head our of snow, with its jaws open just like a real polar bear.
In another game, we act like seals. We make small pits in the snow. Someone gets into the pit and acts like a seal or a walrus. We pretend to spear them. And they pretend to get loose from our spears. We played like this after school in the winter when the days grew longer.
Another winter game is called uvesqan. The uvesquat is made from the hipbone of a seal. On one side of the bone is a small hole. On the other side, a string is tied to another hole. A small pointed stick is tied to the end of the string. To play uvesqan, we hold the stick and swing the bone back and forth. Then we try to land the bone’s little hole right on the point of the stick.
In the spring we played a game with bollos. One bollo, flung into the sky, is a bird. We throw other bollos to try to catch it. In this way, we learn how to hunt real birds.
Ball Games
Then in the springtime, they start hunting whale and walrus. Many games are forbidden at this time, out of respect for the meat. Ball games especially are forbidden. Then when they finally catch a whale, the elders urge us, “Now you can play real ball games.” And we reply, “Okay!” We hurry back to our boats, knowing that tonight we will play a ball game. Quickly we mix the gas and lube for our outboards. Quickly we haul our gear up on the beach. For tonight a team from the north side of the village will play against a team from the south side.
To play aghqutan, there are two equal teams. Each team tries to kick the ball to its side. We can’t lay our hands on it, only kick it as we run. Those who are fast can really travel with the ball. It is a very tiring game, much like soccer.
Kalleghta is another ball game played after whaling. Here, the men play the women. We play down on the beach with a ball, they pass it back and forth, and we men have to get it back.
Inside Games
Here is another winter game, called kuvaghan. A time comes when there are plenty of crabs, and we gather up their claws. Sitting in a circle, we take a bundle of crab claws and drop them to the floor. Some of them land upside down. Some land standing up. We count the upright claws for our points.
Sometimes we make the crab claws “wrestle.” Two players each spin a claw to the floor. The player whose claw lands upright takes the other claw. Each one starts with his smallest piece and moves on to his largest. The one who has the most claws at the end wins. If we run out of crab claws, we use toy ravens to play this game.
Inside at night, we play a game like pick-up sticks. We slice wood into small sticks and file them into thin, smooth pieces. Then we take a bundle of sticks and drop them to the floor. They fall into a pile. We try to pull out as many sticks as we can, one by one, without moving any other sticks. If we move a stick, we lose our turn. Then someone else tries to pull out some sticks. Whoever has the most sticks is the winner.
Another indoor game is played with the hipbone of a seal. We all sit in a circle. Each player tries to break the bone in half. When the bone is broken, we cheer the person who broke it.
In the evenings, the girls take out their little carved toys and play house. They have toy stoves made of clay and skin-covered rooms. They pretend to light their little stoves. Their dolls have only the upper body. They have faces, but no arms. The toy women have breasts. There are also toy dogs, with a little harness and a sled.
We boys play apart from the girls. Our games are not like theirs. We let the toy dogsled mush. We make the dogs bark and woo. We take that little dogsled somewhere looking for game, just like in real life.
These are the games I remember from long ago. Some games can cause quarrels, if the players are short-tempered. The elders would scold us if there was any quarreling. We lived in obedience to the elders then. They wanted to play our games in harmony.
By Steven Aningayou of Gambell
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