Another Successful Orbit

I hope you all had a restorative and enjoyable New Year's holiday. Ours was indeed both, and I must say, participating in the tribal festivities here was a lot more fulfilling than I imagined it would be. This post is mostly about that, from New Year's Eve to January 2nd, since there's so much to write about, that I don't want to forget.

We began the evening of New Year's Eve by doing Jadyn's birthday dinner request of cheese and chocolate fondue. We then celebrated the new year on Texas time, with some of our family, virtually toasting in Jadyn's birthday over sparkling grape juice in our pewter goblets, through FaceTime.

After that, Philip hosted an unofficial open gym from 8-10 pm at the school for the villagers, who were looking for something fun to do during the cold, dark hours leading up to midnight. After that, we all walked up to the village playground, where the tribe shot off their own fireworks show, and the kids all ran around with their sparklers and smaller pyrotechnic toys. It was bitter cold, but we enjoyed it so much. We were right there, in the midst of the action, lying down on the snow, watching the fireworks rain down around us. It took me back to the firework shows I used to watch out at Fort Hood, with everyone sitting on blankets, lawn chairs or on top of their cars. The explosions were so big, and I always felt so small. It was always thrilling. After the last crack of light, the villagers split to their homes, or to the homes of their friends and relatives', to shoot their respective guns to bring in the new year. You could hear the shots ringing around the village. Jadyn and Philip both took a turn firing the 357 Magnum that Philip has, Jadyn's first time to shoot.

Our teacher friend and her husband also had their own personal stash of fireworks they brought in, so we had fun shooting those off around our house as well. Josh got to do his traditional jumping over the fountain, so he was rather happy about that. We did learn that it's rather challenging, trying to light a fuse in negative temps with windy conditions, especially since all we had were matches. But it was nice not having to worry about any dry grass catching fire!

Avery's View

The Wolf Moon

After our hands and feet were numb, we headed indoors to finish the celebratory hours in warmth. We talked with our friends until 4 in the morning, just sharing our backstories and how we got to where we are. It was one of those conversations that's so full, and so unexpected, and will most likely be preserved in those hours that are always magically suspended at the beginning of a new year. It also brought me a sense of peace about our impending changes, with the first of our kids leaving for her first independent adventure in the coming months. It's good to remember that most of the best moments of your life are the ones that are unexpected and unplanned, and there is so much life for her to live out there, away from us. I'm excited to see what adventures she will encounter, and I know that we will still be a part of them, even if we're not there.

We slept for the next 6 hours, and had just enjoyed our morning coffee, when the mayor of the village showed up at our door, letting us know the villagers would soon be on our door step, singing their traditional, "Medzeyh Okko Hutnee,"a traditional gathering of food for the livelihood of the village. I was told by one of the locals that the name of this song translates to,"Please give us your caribou meat." And sure enough, within 10 minutes of the mayor's forewarning, they were there, at the foot of our steps, with a large tarp, singing to us, for us to throw out our food. That's basically what you do: after they've knocked on your door, and sung the song a couple of times, you throw your contribution into the large tarp. If you have children, you also have the option to throw your youngest child into the tarp, as a symbolic way of dedicating them to the village. We figured Avery wouldn't be overly thrilled with that, so we stuck to just giving our food. We threw out what we had set aside, all boxed and canned items, since we had been told by the school that we should donate non-perishable food. However, we would soon learn that you can contribute pretty much whatever you want, since we saw many households give moose meat, fish, canned fruit, and other food items they had personally gathered or hunted.

They also sang Happy Birthday to Jadyn, who is only one of two people in the village who have a birthday on New Year's. The other person is one of the village elders, so it's a pretty big deal around here. After they finished singing, we were asked to join the party, and travel along to the other village homes to collect food and sing. People have a way of asking around here, where it's more of a stated expectation, rather than a question. Like, "We're asking you, but of course, you're coming, so hurry up." Since we weren't expecting to join along, we hurriedly got bundled up, and headed out. I was so worried about coming across as rude for holding them up, that I didn't put on my snow pants. I had jeans on, and figured that my long coat would be enough. I will tell you right now...when the temperature is around 0 degrees, and you end up being outside in it for almost 2 hours, in the wind, snow pants are not a luxury. They are a necessity. I had several villagers express their concern to me that I wasn't wearing my snow pants, and I assured them I was fine. I was having so much fun, going from house to house, seeing both familiar and unfamiliar faces, throwing out the fruits of their labor, and watching the joy and laughter among these people who are all family. I couldn't help but feel a sense of gratitude that they wanted us to be a part of something so precious to them. The sense of coming together as a community, to ensure the survival of all during the hardest part of the year, is something that has been lost in many of the larger communities in the lower 48. Things are so disjointed, so disconnected, that you can be surrounded by people and yet still feel isolated. Here, in the midst of isolation, there is a community that can still come together. It's not perfect, by any means, and there are still many elements of a village that is struggling to survive. But on this day, it was important to all to try to give the new year a clean, communal start.

Unfortunately, when I could no longer feel my legs, and my muscles began to intermittently give out, I knew it was time to head home and warm up. Indeed, it took several hours, with a wood stove fire, a heating pad, and two blankets for my VERY red legs to release all the arctic cold that had apparently stored up inside them. I was genuinely surprised. I will never again embark on a winter journey here without my snow pants. The elders were right. Lesson learned.

At this point, I just wanted to curl up and sleep. But instead, we headed down to the Tribal Hall, where the second part of the day's festivities was to happen. Now that all the food had been collected, the tradition was for some of the women in the village to distribute it equitably back out to all. To begin, some of the village elders stood and spoke, speaking towards the year that was, and their hopes for the year to come. Most notable, was the repeated mentioning of how glad they were to see so many gathered together, since it seems many have left this village, either for economic viability, or because of emotional pain from those who have passed away. After the last speech, the distributing of food began, and it really was women, walking around with carts of food, handing items to everyone as they walked by. There was no telling what you were going to get. Our family ended up with a jar of handpicked salmonberries, moose rump roast, a jar of preserved moose meat, dried fish and moose meat, and then various crackers, pasta and other pantry items. I can't wait until next year, where hopefully we'll have more to give.

Then, we went home, to rest and prepare for the next day, which would be the final culmination of the New Year's village celebration. This last part, on the second of January, is known as the Washtub Dance. Each family bakes some sort of sweet confection, and brings that to the Tribal Office. The men and women separate, with the men sitting in the Hall, and the women preparing to bring in their food. In the Hall, the tarp that was used to collect the food is now laid on the floor, with the last third of it suspended upwards, to create a wall, over which you lay your food. There are two village children sitting on each end of this wall, waving sticks, keeping rhythm with the village singer who is beating on a paddle. They sing a variety of songs, waiting for those with food to knock on the door and enter. Jadyn, Emily, Avery and I went together with the women, bringing our baked goods, completely going with the flow, since we had no idea what we were doing. When we entered the Hall, we danced as a group, until the drumming stopped. Then we each delivered our food over the tarp wall, and sat with the men of our family. After that, it was the men's turn. They did the same, going to the Office to get their food, then knocking on the door, dancing to the beat, and then delivering their food on the tarp. After that, there was a lot of singing and dancing. Sometimes, it was a group of masked and costumed dancers, wearing the most absurd array of clothing, dancing for comedic effect. I recognized a couple of my students in that group, which I found rather amusing. Other times, the song leader would call people up by groups, like from a certain village or town, young mothers, or the elders. They even called for just the teachers to get up and dance. We nervously glanced at each other, and then got up, took our place by the tarp wall, and began dancing the Washtub Dance. We laughed at ourselves and each other, and it was so good to see the same among the locals, who seemed to be authentically glad that we were there. The para who works in Philip's class later told him that it went over really well with the villagers, to see us there, truly engaged and wanting to be a part of their life. She said it gave them hope that there may actually be a future for this village and the people in it, and that a path forward may be possible. I really hope so, and I'll be honored if we have any hand in that.

After all the singing and dancing, there were a few more speeches by elders and the tribal leader. Then a blessing was said over the food, and the women began handing it out, just like the night before. And then...it was over. The old year had been pushed away, and the New Year embraced, with hopes for a better path moving forward. We left the Hall in good spirits, thankful for such an experience.

And now...we're back in the groove of the school year, hoping for the best, but keeping our expectations feasible. I must say, the students seemed happy to be back, which is a good thing. We'll see what this semester holds, and although that remains unknown, this much I know: we will all be the wiser for it.