Dance, Dance, Dance!

Waqaa,
Tonight was the first night of Potlatch. It was really fun and will last into the wee hours of the morning. I was there for 4 hours and saw about half of it. There were 5 groups doing their first dances and a total of 18 songs. After each first dance the dancers would give gifts to all of the drummers, elders, adults and kids in the room. They gave things like gloves, socks, towels, fry bread, shovels, tupperware, curtain rods, dishes, candy etc. I also had my first cup of Aqutuq (Eskimo Ice Cream). It is made from lard, sugar, and either berries or fish. I was lucky enough to get the berry kind. Each group that danced brought about 6 large tubs of gifts. One of the teachers did her first dance last year and she said that it cost her about $1500. The kids keep asking when I will do my first dance and I keep saying next year, so please start stocking up on goods. :0)
The traditional clothing was amazing. Besides Stebbins, there were dancers from Saint Michael. Their clothing was a little different than ours and very neat. I took a lot of video but I am reluctant to put it on the blog because they are very secretive about their dancing. I will try to email it around.
I was impressed with how helpful all of the kids were. They passed out gifts and poured water to all the people watching.
Overall, I think that Potlatch is a very cool experience and I am thrilled that I got to be part of it. There is something else going on tomorrow ( I am not sure what) but I know that we need to bring lots of food. Sue and I will spend the morning making caramel corn and baking cookies.
Jesse is away at Mountain Village this weekend. He left today and will be back on Sunday. He will leave for his Conference tournament in Point Hope on Monday and not return until the following Sunday. It will be a long, lonely 9 days for me and an even longer, exhausting 9 days of sleeping in a classroom for him.
I hope to hear from you all soon!
Katy