The Bladder Festival or Bladder Feast (''Nakaciuq'' "something done with bladders" or ''Nakaciuryaraq'' "the process of doing something with bladders" in

Yup'ik The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...

), is an important annual

seal hunting Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), Ice ...

harvest renewal ceremony and celebration held each year to honor and appease the souls of

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

taken in the hunt during the past season which occurred at the

winter solstice The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter ...

by the

of western and southwestern

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

.Lorraine D. Koranda (1968)
Three songs for the Bladder Festival, Hooper Bay
Emily Johnson (1998)
“Yup'ik Dance: Old and New,”
''The Journal for the Anthropological Study of Human Movement'', Vol. 9, No. 3. In the Yup'ik Eskimo shamanism, while the hunter kills the body of the animal, he does not kill the '' yua'' (spirit or soul), which resides in the animal's

bladder The urinary bladder, or simply bladder, is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the kidneys before disposal by urination. In humans the bladder is a distensible organ that sits on the pelvic floor. Urine en ...

(''nakacuk'' in Yup'ik) and is reincarnated in a new body. The collected inflated bladders of sea mammals taken by hunters during the previous year are honored. The celebration of the Bladder Festival marked the opening of the winter ceremonial season. At the time of the winter solstice, when the sun "sat down" on the horizon, families inflated the bladders of seals killed that year and brought them into the

qasgiq Qargi (), Qasgi or Qasgiq (by the Yup'iks), Qaygiq (by the Cup'iks), Kashim (by the Russians), Kariyit, a traditional large semi-subterranean men's community house' (or "communal men's house, men's house, ceremonial house, council house, dance ...

. The timing of the Bladder Festival varied slightly from place to place and from year to year. The Bladder Festival was associated with increased sexual activity. Men and women circumscribed their sexual activity during the Bladder Festival. Pubescent girls could not enter the qasgiq, and women in general were excluded from the qasgiq except during special periods. After several (five or six) days of festivities it was time to return the bladders to the sea. Yup'ik hunters still hunt seals but villages have not performed the festival for at least 50 years or more.

References

{{Reflist Annual events in Alaska Festivals in Alaska Yupik culture

See also

References