Yukon Masks

Tengmiarpak
Women carried eagle-feather dance wands such as these collected at Rasboinsky in 1879 during a Feast for the Dead on the lower Yukon River in the 1840s. In 1867 W. H. Dall admired one such presentation, "The opening chant was slow and measured. The motions of the dancers were modest and pleasing; the extreme gracefulness of the women, especially, would have excited admiration anywhere." 38870 NMNH

"In the fall during what people called "the time for drumming" men would begin singing, doing the yuraq dancing first. After that part of the dance cycle, probably around February, at Amigtuli people would start arulat [motion dances accompanied by songs with verses]. This dancing extended for a long time, because men would also be making masks. Every day they would dance in the evening.

"The guests never brought masks with them. Only the host village would dance with masks, which had songs composed specifically about them. Appropriate lyrics would reflect what the masks depicted.

"Evidently it was the last masked dancing in that area. Many elders I saw participating in Qasgiq events had already died. At that time a few shamans presented their masks. It appeared that they repainted masks that they had presented before instead of making new ones. Before that time they presented new masks each time. The space under the bench was covered with cloth. Evidently, behind it were many masks. They kept them covered before the guests arrived."

— Mary Mike, St. Marys, October 1994

Based on the exhibit curated by Ann Fienup-Riordan