A young Inuit child shares his story. (This story and the previous one I did about Sikik Eegeesiak were inspired in part by watching the movie, "Brother Bear", in which we got on video yesterday!)
Hope you enjoy!~
My name is Amaroq George Anatuvuk, and I am a ten-year-old Inuit boy. I live in Nome, Alaska, with my mom, Eve, and my dad, Raymund, and my little sisters Tanana and Naiomi. Tanana is eight, and my baby sister, Naiomi, is five.
We don't live in an igloo, as you may think we do; but instead, we live in a normal house, just like most people do. We also have dogs, whom we train for a living and take along with us whenever we go hunting or whenever we go racing. We have twelve dogs, all Huskies, and they are very speedy and fast dogs who know how to work hard and know how to hunt down game for our family, so we can eat and make clothing or other necessities we may need.
As you can imagine, our way of life is very hard, and it is not for those people who don't like hard work or brutal cold. In Alaska, especially in the Artic areas during the winter, it can get as cold as -60 degrees below zero, and with the flying snow and biting wind, it can very easily kill a person in a matter of minutes. People have gotten lost or froze to death in our winters, and if you decide to come to Alaska in the winter you had better know beforehand of what you are dealing with! Animals such as bears, wolves (my name, Amaroq, means "wolf" in the Inupiat language!), wolverines, and badgers live here, and bears and wolves both have been known to attack and even kill a human being. We often have to hunt for our food, and with our family, we like fish, seal, whale, bear, and goose. We use all parts of the dead animal we kill, and before we bury the carcass we always apologize to the dead animal and their spirit, so they don't come back to haunt us later on. We use everything: bones, skin, muscles, fat, teeth. We use these items to make clothes or jewelry, and we also use these items to make tools and whatnot. We are a very clever and resourceful group, we Inuit, and we never have to worry about most things.
Our area is barren and snow covered most of the year, and snow storms are common; and during the winter, the days, as well as nights, can be as black as pitch, with only a lantern, or the Northern Lights lighting our way. The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, is a natural phenonemon that happens when energy is released from solar flares, and the energy is reflected by the sun's rays; and the result is the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights are very common here, and in other areas in the Artic, and they are best seen during the late winter and early spring, and again in the late summer, early fall. We like to think of the Lights as a Gift from our Great Spirit, and we like to think that the bodies of our ancestors burn brightly in the lights' bands and colors, and we dare not insult them by laughing or whistling, or bad things such as paralysis or death may happen to the person who laughed or whistled at the Northern Lights. When they turn red, we say they are very angry, and we get scared whenever we see a bright-red aurora because to us that is a sign of war, danger, or even death. There is a similar occurance in the South Pole, but they are known as the aurora astralis, or the Southern Lights.
Even though I may look different or eat different things than you, I am still like a lot of boys: I like to collect toy race cars, watch cartoons on tv, play basketball or hockey, hang out with my friends from school (I am in the fifth grade), and annoy my little sisters (HA!). I like to eat things like pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, and pickles, but I also love to eat things like caribou, duck, goose, moose, and whale, as well as seal and fish meat. I also like bear meat. I speak English just as well as most other kids here in America, but I also speak Inupiat, which is the language of my people, the Inuit, and I am very good at spaeking both languages. I also love to draw and ice skate.
Well, I hope you liked reading about me. I may look or act different than you in a lot of ways, but I am really more like you than you may think, and I like a lot of the same things most kids do.
~Amaroq George Anatuvuk, aged 10.
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Reviewed by Simon Thurlow
4/5/2004
Wonderful heartening write from your pen once again Karen
where in the world do you come up with these NAMES???? WOW, what an imagination! i'm trying to figure out how to say them LOL *bleah think my tongue's all twisted LOL*
i love your northern adventures--can't wait to read more about sikik and amaroq!
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My name is Amaroq George Anatuvuk, and I am a ten-year-old Inuit boy. I live in Nome, Alaska, with my mom, Eve, and my dad, Raymund, and my little sisters Tanana and Naiomi. Tanana is eight, and my baby sister, Naiomi, is five.
