Qargi
Qargi[pronunciation?] (by the Inupiats), Qasgi or Qasgiq (by the Yup'iks), Qaygiq (by the Cup'iks), Kashim (by the Russians), Kariyit,[1] a traditional large semisubterranean men's community house (or communal men's house, men's house, ceremonial house, council house, dance house, communal gathering place) of the Yup'ik and Inuit, also Deg Hit'an Athabaskans[2] (at Anvik, Alaska), was used for public and ceremonial occasions and as a men’s residence. The Qargi was the place where men built their boats, repaired their equipment, took sweat baths, educated young boys, and hosted community dances. Here people learned their oral history, songs and chants. Young boys and men learned to make tools and weapons while they listened to the traditions of their forefathers.[3]
The qargi was almost always a separate building because the dwellings were not large enough to hold very many men.[4] The qargi was a combination courthouse, church, workshop, dance hall, and received center, two or three times the size of a typical house.[5] It was the place where the storytelling, dancing, singing, and games (high-kick games[6]) that so enriched Yupik and Inuit life took place.[7] Qargi, a communal building in which women were usually not permitted[5]
Prior to the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 1890s, every Inupiaq settlement had one or more of these ceremonial houses.[8]
Naming
| Language | singular | dual | plural |
| Naukan Yupik | Qaygi | ||
| Central Alaskan Yup'ik | Qasgi / Qasgiq[9] | Qasgit | |
| Chevak Cup’ik | Qaygiq | Qaygit | |
| Nunivak Cup'ig | Kiiyar[10] | ||
| Inupiaq (Alaskan Inuit) | Qargi | Qargik | Qargich / Qargit |
| Inupiaq (Little Diomede)[11] | Qaġsriq | Qaġsrik | Qaġsrit |
| Inupiaq (King Island)[12] | Qagzriq | Qagzrik | Qagzrit |
| Inuvialuk (Western Canadian Inuit) | Qadjgiq | ||
| Inuktitut (Eastern Canadian Inuit) | Qaggiq ᖃᒡᒋᖅ | ||
| Kalaallisut (West Greenland Inuit) | Qassi |
School
In many Inupiat communities the traditional meeting house (qargi), was the first institution to vanish as churches and schools became the dominant forces of change. At present, the Inupiat elders have no responsibility for the formal education of the young Inupiat. The western school and Inupiat qargi need not be competitive institutions but should complement each other.[13]
Before 1950 formal education for students in Chevak, Alaska took place in the Qaygiq,[14] and in the homes of the people. The information taught to students in the Qaygiq included history, values, rules, regulations, and survival methods.[15]
See also
- Nakaciuq (Bladder Festival)
References
- ^ James M. Savelle (2002), The Umialiit-Kariyit Whaling Complex and Prehistoric Thule Eskimo Social Relations in the Eastern Canadian Arctic Archived March 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Bulletin of National Museum of Ethnology 27(1): 159–188 (2002)
- ^ Susan W. Fair, Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity
- ^ Edna Ahgeak MacLean, Culture and Change for Iñupiat and Yupiks of Alaska
- ^ Ernest Burch, Social Life in Northwest Alaska: The Structure of Inupiaq Eskimo Nations
- ^ a b John Taliaferro, In a Far Country
- ^ Arctic Studies
- ^ Ernest S. Burch, Alliance and Conflict: The World System of the Inũpiaq Eskimos
- ^ St Lawrence Island Native American history Navajo rugs Archived August 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Qasgimi : In the Qasgi
- ^ Nuniwarmiut Piciryarata Tamaryalkuti, Nunivak Island Cup'ig Language Preliminary Dictionary Archived August 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Carol Zane Jolles (2006), Iñupiaq Maritime Hunters: Summer SubsistenceWork in Diomede, in Circumpolar Lives and Livelihood, A Comparative Ethnoarchaeology of Gender and Subsistence, edited by Robert Jarvenpa and Hetty Jo Brombach, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 2006
- ^ Future King Island Speakers
- ^ MacLean, Edna Ahgeak (1986). The Revitalization of the Qargi, the Traditional Community House, as an Educational Unit of the Inupiat Community
- ^ Qaygiq (Men’s House) by Dr. John Pingayak
- ^ Alaskool: Guidebook for Integrating Cup'ik Culture and Curriculum
External links
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