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'For the Fun of It': The 1986 World Eskimo Indian Olympics
| Article
# : |
11400 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1986 |
2,564 Words |
| Author
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Leslie Barber
Leslie Barber is president of Dits' in Yah Arts, Ltd., a
writing and research firm in Fairbanks, Alasks. She spent a
few years living with the Eskimos in their community in
Barrow, Alaska. |
Each summer several thousand Eskimos, Indians, and Aleuts gather in Fairbanks, Alaska, for the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO). This four-day event consists of traditional. Alaskan Native games and physical feats that celebrate a rapidly vanishing cultural heritage
Like the International Olympics, the Eskimo-Indian Olympics open with a torch- carrying runner entering a stadium full of spectators but there the similarity ends.
WEIO torch-runners enter a hockey rink filled with relatives, friends and Alskan tourists. Their torch ignites a willow branch. It kindles Seal-oil-soaked most inside an ancient Eskimo seal oil lamp. Like some thing from an oven, the fragrance of the smoldering oil permeates the air for the games.
About the only sport the two Olympics have in common is the running. WEIO contestants compete to determine their endurance of pain in the ear pull, the ear weight pull, and the knuckle hop. They test each other's strength in the four-man carry, the arm pull, and the Eskimo and Indian Stick pulls. They compare agility in the greased pole walk and various high kicks. They measured one other skill in seal skinning, fish cutting, and as "tossee" in the popular blanket toss.
Phillip charette had just had the bloody cut at the back of his ear swabbed with antiseptic. He allowed the skin behind his ear to tear in the ear pull contest. "Why did I do it?" he queries, echoing the reporter's question. "For the fun of it."
He gingerly touches
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