Country Food, Awards, & Sushi

On Thursday, November 13, I received an important piece of information from one of the Inuit staff at Inuujaq School: a community feast was being held at the community hall later that evening.  It had been months since I attended a feast and I had been wanting to get my hands on caribou meat & arctic char for some time.  I thanked the lady for the information and promised to be at the "C-Hall" for 7pm. 

            

Community feasts are cultural events. Country foods are either laid out on a floor tarp and/or served to community members for free.  The Inuit tradition goes back to when families lived out on the land in camps and hunters would divide the animals they caught among the families.  The country foods that would be offered are raw caribou, arctic char, seal, and narwhal.

            

I arrived at the C-Hall at 7pm on my recently purchased skidoo.  I had to park it next to the hockey arena because the parking lot in front of the hall was filled with trucks, atvs, and other skidoos.  With so many vehicles parked around the building, I was right to assume that the place would be packed with people.  I slowly squeezed my way through the crowd before finding a place to stand at the back.  A tarp had been laid out in the middle of the hall and it was covered with chunks of raw char, and narwhal.  A seal was being cut up at the front and the caribou meats were in large black & grey boxes on stage.  With so many people sitting around the tarp, it appeared as if the whole town was in attendance.  Inuit children ran around the hall but were careful not to touch the country food before the word was given.

            

I took out my digital camera and started snapping pictures as people got their ulus, pocket knives, plastic bags, and cardboard boxes ready.  The plastic bags are used to collect country food and cardboard boxes are broken into large pieces so they can be used as plates.  I had three plastic bags, and a paper plate, in case I was invited to sit down with a family.  I usually stay for several minutes to eat but I couldn't this time because of school work.

            

MLA Isaac Shooyook

There were several speakers who addressed the audience including our Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Isaac Shooyook.  I'm not entirely sure what they said exactly in Inuktitut but I think it was along the lines of thanking the Hamlet Office for arranging the feast and the hunters who brought the seals, chars, and narwhals.  The caribou meats had been ordered and flown in. 

            

After a short prayer, the word was given to begin the feast.  People surged into the middle, picking whatever they could find.  With a plastic bag in my left hand, I grabbed two chunks of arctic char with my free right hand.  I then stood in one of the long lines that snaked towards the stage where volunteers were handing out raw caribou meat.  The line slowly moved forward, and with every person that walked by, I wondered if there would be anything left when I would get to the front.  I was surprised to see two people walking with caribou heads.  Yes, full-sized caribou heads!  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out in time to snap pictures. 

            

I hope I don't get a caribou head, I thought, there isn't enough room in my freezer.

            

When I got to the stage, a took several small pieces of caribou meat from a large black box a volunteer was tilting in my direction.  "Qujannamiik (Thank you)," I said.  I photographed elders & adults eating & cutting pieces of seal meat before leaving the community hall.

              

Inuujaq School held a sports assembly on November 21 to recognize the boys and girls soccer teams who competed in Cape Dorset in late October.  The assembly was extra special for the girls team because they won silver at the competition.  The assembly was organized by Sarah Cole, the assistant coach and Grade 9 teacher. 

            

"The tournament was awesome," commented Sarah.  "I wanted the younger kids to see & hear how much fun the girls had, to celebrate their accomplishments, encourage sports participation across the student body, and build school spirit." 

            

Sarah presided over the assembly as the English emcee and Kataisee, the high school Inuktitut teacher, acted as the translator.  The audience was presented with a slide show of pictures that were taken in Cape Dorset.  Many of them were funny prompting many laughs from students.  After the slide show, the girls were called up one at a time to receive their silver medals from their coach, Weslie.  Each player received an applause from the audience.  The soccer team posed for pictures with their medals as students went back to their classes to get ready for dismissal.                

            

I took my skidoo out for a drive towards King George V Mountain the next day because it was Saturday and I wanted to get pictures of the Greater Arctic Bay Area at noon.  I was curious to know if I could see the sun from on top of the mountain and if not, at least get a picture of the polar twilight.  Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. 

            

A path of clear ice had formed along the coast, preventing access to the frozen bay, and forcing me to drive next to the road to Nanisivik.  I had to drive slowly to avoid the rocks on the road because prolonged exposure would damage the skis and treads.  I also had to use the road to Sewage Lagoon to get to the skidoo trail that snakes up the mountain.  But when I got to the turnoff, I noticed there wasn't enough snow on the ground for my skidoo to drive over.

            

Undeterred by this shortcoming, I left my skidoo behind and began walking up the mountain like I've done many times before.  I took a break halfway up and ate two apples while enjoying the views.  The temperature was around -26.  The final straw came when I took out my camera to take a picture: the battery had died.  I replaced it with the second battery but it too was dead.  The cold had zapped all the energy out of my batteries.  I abandoned my hike and walked back to my skidoo.  I'll take the picture some other time.

            

Things were a little more upbeat when a couple of us southern teachers held a sushi night on November 23.  I finally had the opportunity to use the chopsticks I brought with me in August.  The vegetable & fish rolls were prepared by Sarah and Agniezska.  Agniezska is the high school art/English teacher.  There was plenty of sushi, ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce to go around.  The food was excellent.   

                      

Early November & Remembrance Day

My Halloween Door.

With the arrival of November, teachers and students began taking down all the Halloween decorations on the classroom doors and hallways.  I also recovered one of my tables that had been used for the high school haunted house.  Another Halloween had come and gone, leaving behind memories and lots of candy.  Naturally, many students . . . and possibly teachers were on sugar rushes during the first week of November. 

            

In Grade 10 Social Studies, we continued our study of the Canadian Residential School system by looking at the history of colonization in Canada and the tools that were used to "civilize" Aboriginal children.  Some of these included: forcibly separating children from their families, sending them to schools far, far away, cutting their hair, giving them southern uniforms to wear, and forbidding them to speak their language and practice their culture.   

            

My students also reviewed and learned new terms, such as, assimilation, colonization, Manifest Destiny, the Indian Act, and genocide.  After a short debate, we came to the conclusion that cultural genocides were taking place within many residential schools.  Thankfully, this wasn't the case in other schools.  From the locals I've spoken to, residential school students who came from Arctic Bay were not subjected to physical, emotional, and sexual abuses. 

            

My Grade 10s watched the Canadian documentary film We Were Children, that recounts the troubled experiences of two residential school survivors: Lyna Hart and Glen Anaquod.  Lyna attended Guy Hill Residential School in Manitoba and Glen was sent to Lebret Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.  The film is well-made but there are several difficult scenes that some would find disturbing.  If any teacher reading this is thinking of showing this film to their class, make sure you watch it first and then warn your students of what they are about to see.         

            

With Remembrance Day & the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WW1 fast approaching, my Grade 11 students studied several important battles where Canadian soldiers participated.  These included Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, and Canada's Hundred Days.  We also read about the infamous Halifax Explosion of 1917.  For visual aids, I presented pictures I took at Vimy Ridge this past summer, showed several Heritage Minute clips, and the film Passchendaele.               

            

For the first week of November, my Grade 12 Social Studies students worked on their projects.  They were able to get much research, brainstorming, and writing done despite the Internet being slow.  Slow Internet is one of the biggest complaints in northern communities.  I hope the situation will improve substantially when the Arctic Fibre project is completed in 2016.

            

When I saw my drummers on the Monday after Halloween, they looked relieved, as if huge weights had been lifted off of their shoulders.  Up until a few days ago, they never performed in front of a large audience.  They confessed to being nervous all the way through the performance.  I began my debriefing by reassuring them that feeling nervous was normal; the challenge is not to be overcome by it and to remain focused.  I also reinforced the fact that their performance was well-received and it was not a disaster.  With Halloween behind us, it was now time to focus on new material and the Christmas concert in December.  We started practicing advanced rudiments, such as, drag paradiddles, double drags, flamacues, and ratamacues.       

            

Parent-Teacher interviews occurred on November 5th in the afternoon.  There were only morning classes that day.  Over the span of four hours, I spoke to many parents about the academic performance and behaviour of their child.  The discussions I had were insightful and cooperative.

            

November 6 was the day when the sun "disappeared" from Arctic Bay.  The body of the sun no longer rose above the mountains but sunlight still illuminated the land.  From then on, about twenty minutes of sunlight would be lost each day.  Polar nights would steadily become the norm and would remain that way until February of next year.  Of course, the temperature would steadily get colder as well.  The order of the day is always dress warmly, carry a flashlight, and take some Vitamin D pills.  When you're the proud owner of a vehicle (ie. skidoo, atv, etc), the colder temperatures force you to start your vehicle(s) much earlier because they now need more time to warm up.  At the moment, I leave my skidoo on idle for about 5 - 8 minutes before driving to my destination.  It's safe to assume that by early December, my skidoo will need at least 10 minutes to warm up.  

            

The school, Northern Store, and local Co-op were closed on Tuesday, November 11, for Remembrance Day.  The staff and cadets of 3045 Army Cadet Corps held a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Community Hall to honour Canada's veterans who served and continue to serve in times of war, conflict, and peace.  A platoon of fifteen Canadian Rangers were also in attendance. 

            

Remembrance Day info display. 

My role this year was the Address and to press "play" when the program called for the playing of a musical piece over the PA system (ex: O Canada, Last Post, Reveille).  For the Address, I had to write & present a short speech about the history and significance of Remembrance Day.  The master of ceremonies (MC) was Arctic Bay resident Clare Kines.  He did the Address last year when I was the MC so we basically swapped roles.  We had locals read selected Bible passages and do the Act of Remembrance.  Three cadets read John McCrae's famous poem, In Flander's Fields.  We recruited the services of a local translator to assist us in translating everything from English to Inuktitut.

            

The ceremony went off as planned with no significant problems.  The cadets were on their best behaviour and their uniforms looked immaculate.  We had an honour guard and flag party.  Poppies were worn by everyone who attended.  When called upon, the Rangers and cadets each laid a wreath in front of a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.  At the conclusion of the ceremony, the cadets posed for a corps photograph. 

                 

Halloween Continued

All my Halloween candy was ordered from Well.ca.  The individual prices and added shipping costs were reasonable.  I bought several more boxes than usual so that I wouldn't run out.  I gave out candy too liberally last year and was forced to ration near the end.  This time, I restricted myself to giving out two pieces of candy for each trick-or-treater.  I filled up two large grey bowls with candy and changed back into my costume.  I sat patiently at the door and waited for the clock to strike 5pm.  The southern teachers are "targeted" first by trick-or-treaters.

            

As I mentioned last year, knocking on doors before entering a house is a southern custom.  The local Inuit mostly keep their doors unlocked and people just walk in.  If you don't want to entertain any visitors then lock your door(s).  At about five minutes after five, the steady stream of trick-or-treaters began.  It was dark, cold, and snowy outside.  Trick-or-treaters were being chauffered around on skidoos, atvs, and in cars & trucks.  I left my door unlocked and greeted the kids and parents who courageously walked in to get candy.  There were a few kids who didn't dare to approach me until I presented an open palm with two pieces of candy.

            

I'm so using this costume again, I remarked to myself.

            

I stopped getting visitors at about 6:30pm.  I had gone through many boxes of candy but there were still many leftover.  If I had known how many would show up, I wouldn't have been too conservative.  It's a battle you can never win; you either run out or left with too much.  I would use the leftover candy as rewards at school and consume some myself.

            

I changed out of my costume for a second time and put on casual clothes.  I left my skidoo at home and walked down to the Community Hall to watch the community costume contest.  The contest is something out of this world.  I finally learned that contestants are trying to win for the Best Worst Dressed.  That would explain all the random/creepy designs.  I think contestants just look through their houses, throw whatever into a pile, and then make a costume out of it all.  They make sure to cover their faces so that the audience does not know who they are until the very end.

            

I sat at the back of the hall armed with my digital camera.  The contestants slowly trickled in and took their seats in front of the stage.  I could spend an entire blog post or two describing the costumes, so I'll let my pictures "do the talking."  Most of the contestants' faces were covered with Halloween masks; everything else they were wearing were just . . . whatever.  Some were also dragging or carrying other items.

            

Contestants were divided into two age groups: 13 & under, and 14 & over.  Each one wore a number attached to their costume so they could be easily identified by the judges.  Both groups paraded around the hall, letting the audience look at their costumes, and enjoy their dancing antics set to music.  The hall filled with laughter.                                   

            

The Judges debate & decide the Top 3
from both age groups.

The contestants took their seats and the judges on stage debated for a few minutes.  There were a lot of good bad costumes so I could understand if the judges were having a tough time ranking the best worst dressed.  However, I was surprised that it only took them a few minutes to come to an agreement.  The top three contestants of both age groups received cash prizes.  They came up on stage one-by-one, shook the judges' hands, and removed their masks to reveal their true identities.  Some correctly guessed the people behind the masks while the majority did not. 

            

The Judges announce the winners.

The next activity was the candy toss.  The judges took large bags of candy and took up  positions along the corners of the hall and on stage.  After a very short countdown, they collectively threw candy up in the air towards the people in front of them.  Children, teenagers, and adults scrambled to catch and pick up as much candy and chocolate as possible.  I stood off to the side and filmed the entire spectacle; I didn't need any extra candy.  Regardless, I caught one piece that was flying in my direction.

            

I left the community hall after the candy toss and walked home.  The hall was cleaned up & organized for the evening dance.   

    

End of Halloween Mini-Series