A panikhida is sung at the grave of Matushka Olga (Arrsamquq) in Kwethluk, Alaska, on the 35th anniver- sary of her repose. (oca.org) CLOUD OF WITNESSES Tanqilria Tanqilrianun/ Holy Things for the Holy: Society and Sanctity Among the Yup’ik People Christopher Sprecher Unlike the regions of “Old World” inland; further south, Saint Alexis Orthodoxy—that is, the parts of Eu- of Wilkes-Barre and Saint Nikolaj rope, Africa, the Middle East, the (Velimirović) did much to reunite the Caucasus, and India where Chalcedo- splinter immigrant groups with ca- nian and Non-Chalcedonian Ortho- nonical Orthodoxy. All of these saints, dox Churches have long existed—the however, were foreign missionaries, lands of the New World do not yet transplants in this New World soil. have many local saints to laud on their But what of that soil? Is there any na- calendars. The great heroes of the tive holiness? Are there any saints to faith—the Apostles, the Myrrhbearing whom one can look that have sprung Women, the early martyrs and confes- up on this continent? A hardy stock sors, the great missionaries and heal- bearing such fruits in the North Amer- ers—find honor and praise around the ican vineyard can be found among the world wherever the Divine Liturgy is Yup’ik peoples of Western Alaska. served and wherever the faithful call upon their intercession. True, here in A few years ago, I had the opportu- North America, there are some saints nity to spend part of the winter, and who have devoted their labors to this to experience the deep darkness and land. St. Herman of Alaska cared for bitter cold of the tundra, among some the peoples around him, Russian and Yup’ik Orthodox Christians in the vil- indigenous, on Kodiak Island; St. In- lages of Kwethluk (Kuiggluk), Bethel nocent came from Siberia and worked (Mamterilleq), and Napaskiak along tirelessly among the Unangan (Aleut) the Kuskokwim River. These villages and Lingít (Tlingit) peoples; St. Ja- are located about 400 miles west of An- cob travelled from his native land chorage, Alaska, as the crow flies. Liv- in the Aleutian Chain to work with ing here, worshipping with the villag- the Yup’ik and Athabaskan peoples ers in their churches, and seeing their The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 17 faith in action showed me a different and individualized holiness could angle on holiness and what sainthood spread and find action and response can mean for the Church today. in the community. This twofold na- ture of holiness—its isolation and To begin exploring this perspective interaction—can be understood via on what it means to be a saint, it can three windows of insight: the impor- help to look at the word saint itself and tance and nature of knowledge and what it means. In both Ancient Greek cognition in Yup’ik culture and lan- (hagios) and Latin (sanctus), the word guage, the celebration of Christmas in for “saint” or “holy” refers literally to Orthodox Yup’ik culture, and the ex- something set apart or set aside from ample of the life of the popularly ven- everyday use. The thing that is holy erated Yup’ik saint, Blessed Matushka 1 The native Yup’ik name for this or saintly is on one level nonordinary, Olga (Arrsamquq). village, Kuiggluk, not like everything else around it. For means “fake or false this reason, the inner areas of ancient Ellangellemni / When I Became river,” alluding to pagan temples, as well as the inner- Aware: Knowledge and Identity its location on a most rooms of the Jewish Temple in among the Yupiit side channel of the Kuskokwim. Jerusalem, were strictly separated and off-limits to regular worship- In the village of Kwethluk, I stayed at pers. Indeed, we read in the Book of the house of the priest and his family, Hebrews how only the High Priest of and through them became acquainted the Temple, and only once a year on with some of the other villagers in this the Day of Atonement, carrying the small—about 700 strong—settlement blood of sacrifice, entered the Holy on a side channel of the Kuskokwim of Holies, the innermost room of the River.1 Learning the Yup’ik language Temple (Heb. 9:7). The holy place was and culture, I tried to spend as much not for everyone; it was not a place of time as I could with the elders in the everyday activity and life. It was sep- village, which still uses Yup’ik as its arated, different, other. language and where children grow up with it as their mother tongue. Often From my experiences in Yupiit nuniit, stories would start with the phrase the land of the Yup’ik people, I could ak’a tamaani, “a long time ago”; but see that saintliness—holiness—was sometimes they would relate tales also marked in a way by isolation, from their own life, and would say but isolation was not the end or goal The main road in the ellangellemni. A culturally appropri- village of Kwethluk of such holiness. This focus on the self ate translation into English might be in autumn. (Karol and knowing the self was the starting “when I was younger” or “when I was Raszkiewicz) point, from which the particularized a little kid” or “when I was growing up” The literal meaning, however, is, “when I came to awareness.” The mo- ment of self-awareness is so prized, I was told, that a family would cele- brate this with neighbors and relatives when they could see that their child could distinguish itself from other human beings and from its own re- flection. Coming to self-awareness is therefore the beginning of one’s own story, the real starting point in life: awareness that is keenly necessary to 18 survive and thrive in the harsh climate munity was driven home to me in my of the Alaskan tundra, and also vitally time in Yupiit nuniit in the dark but important in one’s spiritual life. delightful days between the feasts of the Nativity of Christ and Theophany. How knowledge is reported in the This season of feasting is called Selaviq Yup’ik language is also worth men- in Yup’ik, a borrowing and relexi- tioning in this context. In English and calization of the Russian word slavy, many other languages there is often a meaning “praises.” During Selaviq, in base verb meaning “to know,” which the evenings—which fall very early then must be negated to indicate the on the tundra—the window curtains opposite, “not to know.” In Yup’ik, would be pulled back and candles the reverse holds true. The base verb placed on windowsills to welcome all 2 These verbal ending is one of ignorance or lack of knowl- and to symbolize the light of Christ in here, -qa, means that edge. Nalluaqa would mean “I do not the darkness. On a given night, one the verb is transitive, know him/her/it.” To say the positive, family or household from the village with a first-person the Yup’ik verb must be negated: nal- would throw a feast and host the en- singular subject and a third-person singu- lunritaqa (literally, “I am not unknow- tire village. The first one I saw was at 2 lar object. The direct ing of him/her/it”). The presupposed the priest’s house where I was staying. object would be starting point for cognition is one of The whole day was spent preparing translated as “him”, ignorance. By the same token, Yup’ik food: cooking moose soup and duck “her”, or it depend- verbs must be marked for experien- soup, thawing dried salmon strips ing on the context, tial knowledge of the action described since there is no saved from the summer hunt, fish- grammatical gender (in linguistics called evidentiality). If I ing out reserves of seal oil, making (even in pronouns!) were to say tangellrua angun, it would akutaq (literally, “mixture”: a dessert in all the Eski- mean “he saw the man,” and I would of seal or moose fat mixed with tun- mo-Aleut languages, be assuring the hearer that I knew this dra berries or dried meat), and pre- including Central Alaskan Yup’ik. from firsthand experience—that I saw paring gifts of items like candy and the one man see the other. If my news clothing. Then young boys from the is reported or otherwise indirectly ob- village came, together with other vil- served, I must mark this overtly on the lagers, with a massive hand-spun star; verb with a special postbase, -llini-. Christmas carols in Yup’ik and Sla- Hence tangellrullinia angun, “he saw vonic were sung. Everyone sat down the man (but I did not observe this on the floor of the house, save the el- directly).” Omitting this verbal post- ders who were granted seats of honor base of evidentiality, when one did not on the few chairs, and the priest gave in fact witness the event mentioned, a short homily in Yup’ik about the would be interpreted as a lie by Yup’ik season and why we celebrate Selaviq. speakers. In this way, the correct ob- Then the feasting began! servation of oneself and one’s actions, as well as those of others, is grammati- Everyone joyously partook of the food cally encoded in the language. and conversation. As the guests de- parted, they were laden with gifts of Naruyakluta Anagciqukut / food and clothing to take home. The By Sharing We Will Survive: Self cabinets were gradually emptied out.