Unalaska’s Church of the Holy Ascension hasn’t had a resident priest for a few months, but that didn’t stop parishioners from organizing their annual Christmas celebration. Although no clergy were present, about two dozen Unalaskans took part in a starring ceremony Jan. 7 under the direction of church reader and choir director Julia Dushkin.
For Christmas, the church was adorned with colorful lights, poinsettia plants and candles. Most who attended the service are Unangax̂ — people indigenous to the Aleutian Islands. They sang carols in English, Church Slavonic and the Unangax̂ language, Unangam Tunuu.
AB Rankin grew up attending church at Holy Ascension. She said it was her first time caroling in Unangam Tunuu, which was “a big deal.”
“I’d never done it before,” Rankin said. “I’ve always done Church Slavonic.”
Near the front of the church, three men spun handmade, intricately painted stars with biblical imagery at their centers. The stars are decorated with tinsel and placed onto wooden rods so they can spin. Some of them are decades old and have been passed down among family members for generations.
Canvas paintings of biblical figures and stories, known as icons, fill the church walls. Both Unalaska’s icons and the space that houses them have survived Japanese bombs during World War II and decades of intense Aleutian storms. The church, first constructed in 1826 and rebuilt in 1894, hosts one of the oldest Russian Orthodox communities in Alaska.
As the songs ended and the spinning of the stars came to an end, parishioners began to weigh an important question: whose house would they go to afterward? It’s tradition for the festivities to continue for three more nights at different parishioners’ houses with more songs and starring.
Dushkin said she expects another priest to visit for Orthodox Easter in mid-April. But in the meantime, she will continue to direct the day-to-day activities of the church.
