In Unalaska, it’s not just the youth who get to participate in summer camps. A new program is giving adults the chance to learn and reconnect with traditional practices they may not have grown up with.
Tanang Awaa, which roughly translates to “work of my land” or “work of my country” in Unangam Tunuu, is a week-long culture camp hosted by the Qawalangin Tribe. This summer marked its second year.
Anfesia Tutiakoff, the tribe's cultural director, said it's a space for Alaska Native adults to share traditional knowledge, learn new skills and connect outside.
“There’s a group of us that weren’t able to be in the culture camps,” Tutiakoff said. “Either we were not a part of it, or you had to become a mentor to be a part of it.”
The gathering takes place the week leading up to Camp Qungaayux — Unalaska’s annual youth culture camp that’s been held since the late 1990s — at Humpy Cove.
June McGlashan, who usually teaches traditional foods at the kids’ camp, said she’s learning a lot as a camper this year.
“Larry Dirks — he’s a very good Unangax̂ cook — has been teaching me better ways to cook seal and how to prepare the seal fat, or chadux̂,” she said.
This year’s adult camp included a sealion harvest and processing, iqyax̂, a traditional sea kayak, building, and sharing Unangax̂ food around the fire. Campers also took a trip to Wide Bay on a skiff, where they harvested rye beach grass for weaving and learned to dry and process it for future projects.
Tutiakoff said she enjoys watching elders step into cultural practices they never had the opportunity to try.
“I feel like some of the elders when they're like, ‘I don’t know how to do that,’ or ‘I never learned,’” she said. “But getting their hands on there to try it and see how we’re doing it — gives them permission to say, ‘Okay, yeah. Let me try. Let me see what's happening. Let me participate.’”
The Qawalangin Tribe plans to continue hosting Tanang Awaa annually for years to come.
