Bringing the fall whale home, part 4: The community gets fed

Remember the flag in part 2, the one Samealu Patkotak carried as he jumped off the boat just before heading into Barrow to let the people know in the traditional way that the crew had landed a whale? On this day, Thursday, October 4, when Barrow would normally be covered in a thin but growing layer of wind-blown snow, the flag flies from atop the Patkotak home to let the people know this is the place to come and share in the first meal from the whale.

The crew flag flying on the boat delivers the same message. Down south, some may find status in well-manicured, trimmed and fertilized yards of lush green grass interspersed with pretty trees, but in Barrow, Alaska, this is a mighty-fine looking yard. It speaks to the whale hunts of both spring and fall, and to the hunting way of life the original people of the community follow in the hope their children will as well, for untold generations to come.

The moment you see it, you know this is the yard of a successful and respected whaling captain. 

Inside the Patkotak workshop, where frames are made, skins stretched onto umiaks, sleds built and machines and engines taken apart and put back together again, family and crew prepare to feed the community.

One of many trays of fresh-boiled intestines. Samples from all the organs of the whale are prepared and the skin, too. Be assured, while some from the outside world might be squeamish, anyone who gets the chance should give it a try with an open mind. Maybe it will take a couple of tries, but if they do, they will find it all delicious. And nutritious - more nutritious than the food to be bought at the grocery store.

Rolls, Eskimo donuts and in the cups, dried fruit boiled.

Laura Patkotak, wife of Captain Crawford Patkotak, son of Simeon, busies herself throughout the cooking process, cleaning to stay ahead.

Lucy Leavitt would feed the community at her house, but they did most of their food preparation at the home of her parents, Jacob and Lucille Adams. This is uunaalik, boiled maqtaq - skin attached to a trimmed layer of blubber. Do not equate blubber with beef fat. I could never eat beef fat thick like this. Blubber is easy to eat and in uunaalik delicious. It is full of the good kind of choloesterol - the kind that helps to prevent heart attacks.

At the home of Captain Poe Brower, a cook tent has been set up.

People cook inside as well - Poe's mother, Sally Brower, works to the left alongside Megan Nicely.

Over at the table, crew member Jamie Tuckfield tells stories to Ora Elavgak. The steel bowl is filled with berries - salmon berries and blue berries from the tundra, strawberries from the store.

Each crew starts their feed at a different time, which allows members of the community to go to each home. There is food to eat onsite, food to take home and eat later. There will be further feeds in the future - at Thanksgiving, Christmas and in June, Nalukatak.

Retired captain Simeon Patkotak, one of the truly great whaling captains of the modern era and a devout Christian with Carl Kippi, who threw the harpoon.

The second feast takes place at the Lucy Leavitt home, where I photographed Joe Akpik enjoying, then put down my camera for awhile and joined him.

Joe, with Lucy Leavitt and her Pamiilaq crew. For those who might not recognize him in his indoor clothes, Tavvin the harpooner is at left, looking just like any high school kid anywhere.

After we ate, we watched a video shot from a strap-on head camera and saw Tavvin in action. The day is soon coming when I won't be needed anymore. That's okay, because the day is also soon coming when I must seriously sit down and wrap up my life's work, at which I have so far done nothing but flail and dabble - but flailing and dabbling is good. It reminds me what I have seen and experienced, puts ideas in my head. It lays the path before me.

If I can continue on as I am for three more years, then I will get serious and do my best to wrap it up with whatever good time I might have left after that.

One never knows, though. I might crash on my way to Anchorage and be done by the end of the day, or I might wander casually about my back yard, startle a momma moose and get stomped to death. Still, one must hope, one must form a generalized plan.

Poe Brower hosts the final feast of the day. I come over to the house and find Aaġluag touching the ceiling with a little help from her mother, Jamie Smith.

I sit down and eat my seventh meal of the day (breakfast - and then everybody fed me when I stopped by to take preparation pictures). People keep coming, smiling, getting their shares. I know there may be some photo critics out there who will be skeptical about all the smiling faces I have shown. But when a whale is being served, this is just how it is. I suppose if one worked really hard at it, ignored 99 percent of what was going on around him, one could find an unhappy face to satisfy the photo critics.

I confess - I did not seek out that unhappy face. I was too taken by the joy that exuded all around me.

Well, maybe the smiles retreated a bit during the clean-up, but even then the inner sense of satisfaction remained strong. I would have stayed longer and photographed more, but Roy planned to take Savik crew out again very early the next morning and I planned to go with them.

This finishes the series.

Full series index:

Preview to Barrow fall whaling story: Early morning with Savik Crew on the Beaufort

Bringing the fall whale home, part 1: The hunt

Bringing home the whale, part 2: Tattoo of whale tails created in honor of ancestor taken by museum; three whales are brought home

Bringing home the whale, part 3: A boy becomes a man - throws the harpoon, carries the flag; whale is cut, divided

Bringing the fall whale home, part 4: The community gets fed

Comments

[Amber]

I think YOU need a head cam! Christmas is coming ;)

[twain12]

wonderful photo diary

[Kera]

I get all teary eyed when I read about your trips up North. Even though I have no clue who these people are...... I feel kinship towards them. THANK YOU Bill Hess for sharing your wonderful experience with us. God sure has blessed us to see life thru your camera and kind words. I hope God blesses you and the rest of the Hess family. Thank you again for all that you do sir!

[debby]

Been loving the pictures. Tim has been following along as well.

It was good to see Jamie again. I recognized his face from my very favorite picture that you ever took...he was standing at the window of a cook shanty on the beach, and he was describing how a polar bear had raised up to look in the window at him. That picture just tickled me to pieces.

[a civilian-mass audience]

oime FROSTY...I am there with you...and I am following you...you are the real thing BILL...

THANK YOU ,your family,your people ...you are All fighters...

with love and respect
civi
from Greece

[emmanuel]

very nice. thank you for this personal look into a beautiful tradition.