Alaska Native Games and How to Play Them

By Tricia Nuyaqik Brown, Joni Kitmiiq Spiess and Roy Corral

The athletes of the Alaska Native games aren’t just returning to their roots. They’ve never left them. In this beautifully illustrated book, readers learn the history of twenty-five Native games that have been handed down through generations, how each one relates to the subsistence lifestyle, and how you can try them yourself, regardless of where you live.

As Tricia Nuyaqik Brown shows, even though today’s competitions are a big media event in Alaska, the games themselves are really no different from those of long ago. Ancestral communities once pitted their strongest, their most agile, their fastest men and women against those from neighboring villages or tribal groups. Those games never died, but rather than gathering in a sod meeting place, competitions are now held in gyms and arenas. Each game today can be linked to some aspect of surviving in a harsh environment, of drawing sustenance from the land and sea. From the Seal Hop to the Bench Reach to the Four-Man Carry, these ancient games still require athletes to be in top physical condition and possess sharp mental focus. They hold dear the traditional Native values of honoring the elders, responsibility to tribe, sportsmanship, humor, patience, and hunter success. This book offers an engaging introduction to these games and their history, inviting people to jump in and try them for themselves!

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Alaska Press
• Release date: Aug 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781602234192

Book preview

ALASKA NATIVE GAMES and How to Play Them

TWENTY-FIVE CONTESTS THAT SURVIVED THE AGES

TRICIA NUYAQIK BROWN // JONI KITMIIQ SPIESS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROY JAZHGUQ CORRAL

Foreword by NICK ILIGUTCHIAK HANSON, ESKIMO NINJA

Image: Turnagain Arm sunset, Anchorage, Alaska.

Turnagain Arm sunset, Anchorage, Alaska.

Dedicated to Sheila Randazzo, whose love for the athletes and the games has nurtured healing, and saved many.

A PLACE TO SHINE

Athletes across the Far North train and compete locally as they prepare for these big events:

ARCTIC WINTER GAMES

Biennial

Past Host Locations:

ALASKA

Chugiak and Eagle River

Fairbanks

Kenai Peninsula

ALBERTA, CANADA

Grande Prairie

Hay River and Pine Point

Slave Lake

South Slave Region

GREENLAND

Nuuk

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA

Wood Buffalo (Fort McMurray)

Yellowknife

NUNAVUT, CANADA

Iqaluit

QUEBEC, CANADA

Shefferville

YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA

Whitehorse

JUNIOR NATIVE YOUTH OLYMPICS

Annually

Hosted by Cook Inlet Tribal Council

1st-6th grades; Natives and non-Natives

Anchorage, Alaska

NATIVE YOUTH OLYMPICS

Annually since 1971

Hosted by Cook Inlet Tribal Council

7th-12th grades; Natives and non-Natives

Anchorage, Alaska

WORLD ESKIMO-INDIAN OLYMPICS

Annually since 1961

Native participants only

Fairbanks, Alaska

Image: Iñupiat drums. Native singing, drumming, and dancing are a social highlight during the Games.

Iñupiat drums. Native singing, drumming, and dancing are a social highlight during the Games.

CONTENTS

Foreword: The Value of Playing Games, by Nick Iligutchiak Hanson

Introduction: Personal Best, by Tricia Nuyaqik Brown and Joni Kitmiiq Spiess

PART I // ANCIENT GAMES AND MODERN MUSCLE

Alaskan High Kick

Arm Pull

Drop the Bomb / Airplane

Ear Pull

Ear Weight

Eskimo Stick Pull

Four-Man Carry

Greased Pole Walk

Head Pull / Neck Pull

Indian Stick Pull

Kneel Jump

Knuckle Hop / Seal Hop

Nalukataq (Blanket Toss)

One-Foot High Kick

One-Hand Reach

Scissor Broad Jump

Toe Kick

Two-Foot High Kick

Wrist Carry

PART II // JUST AS FIERCE, BUT NEARLY FORGOTTEN

Bench Reach

Caribou Wrestling / Musk Ox (or Moose!) Wrestling

Fish Hook

Nose Pull

Old Ladies’ Game

Swing Kick

The Great Ones

Acknowledgments

More Information

FOREWORD

THE VALUE OF PLAYING GAMES

by Nick Iligutchiak Hanson

Across the country, fans of the NBC show American Ninja Warrior know me as the Eskimo Ninja. We Ninjas follow a demanding course that requires balance, strength, endurance, and focus, the same attributes required to play the Alaska Native Games of my ancestors: Seal Hop, Eskimo Stick Pull, Blanket Toss, and more. Our Games are a bridge from the past that helps us find the best in ourselves and each other. If it weren’t for World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) and Native Youth Olympics (NYO), I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Growing up in Unalakleet, a small town in western Alaska, I was beat up and bullied because I’m half Iñupiaq and half mixed European. So I don’t necessarily look like I’m Alaska Native. They would call me White Boy and tell me You shouldn’t be here. Sometimes I was depressed, thinking things would never change.

Once I got pushed into a pile of dirt, and a boy named Axel Johnson threw a rock at my face. He actually broke my front tooth. Washing up at home, I looked at my reflection. What is it gonna take to make this stop? I thought. Who am I and what am I passionate about? I decided I wasn’t going