[NAEP] [Fwd: Stitch by stitch, women sew safety into whaleboats]

[Dawn Wiseman]

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Subject: 	Stitch by stitch, women sew safety into whaleboats
Date: 	Sun, 05 Mar 2006 12:42:29 -0900
From: 	M. Pamela Bumsted, Ph.D. <hlthenvt at mochamail.com>
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Stitch by stitch, women sew safety into whaleboats
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7504028p-7415244c.html
SKINS: Seal oil, caribou sinew and great care mark preparations for spring 
hunt.

By RANDALL HOWELL
The Arctic Sounder

Published: March 5, 2006
Last Modified: March 5, 2006 at 05:30 AM

BARROW -- Elder Priscilla Sage's skilled hands do sacred work.

Hers are among the many skilled seamstress hands that sew the "thread of 
life" into the waterproof seams of skin boats used by North Slope whaling 
crews.

Those many hands -- often sore from the twisting and braiding of the sinew 
-- keep the whaling crews safe from the cold and treacherous waters of the 
Arctic Ocean.

"My sister's fingers are awesome," said Barrow's Roy Nageak, captain of the 
Akootchook Whaling Crew.

"Those hands sew the thread of life to keep us away from the water," he 
said. "My sister's fingers are worn out, but they keep us safe while we 
hunt the whale."

That hunt for the whale begins about mid-April. But as February fades into 
March, the skin boats are readied one by one with new sealskin covers that 
replace older worn or torn ones.

Akootchook Whaling Crew's boat, and those of anywhere from 10 to 15 other 
crews, now are getting the careful attention of the sealskin seamstresses, 
who have been working at the Inupiat Culture Center since Feb. 13.

That's when the season's sewing began with the sealskins for the PK13 
Whaling Crew's boat. The PK13 crew is co-captained by James Ahgeak and Nate 
Elavgak.

The cover was finished that day, and the boat has been outside drying while 
the seamstresses turn to the boat-cover needs of other crews, according to 
Ahgeak's wife, Mae, who also is a working member of the PK13 Whaling Crew.

To Mae Ahgeak, who is busy now gathering food, protective clothing and 
other items needed for the spring hunt, the work done by Sage and her 
seamstresses is arduous and a vital part of the annual preparation for 
spring whaling season.

"They inspect their work, and if they see even one stitch that's not right, 
they will tear out all the stitches and redo them so they are right," said 
Ahgeak.

In addition to Sage, the seamstress crew includes Emma Neakok, Josie 
Kaleak, Mary Ahkiviana, Isabel Kanayurak, Flora Brower, Doreen Ahgeak and 
Margaret Leavitt.

The women work nonstop from eight to 20 hours to sew one skin boat cover, 
according to Sage's daughter-in-law, Mary. Depending on their size, the 
skins of five to nine bearded seals are use to make a boat cover.

Making the crucial waterproof stitches with seal oil, the skilled 
seamstresses partner and begin sewing from the middle to the outer edge. As 
partners, the women check the quality of each other's seams.

The sinew used in stitching the sealskins together is from the tendons of 
caribou, said Nageak. He explained that the tendons run from the animal's 
Achilles heel up the rear leg to the thigh, where they fan out.

Cut from the meat and bone of the caribou's rear quarters, the tendons are 
dried and braided together to become the sinew used in the waterproof 
stitches so vital to keeping the skin boats afloat, he said.

Sage, a leader of the annual sewing crew, also teaches workshops in Barrow. 
In those workshops, she shares the Inupiat technique of extracting the 
tendons during the butchering of the caribou.

She shares and shows in detail her traditional knowledge about drying the 
meat, pulling the tendon strands from the muscle and braiding the sinew.

The sinew -- the thread of life -- and the bearded seals' skins are the 
components of the traditional whaling boat cover used for the spring season 
only.