My Cultural Presentation

Yup’ik Seal Hunting

During the spring season, young boys and elders fish by the river while watching for seals to appear. The seals are difficult to find because when they surface for air, they do so in the middle of the river and come up nose first. Then, the seals slowly bring the rest of their head to the surface. To the casual observer, the seal’s head would appear to be a log floating along with the current. Because it is difficult to spot the seals as they come up the river chasing schools of fish, the elders who have great experience, do so. When a seal is spotted coming up the river, or entering the river mouth, CB radios and other high tech communication devices are used to keep in contact with the village and other hunters.

Many boats will be launched from the village when a seal has been spotted, with everyone working together to successfully hunt it. Small harpoons called “bladder darts” will be fired from the boats by use of a “throwing board”, which is a specialized length of wood measured to be the length from a hunter’s elbow to the tips of their fingers. This throwing board increases the speed and velocity of the thrown dart. Bladder darts are used to capture smaller seals, and are composed of a short round shaft with light fletching at the butt end, and a bone or ivory nozzle at the tip into which a harpoon point is inserted. A bladder, which traditionally is made of dried and inflated seal intestine, is attached to the shaft. The harpoon point is connected to the shaft by a line and when a seal is struck, the harpoon becomes embedded beneath the layer of skin and blubber. The remaining shaft and bladder are dragged behind the seal on the surface of the water and serve to tire the seal into being more easily caught.

Villages have traditional food-sharing protocols to make sure all members have a fair distribution of the fresh seal meat. In some villages, the bladders of the bladder darts are individually marked to signify which hunter has completed the successful hunt, and although many people will help in the capture, the entirety of the seal will go to the individual hunter. Other traditions hold that the first seal of the season taken by a hunter is divided and given away to members of the village.

When a young man brings back his first seal, it is a cause for great celebration and is a type of rite of passage ceremony. The seal is skinned and butchered and a designated woman in the village (usually the wife, mother, or grandmother of the hunter) will divide the meat and seal blubber among the rest of the village, with large portions given to the village elders who no longer hunt. The young hunter is not allowed to eat or come in contact with the meat during this time. The young man’s family will save up for many years to prepare for this occasion, and on the day of the ceremony the family throws various objects to the rest of the village to show their wealth and pride. These objects can include gloves, mittens, pieces of cloth, cookware and others.

Traditionally hunters will save the bladders of the hunted seals and hold a Bladder Festival, which can last from 6 to 14 days. This festival takes place every winter, and is a time to thank the spirits of the seals that have been killed, and to release their spirits back to the world. It is believed that if the spirits of the seals have been treated respectfully, they will allow themselves to be killed again by the hunter. Because the inflated and dried bladders are believed to contain the soul or shade of the animal, at the end of the Bladder Festival the bladders and put below the ice so that the seals may be born again and have a new existence.