North in Alasaka - 26

Big Bear came by unannounced one Saturday morning, like he always does, and invited Bev and I to a celebration that was being held near the Octagon.  Having nothing else on the agenda we eagerly accepted. 

When I asked him what was to be celebrated he said it was Raven Day and he new we would enjoy ourselves. 

We arrived at the Octagon just in time for the festivities.  It stated out by a parade that came out of the woods circled the Octagon once and then retreated back into the woods.

Every young Eskimo from the surrounding area seemed to be participating in the parade one way or another.  Some walked, some were pulled in wagons, and some rode in the back of one of the two pick-up trucks that somehow had gotten to the Octagon.  All were waving American flags or Alaska state flags.  The military was represented by members of a local National Guard Detachment that I did not know existed marching at the front of the procession.  The Police Chief of our sector drove a newly acquired ATV equipped with a siren, which he would let wail far too often.

The next thing on the schedule was to be the Salmon Fishing Derby, but it got cancelled at the last minute when everyone realized that the lake was to choppy.

The next item was the berry eating contest, not a berry pie eating contest, but an actual berry eating contest.  The entrants were limited to those over 70 years old and from what I could tell, they were to eat as many berries as they could in a certain time span.  When it was announced that the contest was to begin, three male elders stepped forward and they immediately started arguing with one another as to where each was going to stand behind the table piled with berries.  They finally agreed that the oldest one would have his pick first, but then they got into an argument as to who was the oldest.  The whole matter was finally decided when a very elderly lady inserted herself into the fray and started grabbing one man then another by the ear and led him into position, whether he wanted to be there or not.  It took me a while to figure out that this was all part of the ceremony.  The crowd got into it also, because they would boo and heckle the elders as they got into position.

Each man was brought a bowl of berries.  Each elder received one kind of berry only.  There were Blackberries, Blueberries, and Salmonberries.  Dark blue, light blue, and red.  The woman who had grabbed the men by the ears yelled something that apparently was the signal to commence.  The elders started cramming their mouths full as quickly as possible.  But when the bowls were empty other bowls did not appear.  The men just stood there with dark blue, light blue, and red coloring all over their respective faces.  Then the ear lady yelled something else and the crowd I was standing in quickly dispersed.  To my horror the men started running towards Bev and me.  I stood there petrified as they ran past and started grabbing any female they could get their hands on, including Bev and pressed stained face against the face of the captured women.  There was shrieking and laughing for several minutes when the ear lady yelled something again.  The men went back to their places and women started lining up behind them based on how much and what kind of coloring they had on their faces.  The blackberry guy won by one women but only because it was judged that Bev had equal amounts of coloring on her face and the ear lady disqualified her.