Nome celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day

“Always be proud of who you are,” Phyllis Walluk told students gathered in the Nome-Beltz gymnasium during the school’s Indigenous People’s Day celebrations on Monday.
Walluk, the cultural studies teacher, had just read out a list of students’ subsistence success stories, and then directed a fashion show of traditional clothing. She brought up students to dance a St. Lawrence Island dance called Bering Land Bridge. Afterwards, students went to cultural education workshops. It was all part of the student and staff led effort to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day.
In one workshop, teacher Rosa Wright led a group of students in making beaded earrings and ornaments. Her one-year-old daughter, Lilou assisted. In the shop classroom, students learned how to make ulus. In other rooms, students attended workshops on soapstone carving, meat processing and Native dance.
The celebrations at Nome-Beltz were not the only ones in town on Monday. At the elementary school, students walked in a 9 a.m. fashion show, showcasing traditional clothing. And later in the afternoon at the Nome Recreation Center, the Village of Solomon hosted the annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day with a potluck and celebration.
At the afternoon gathering, Kirsten Timbers with the Village of Solomon said that it’s important to gather and celebrate culture and heritage because it was not celebrated for many years. “Many of our cultures, subsistence gathering, and dancing and singing – all of those things were admonished by the schools and the churches,” she said. “We’re really having a revitalization of our culture and being able to come together and celebrate that is really important.” 
“It just feels really good for everybody to connect with one another, with our subsistence animals, and celebrate,” she added.
Inside the Rec Center on Monday afternoon, kids played games and chattered in excitement. Parents or older siblings ran after toddlers as they moved around, and Elders relaxed at tables. As the potluck started, a crowd of young women went out to Elders in the crowd and took their food orders, bypassing a long wait for dinner – the line stretched around the room. 
Arlene Soxie, waiting for her moose stew at one table, said that it seems that young people are interested in learning their language these days. She said when she was growing up, people who spoke Inupiaq could understand each other’s dialects. Seeing all the kids participating in culture on Monday was good. “By learning these, they can mingle with other people and understand better what’s going on in other people’s lives too,” she said. “They’re more sensitive to other people’s feelings when they understand.”
After the dancing and the potluck, a line of young people in traditional clothing gathered for the highly anticipated fashion show. The lights went down, and young people walked the red carpet in their kuspuks, vestpuks and other traditional garments. Family and community members cheered as the fashionistas struck poses. 
Timbers said that the fashion show is important. When she was growing up, she got teased for wearing traditional clothing to school. She said she was ashamed of her Native identity. In the last decade or so, there’s been a revitalization of culture. “People [are] really stepping into their identity as Native people and celebrating it,” she said.
The celebration at the Rec Center is open to everyone, and it’s important to Timbers that everyone feels welcome to show up. People who are reconnecting with their culture should feel loved and embraced and not feel shame for what they might not know. “I think that we all have a big responsibility in making sure people feel welcome at these events and these spaces, as they’re learning,” she said.
As comedian Marc Yaffee took the stage, Walluk gazed out at a room full of kids, families and Elders. It’s important for young people to celebrate their culture, she said. “We all need to everywhere, not just here, but everywhere,” said Walluk. “So they could be part of who they are and where they come from, where they belong.”