I found Napoleon’s reading quite interesting. The Great Death section of the essay got my attention the most. I realized that the Great Death of the Yup’ik people brought on much sorrow, heartbreak, grief, and anger. As would any pandemic, however, the Yup’ik people were so connected that they had silently agreed not to talk about the sorrows that were brought to their clan. The survivors were traumatized, scared, leaderless, and confused. They were left with no other option than to follow the missionaries and the school teachers. The survivors began to embrace Christianity and disregarded Yup’ik. They stopped their cultural traditions with the spirit world and other ceremonies. It seems to me like people would have stood up for their children and want to pass on even though they were going through difficult times; even if it made it harder.In a sense they buried the old culture with the deaths of their people. The missionaries had no problem taking over. They helped to make the Yup’ik people completely Christian. In schools the teachers would punish the children for speaking in Yup’ik or dancing. The parents of these children just let it happen. The young children were lead to believe that their ancestor’s beliefs and traditions were evil and had no value for life. The children were told that they went to hell. The survivors just let this happen. They watched as the missionaries completely changed their children’s beliefs and education.
I don’t know… Just something I noticed/thought…
I found it really troubling that the parents just stood by and watched the missionaries tell the children their grandparents and such were in hell. if it were my children and the people were talking about my dead parents i think i would still stand up for them no matter how hard it was to talk about. The natives seemed to be such a strong unity with much pride before the Great Death, so it opens my eyes but also confuses me how they became such a lenient group afterwards. It makes me see that the deaths were horrible and scaring i'm sure, but it also confuses me because if someone i knew died i would want to stand up for who they used to be. Share the world and tell everyone how amazing they once were. Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Christine. I feel like if I was there I would have stood up for my kids/family. It seems ridiculous that they were so united and then because of hardships lost their togetherness. It is really quite sad to think about. However, at the same time I feel this way, I feel that maybe since I didnt grow up in a Native Alaskan village my point of view is a little tainted. I grew up speaking my mind and standing up for what I believe in, so maybe that changes how I responded to the essay..
ReplyDeleteIts incredible how sickness swept across the land wiping out families and whole villages. But was it spread through travelers and animals? Or how was it spread? Also, they believed that sickness that wasnt caused by the ingestion of poisons was the work of evil spirits. Terribly sick people were being attacked or overcome by evil spirits. I wonder if they thought this sweeping illness was the work of some type of devil.
ReplyDeleteHey also, someone mentioned in previous blog (i don't really remember which one or if thats what the book really said) But they mentioned that they never had an honorary feast for those who died..They were to overwrought by the Great Death..And when they forgot/were too depressed maybe thats where things really started going wrong. They never got that closure, or tied back to their relgion. So maybe that is something they should think about doing once they start trying to regain their culture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that statement..But don't forget, it wasn't just that there where so many people that died that affected them, it was also as if the spirits in the spirit world abandoned them. The Natives had thought most illness where illness of the spirit, not just of the body. So when so many died, and the medicine men could do nothing, it was as if they had been following the wrong relgion. This combined with what the missionaries where saying drove that point even closer to home. If something you had believed so strongly in all for your entire life, and then it was as if that belief had betrayed you, would you want to pass that on to your children? Im sure not all the Yup'ick people felt this way...But I'm also sure it was something they recognized...What may have taken awhile for it to be known, was that the "white men" had brought new disease that their immune systems were'nt used too. And they were diseases that spread fast and killed quick...They had no time to experiment with the medicine of the body that they already knew.
In reguard to Brandons question how the sickness seemed to spread like wildfire. Its most because of the missionary that were actaully in the villages or other white people. I think this Great Death was univoidable because the only possible way would have been to keep the two seperated but the white where all about conquering and exploring. This was always going to happen it was just a matter of time.
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