Monday, September 13, 2010
Silence
After reading Yuuyaraq I still don't understand why Yup'ik people stayed silent after the Great Death. I get that it was thought to be easier to not talk about the pain, but if they saw their people suffering and dealing with what was happening why wouldn't they stand together and defend everything they new? Why would they just not speak of the old ways and let the Christians take over their lives? This doesn't seem easier to me. This seems as though it would just add to the pain. Not only did they lose their communities, but now they're losing their whole way of being. They were losing everything they knew. How is this easier than talking and staying united as a community (or what was left of the community)?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think it was more of a mental defeat with themselves. There suffering was more alone, and people didn't see each other suffering. It was probably easier to do as the Christians were saying than standing together causing a war or something. When the Christians came in they told them everything about their beliefs was wrong. Then they got sick and started dying, when they tried their beliefs, they didn't work. Probably convincing them the Christians were right. It was a slower process one generation lost what they believed, while the next lost their community. It wasn't easier as a whole, but step by step it was easier.
ReplyDeleteMabye they also had hope that the way of life and beliefs that the Christians held would reverse the many negative affects of the great death. Or mabye they felt so abandoned by their own beliefs that they were desperate to try out new ideas. They had to deal not only with all this indecision within themselves, but with the presure put on them by the missionaries to conform. I can see why it would be so hard to hang on beliefs and ideas when all you see if evidence of their failure.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same point I was trying to make in my post. Keeping quiet does NOT solve problems. Often in times of despair, we cling to our religion/beliefs to help us through. If the Yup'iks believed as Harold Napoleon says they did, I find it hard to understand how they just let it go during this time.
ReplyDeleteI couldnt agree more... I feel like it would just add to the pain. It makes no sense to me. I wish I were able to see their thought process, I think it would be interesting to see. It would also be interesting to be a fly on the wall, so to say, in their culture. They had such strong beliefs and then slowly just let go of them. I wonder how their ancestors would feel about that..
ReplyDelete