According to Yup’ik Elder Rita Pitka Blumenstein in the exhibits
catalog Inner Skins
Outer Skins, Gut and Fishskins: “Fishskins were used for mukluks, mittens
and rain
coats. Fishskins were used especially by the river mainland people
(Yukon-Kuskokwim).
They also used the skins as bags for water containers. The fishskins come in
different
colors. It depends upon what kind of fish—if it’s a king salmon, if it’s a
silver salmon, if
it’s a trout or if it’s a pike. Some fish you have to scale; some fish you
don’t. Like pike,
you have to scale it, also the white fish.
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:h14_GJy9OnIJ:www.museums.state.ak.us/documents/sjm/artifacts/jan_2004.pdf+%22Rita+Pitka+Blumenstein%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=24&gl=us&ie=UTF-8#2
Rita Pitka Blumenstein from SW Alaska about 'urine tanning':You take the skin off and soak it in the water, and then you scrape it with a sea shell. Some fish you have to scale; some fish you don't. Like pike and white fish, you've got to scale it; you soak it in urine. The urine has to come from a young boy baby before weaning. It doesn't contain any chemicals, just momma's milk. For thicker skins, you have to use the urine from an older boy, around the time his voice changes.... |
We are free to be who we are—to create our own life out of our past and out of the present. We are our ancestors. When we heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors, our grandmothers, our grandfathers and our children. When we heal ourselves, we heal Mother Earth.