NELSON] DANCES AND FESTIVALS 357 



slowly with a continual graceful swaying of the body. This dance 

 ended the perform auce. 



At Cape Darby, on the same journey, I passed a night with the vil- 

 lagers and was invited into the kashim with my companion to witness 

 a dance given for us. We went in and found the entire population of 

 the village assembled. A small present of tobacco to the headman 

 was our offering as strangers, after which we were given the place of 

 honor by the drummers at the rear end of the room. Tlie song and the 

 drum-beating began at once, with a chorus song of meaningless syllables 

 like those sung in dances of conventional style. A number of men and 

 women kept the floor, going through a series of ordinary postures 

 until they became tired and sat down. These were followed by a man 

 and a woman who came forward and went through a new set of motions, 

 which I was told they had learned from people on the shore of Bering 

 strait. Afterward a woman came out and imitated the gathering of 

 eggs of sea fowl among the rocks. At certain intervals a song accom- 

 panied her movements, which was intended to represent the cries of 

 birds startled from their nests. 



FEASTS A?fD FESTIVALS 

 THE FUNCTION OF THE CELEBRATIONS 



Among the Eskimo of lower Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers and 

 thence northward along the coast to Kotzebue sound, as well as on the 

 islands of Bering strait, the festivals form some of the most important 

 features of their social life. The same may undoubtedly be said of the 

 Eskimo elsewhere in Alaska, but these remarks are intended to cover 

 the region over which my personal observations extended. 



These festivals serve to enliven the long, depressing evenings of / 

 Arctic winter, and at intervals render the cold, stormy season a period 

 of enjoyment and feasting. They serve also to promote friendly inter- 

 course between the people of adjacent villages and districts. Through 

 the festivals comes an interchange of products and manufactures of 

 different localities, and, above all, they are important in expressing and 

 carrying out the religious behefs and observances of these people. 



Nearly or quite all of the formal festivals of the Eskimo in this 

 region are of a more or less religious character. As examples of these 

 may be noted the Bladder feast and the Feast to the Dead. 



CALENDAR OF FESTIVALS 



Having been more familiar with the TJnalit Eskimo of Norton sound 

 than with any others of this region, I subjoin a list of festivals ob- 

 served among them, although it is probably not comj)lete. A somewhat 

 similar program exists among the other tribes within the limits of the 

 region covered by the present paper. While the same festival may 

 exist in dittereut localities over a considerable area, rites vary locally 



