NELSON] BLADDER FESTIVAL 381 



Fifth day 



On this day the men remain in the kashim and no one is permitted to 

 do any work in the village, while all wait for the full moon. The first 

 night of the waning moon each man ties his bladders into a bundle, 

 which is fastened about the head of a large seal spear, and they are 

 then hung on a line strung across the back of the room. The same day 

 the men go out and make a hole in the sea ice before the village about 

 a quarter of a mile from the shore. When this has been done two men, 

 each with a small seal spear in his hand, run out to the hole in the ice 

 and dip the point of their spears in the water and run back to the 

 kashim as quickly as possible and stir up their bladders with the points 

 of their spears, after which they drop their sj)ears, and, going over to 

 the large bundle of parsnip stalks, strike it with their open hands. 

 Then two or three men start out and repeat this ceremony, and so on 

 until it has been done by every one of the hunters. 



When this is finished all the hunters seat themselves around the 

 kashim and join in a song of welcome to the guests, while the other vil- 

 lagers, men, women, and children, file in one after the other and exe- 

 cute a short dance. 



Sixth day 



Just at sunrise the following morning every man takes his spear, on 

 which the bladders are hung, and, forming a long file, all go out to the 

 hole in the ice as fast as they can run. Keaching this, each kneels down 

 by it, and, tearing the bladders from his spear, thrusts them down one 

 by one through the hole under the ice. When this is finished all return 

 to the village. Meanwhile the old men have brought out the bundle 

 of parsnip stalks from the kashim and, placing them on the sea ice in 

 front of the village, have built a small fire of driftwood. As the men 

 return from the hole, the entire population gathers about the fire and 

 unites in a song of welcome to the guests. 



Fire is now applied to the bundle of wild parsnip stalks and they 

 burst into a high, waving flame. As the returning men draw near 

 they start to run for the fire, each leaping through it in succession, 

 uttering a loud whoop in which the villagers join with a chorus of 

 shrieks and cries. On the occasions of my witnessing this rite I was 

 asked by the Eskimo to jump through the flame with the hunters, and 

 as they seemed to think it was required by custom I complied. When 

 the men have all passed through the flame the women and children rush 

 frantically into the fire, stamping and dashing the embers about until 

 it is extinguished, perfectly regardless of burning boots and clothing. 

 Everyone then forms in a line and marches once around the village; 

 sometimes two files are formed which march about the place in opposite 

 directions at the same time. 



After this a fire is built in the kashim and the men take a sweat bath. 

 The fire having burned down, the kashim is closed, the floor planks put 

 in place, and the men form a circle around the room, each bent over and 



