358 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH, ANN. 18 
to a greater or less extent, although the central idea is preserved. 
Intercourse with the Russians and subsequently with the Americans at 
St Michael and adjacent parts of Norton sound has modified in many 
respects the customs of the Eskimo in that region, yet the ancient 
beliefs and observances are still preserved among the older people. 
Certain festivals, however, are no longer celebrated in the district 
named. Perhaps the most striking change has been in the disuse of 
masks, which are still used in the complicated ceremonials of the 
inhabitants of the country lying between the mouths of the Kusko- 
kwim and the Yukon. Among the Unalit Eskimo about St Michael I 
noted the following festivals: 
1. Ai-ya'-g’uk, or Asking festival, which takes place each year about 
the niddle or latter part of November. 
2, [hi'-i-g’i, the Festival to the Dead. In this there are songs and 
dances, with food offerings and libations in honor of the dead. It is 
held the last of November or the first of December. 
3. Chau'-i-yik, the Bladder feast. This is held usually during the 
December moon and sometimes extends into January. It is a festival 
belonging essentially to the coast people, but is still preserved in 
modified form among the Eskimo of lower Kuskokwim and Yukon 
rivers. 
4, A repetition of the Festival to the Dead is given at St Mivhael 
two days after the close of the Bladder feast, and (5) another just 
before the opening of the fishing season in spring. 
6. [kh'-ti-ka’-tikh-tik, Great feast to the Dead. This is the most nota- 
ble of all the festivals, owing to the fact that years are spent in prepar- 
ing for the display with which it is celebrated. Among the fur traders 
it is known as the “Ten-year feast,” but in reality there is no definite 
number of years between its recurrence. It is held at the time when the 
makers consider that they have accumulated sufficient material in the 
shape of food, skins of fur-bearing animals, and other objects of value 
to properly honor the shades of their deceased relatives for whose 
benefit the feast is held. 
THE “INVITING-IN” FEAST 
T-thit'-ka-gik, a mask festival, known as the “inviting-in feast,” is 
observed along the lower Yukon and southward to Kuskokwim river. 
Masks in every variety of shape and form are made by the men for use in 
it. Some of these.are so large that it becomes necessary to hang them 
from the roof of the kashim by a stout cord, and the owner stands behind 
with the mask fastened to his head, wagging and swaying it from side 
to side. The masks are usually carved to represent heads of animals, 
frequently the totemic animals of the maker, and very often expressing 
mythological fancies, which will be more fully detailed in treating 
of masks. The shamans make masks representing the faces of their 
supernatural or semihuman familiars by whose aid they claim to work 
