Origin of the Yu-gi-yhik’ or I-ti-ka-tah’ Festival

Then the old man took it down, placed it in a small bag, which he hung about his neck by a cord, and wore it secretly under his clothing as an amulet, thus having the services of its inua to assist him in his ceremonies. His wife and daughter, however, knew what he had done with the child.

The unmarried shaman never took a wife, and after his friend began to wear the child about his neck, he frequently saw among the shades that came to do his bidding that of a small, new-born child. What it was or why it came he could not understand, as it did not come at his bidding. This was observed very often, and still he did not know that his friend had the body.

When one of these men was practicing his rites and found it difficult to obtain help from the shades, his friend would assist him to accomplish his object. One fine, warm day the unmarried shaman went up on the hillside back of the village and sat down. As night came on he fell asleep, and as he slept he saw the air filled with falling stars, and then that the sky was sinking toward him until finally it rested upon the hilltop so close that he had barely enough room to move about below it. Looking around, he saw that every star was in reality a round hole in the sky through which the light from above was shining, liaising himself up, he put his head through the nearest star hole and saw another sky with many stars shining above the first one. As he looked, this sky sank slowly down until he could put his head through one of the star holes in it, and above this were shining the stars in still another sky. This, too, sank slowly down, and standing up he found himself breast high above the third sky, and close by was a kashim surrounded by a village like the one in which he lived.

From familiar signs he saw that the men had just taken a sweat bath. A woman was at work covering the air hole in the roof of the kashim with the gut-skin covering, while other women were carrying in food. After looking about for a short time he decided to go into the kashim and see the people. Then raising himself through the star holes he walked to the kashim and entered it through the under ground passageway. When he reached the inside he found the room full of people sitting around on the floor and benches. He started to cross the room to take a seat in the place of honor opposite the door, but a man sitting over the main entrance called to him to sit beside him, which he did.

The women were still bringing in food, and the man who had spoken first to the shaman, said, in a low voice, “If you are offered food do not eat it, for you will see that it is not fit to eat.” The shaman then looked about the room and saw lying at the side of each man a small wooden image, all of which represented different kinds of mammals, birds, and fishes. Over the lamps beside the entrance door were two slender sticks of wood more than a fathom in length, joined at the lower end and spread apart above like two outspread arms, along the sides of which were fastened swan quills, and the upper end of each stick bore a tuft of wolf hair. These sticks were designed to represent the outspread wings of the Raven father who made the world. Over the entrance to the room hung another pair of these sticks similarly ornamented.

From the roof hung two great hoops extending entirely around the room, one of which was a little below the other, and both were about midway between the roof and the floor. Extending from the roof hole down to the upper hoop were many slender rods, the lower ends of which were fastened to the hoop at regular intervals. Fastened to the hoops and rods in many places were tufts of feathers and down. These hoops and rods represented the heavens arching over the earth, and the tufts of feathers were the stars mingled with snowflakes. The cord suspending the rings passed through a loop fastened to the roof, and the end passed down and was held by a man sitting near the lamp. This man raised and lowered the rings slowly by drawing in and letting out the cord in time to the beating of a drum by another man sitting on the opposite side of the lamp. [This movement of the rings was symbolical of the apparent approach and retreat of the heavens according to the condition of the atmosphere.]

The shaman had just time to notice this much when he saw a woman come in with a dish of food which seemed like freshly-boiled meat. Looking about, she asked, “Where is the guest?” to which he replied, “Here I am,” and she handed him the dish. As soon as the steam cleared away a little the shaman saw lying in the dish a new-born boy who was wriggling about. The shaman was so startled by the sight that he did not know what to do and let the dish turn toward the floor so that the child slipped out and fell. At this moment the shaman felt himself driven head foremost from his seat down through the exit hole in the floor. Starting up, he looked about and found himself reclining upon the mountain top near his village, and day was just breaking in the east, Itising, he hastened down to the village and told his friend, the other shaman, what had occurred to him, and the latter advised that they should unite in working their strongest charms to learn the meaning of this vision. Then they called the shaman’s wife and went with her into the kashim where they worked their spells, and it was revealed to them that during the February moon in each year the people of the earth should hold a great festival. They were directed to decorate the kashim just as the shaman had seen it in the sky house, and by the two shamans the people were taught all the necessary observances and ceremonies, during which food and drink offerings were made to the inuas of the sky house and songs were sung in their honor. If these instructions were properly followed, game and food would be plentiful on the earth, for the people in the sky house were the shades or inuas controlling all kinds of birds and fish and other game animals off the earth, and from the small images of the various kinds which the shaman had seen lying beside the sky people was the supply of each kind replenished on earth. When the sky people or shades were satisfied by the offerings and ceremonies of the earth people, they would cause an image of the kind of animal that was needed to grow to the proper size, endow it with life and send it down to the earth, where it caused its kind to become again very numerous.

This festival is observed by the Eskimo of the Lower Yukon from about Ikogmut (Mission) up to the limit of their range on the river. Beyond that the festival is observed by the Tinne at least as far as Anvik, they having borrowed it from the Eskimo. The festival is characterized by the placing of a wooden doll or image of a human being in the kashim and making it the center of various ceremonies, after which it is wrapped in birch-bark and hung in a tree in some retired spot until the following year. During the year the shamans sometimes pretend to consult this image to ascertain what success will attend the season’s hunting or fishing. If the year is to be a good one for deer hunting, the shamans pretend to find a deer hair within the wrappings of the image. In case they wish to predict success in fishing, they claim to find fish scales in the same place. At times small offerings of food in the shape of fragments of deer fat or of dried fish are placed within the wrappings. The place where the image is concealed is not generally known by the people of the village, but is a secret to all except the shamans and, perhaps, some of the oldest men who take prominent parts in the festival. An old headman among the Mission Eskimo informed me that the legend and festival originated among the people of a place that has long been deserted, near the present village of Paimut, and that thence it was introduced both up and down the Yukon and across the tundra to the people living on lower Koskokwim river. The names of this festival are derived, first, Yu-gi-yhik from yu-guk, a doll or manikin, and I-ti-ka-tah from i-tukhtok, “he comes in,” thus meaning the doll festival or the coming in festival, the latter referring to the bringing in of the doll from the tree where it is kept during the year.

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