Yup’ik Teaching Moment: Kevgiq

Kevgiq [GEHV-gihk] is Yup’ik for “Messenger Feast”

Storyknife, November/December 2024 edition

Calista Education & Culture (CEC) presents the Yup’ik Teaching Moment in our Storyknife newsletter. CEC highlights Yuuyaraq, the traditional/cultural way of being in our Region. The Yup’ik Teaching Moment is provided by Mark John, CEC Cultural Advisor and Calista Elder from Toksook Bay.

Kevgiq [GEHV-gihk] translates from Yup’ik to “the Messenger Feast.”

Before western contact, Kevgiq was a big event all over the region in which one community would invite a rival community to socialize and have a friendly dance competition, usually during the winter.

In preparation for the event, community leaders met and decided on the types of items they would request from individuals in the rival community. Once the decisions were made, two messengers from each community were sent on foot to the rival community to make the announcement.

Common items requested included food, skins for clothing, bedding, and qayat (kayaks), wood and materials for shelter, and various tools for everyday life.

Kevgiq was also a time to get to know family and friends, to mourn those that passed on, to greet newborn children and brag about their capabilities, and to publicly ridicule those misbehaving in hope of changing their behavior.

During Kevgiq, community members were told to be on their best behavior, otherwise the rival community may catch the bad behavior and sing about it during yuraq, the traditional dances.

The biggest benefactors of the gifts were Elders, widows, orphans, disabled people and those without providers. It was a traditional way of providing social welfare.

Kevgiq was also a time of prayer. Shamans would request masks to be made. Dances would be performed to make requests: an abundance of various fish and game used for food, for clear weather during subsistence seasons, and for wood during ice breakup.

All in all, Kevgiq was a big event where two communities got together to share good food and have a great time. People gave as much as they could, knowing they would receive a bountiful supply of items in return.