Sunday, October 31, 2010

One Last Feast!

Today was our last full day in our Northern home. We started things out with a big breakfast at the only restaurant in Cambridge Bay. Then we returned to the school where a local craftsman taught everyone how to carve their own miniature "inukshuks" (Inuit stone people statues) out of caribou antlers.
Our lessons in Nunavut culture continued as we went over to the school's awesome Heritage Centre, where one of the Elders demonstrated a traditional igloo stove that used seal blubber as fuel for heat, cooking and light.
The Elder also let a couple of members of our crew model some authentic caribou fur clothing and accessories!
After spending the morning learning about the heritage of this amazing place, it was time to prepare the community feast!
The Elders brought over all of the caribou meat we harvested yesterday, and we also pulled out all of the Arctic char 'piffy' that we'd put out to dry two days ago.
The Screaming Avocado gang did what they do best and cooked up an unbelievable feast with the Cambridge Bay students and the Elders.
Everyone in the community was invited, and the turn-out was incredible! 
Elders, lots of cute kids, and everyone else in town came to the gym and shared all the food that we'd prepared for them.

In the evening, we were treated with a demonstration of the amazing Inuit music called "Throat Singing". Three talented young women put on a great show just for us:
Jenna and Siobhan tried some throat singing of their own after a little coaching from the experts!
Everyone will be sad to leave this magical place tomorrow and say good bye to our all our new friends....

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow, this is a really good one. Always love posts with amazing pictures. An igloo stove sounds interesting and would love to see some pictures of it. Anyhow i think the Avocado gang is amazing so keep it up.

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