This is what culture camp is all about!
The two weeks of culture camp is over for this year and I know there are some exhausted adults and sponsors out there. But the Culture Camp Potluck was inspirational to attend and it was my first REAL glimpse of this culture at work. The teachers of crafts and the adults that helped made a huge commitment to preserve tradition and see that these children (and some gal from the South) learned a little more about Aleut life.
Some of the adults donated their work and it was auctioned off at the end of the night. Peter taught how to make Aleut visors and his visor shown above went for almost $400.00, the full beaded head-dress over $300.00, I bought the Bering head-dress for $105.00 and even the barrette and earrings brought over $200.00. None of these crafts are easy, the work is very detailed and intricate, and some are very time consuming. I should know, I made a visor, as of last night it was in the mold but not dry, so unfinished for now. Don't worry Mom, I am going to finish it with Peter's help and use of his paints. I also made a Bering head-dress and it is proudly displayed on my lamp shade in my room. I'll post my step by step progress on each later. 
The kids had all their crafts displayed around the room and their family and friends could see all their work.
There was a ton of delicious food brought, a lot of salmon and halibut recipes, moss berry pie, salmon berry tarts, and even good old fashioned funnel cakes with powdered sugar and all. Someone even brought sushi (gone before I got to it), but NO octopus that I was aware of though!
My coworkers 13 year old daughter. Complete Regalia is the head-dress, the suk (sook- the leather dress), leather anklets and traditional face paint (in days past, it was tattooed). Every year they add more to the suk, whether it is beads, fur or even extra panels for length.
These are the 8th grade and older dancers (plus the little one who wanted in the photo). They have been practicing every year and they were great! I'll post a video later so you can see them and let your mind take you back to when they did this out under the stars, by a camp fire and their hearts were singing out as much as their drums and voices.
