You Learn Something New Every Day. . .

I'm still learning new parts of the culture every day I am here.  Today we invited some local dancers to come to our PE class to teach the kids native Eskimo dancing.  The kids had a blast!  We learned the sled dance and the rabbit dance.

Later, I was talking to one of the natives who works at the school.  We were visiting about the daylight.  He said he lived in Seattle for a while.  He moved there in May, and he said his body just felt funny, like something was wrong, and he couldn't figure it out for a long time.  Then, the reason came to his mind.  He thought, "Ah!  It gets dark here!"  His body was not used to the dark.  In May, it's supposed to be light all the time!

I made a comment similar to, "I just don't understand how the kids can stay up so late!"  

His reply was pretty enlightening.  He said that he believes that it is engrained in them from their ancestors.  They worked from now until freeze up--hunting, fishing, and gathering--storing everything for the long winter.  They often worked from the evening through the night, because that is when there is relief from the bugs.  Then, winter was a time of relaxing. They get to enjoy all their work from the summer--eating all the food they stored up, putting their feet up, and drinking coffee.