Voices from the Community: Cup’iuyaraq: Being a Cup’ik

Cup’iuyaraq, “Being a Cup’ik,” is something that cannot be the same as what our ancestors experienced, as told to me by one of the Elders. I asked what he meant. He said today we live a different life with all the modern means, which were not available during the childhood of our Elders today. One difference as an example is today we build our home on top of the ground, elevated, and we bury our dead six feet underground. In the old days, the houses were built underground, while they buried their dead on top of the ground. Another one is that our ancestors used Qayaqs to travel from one point to another and today we use aluminum boats with motors. Also, they used dogsleds and today we use snow machines. All of our clothing today are not natural like they were hundreds of years ago.