Ball
date: label: Accession Date
content: 3 Aug 1990
label: Collection Date
content: 1982 (Made)
name: label: Collector
content: St Lawrence Island Dancers
label: Collector
content: Ms. Genevieve Apatiki
label: Donor Name
content: Ms. Estelle Oozevaseuk
notes: label: Notes
content: BALL OF SEALSKIN DECORATED WITH TUFTS OF FACIAL SEAL HAIR, FORMED OF BANDED AND CIRCLE APPLIQUES OF DARK BROWN AND WHITE HIDE. SEAL FACIAL HAIR IS ARRANGED IN CIRCLES ON SIDE, TOP AND BOTTOM. MADE IN 1982 BY GENEVIEVE APATIKI OF SIVUQAQ (GAMBELL) ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND, ALASKA.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=363 , retrieved 7-31-2018; see web page for additional information: Ball "This kind of ball has what they call sun figures, which came from Siberia." - Estelle Oozevaseuk, 2001 The circular decorations on this kickball, applied in polar bear fur, represent the sun. The design comes from Yupik clans living on the Siberian coast. Estelle Oozevaseuk suggests that the sun design might be connected with spring whaling ceremonies. St. Lawrence Island girls used to play several kinds of kick ball games, with names such as "baby walrus hunt" and "whaling."(1) In one, they stood in a circle and tried to keep the ball in the air using only their feet. Yupik visitors from Siberia sometimes brought fancy decorated balls to trade with people on St. Lawrence Island, and ball games were always part of the welcoming celebrations that these summer traders received.(2) Very similar balls were made in coastal Chukchi communities.(3) Contemporary St. Lawrence Island artists make the balls for sale. Inupiaq artists also make decorated skin balls, including a type used in the "Eskimo high kick." 1. Silook 1976:23 2. Apassingok et al. 1985 Vol. 2:137; Silook 1976:13 3. Bororas 1904-09:271; Imergan in Krupnik et al. 2002:125.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island / Gambell, Bering Sea, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yupik, St. Lawrence Island
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 362995
label: USNM Number
content: E423976-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Ball
physicalDescription: label: Diameter - Object
content: 20 cm