MIST OF CENTURIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19785, 8 March 1927, Page 5

MIST OF CENTURIES

ANCIENT RITES OBSERVED CEREMONY IN FAR-OFF ALASKA. The natives of the Alaska Islands, many of whom hav e a sprinkling of the blood of the old Russian conquerors, celebrated their New Year on January 14, following the Indian calendar. The ceremonies were particularly joyous at Kodiak, Sitka, Unolaska and St. Paul, of the Pribilof group, famous internationally for their seals. All the ancient paraphernalia, used only at Christmas and Easter, were brought forth for the celebrations. From Kodiak west to the Asiatic coast, the Christmas star, symbolising the beam that guided the three wise men. was borne from home to home, attended by carol singing. In the observance were combined customs brought from Russia hundreds of years ago. and native rites whose origin is lost in the midst of centuries. Churches were decked with tinsel and holy lamps shed their glow on faded hand-embroidered vestmen Is. Censers distilled Oriental perfumes on the close atmosphere of the shabby chapels, where scores of patient Alaska Indians listened by the hour to a succession of masses chanted in the Russian tongue. Gold-covered Bibles, gem-studded chalices, jewelled crosses, inlaid with fine Mosiac patterns, were brought from their strong-boxes by the priests for the occasion. A venerable father thumbed the yellow pages of his missal, pages which some Russian monk, centuries ago, laboriously illustrated by hand, or with woodcuts that are now almost priceless. Carols are sung in Russian and English, learned in the Government schools. The community danced for a week. Chiefs entertained with cake and strong tea. A tribal dance represented the elements. But the big event, the masked ball on New Year’s Evo, provided the grand finale. An aged couple danced the old year out,, and were unceremoniously bundled out into the snow, to make way for a graceful white-clad maiden, whose twittering feet ushered in the new year. Where garments were borrowed from white officials or settlers, the borrower felt constrained to mimic the eccentricities of the generous donor, who ‘was tho most interested among the. audience as his foibles were paraded before these simple delightful denizens of the Far North.