The children of Dot Lake Village participated in three full days of experiences based in Athabaskan traditions and customs. From June 6-8, the Native Village of Dot Lake immersed children and participants in a variety of subsistence, traditional crafts, cultural history, and singing and drumming.
On the first day of culture camp, Larry Jonathan, an elder from Tanacross, demonstrated traditional drumming and singing and told stories through song. That afternoon, elders Ann John from Beaver and Charlene Cleary from Tanacross demonstrated traditional crafts, including beading and crochet. Iris Nawiesniak, a park specialist with the Kids Don’t Float program of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, discussed water safety and instructed youth on the proper ways to wear a life jacket and why. The principal of Dot Lake Village School and its students are now considering constructing a life jacket loaner station for the Kids Don’t Float program, which will be at a public-accessible waterway in Dot Lake.
On the second day, Chance Shank, culture camp coordinator, gave a presentation to the youth on hunting regulations, unit maps and their boundaries, and control use areas. Directly after the culture camp staff and adults taught the youth traditional skinning techniques in processing a moose. These included removing meat from the bone and how to care for meat in the field. In the afternoon, the children and adults took an excursion to Jan Lake, a developed recreational site made possible by a partnership between Dot Lake Village and the State of Alaska many years ago. This area is open to the public and has a beautiful lakefront surrounded by hills with clear water stocked with fish from Alaska Fish & Game. Those attending enjoyed canoeing and other lakeside activities.
For dinner on the second evening, everyone enjoyed moose steak the youth cut, skinned, and processed earlier that day.
On the third and final day, youth learned to prepare and cut white fish in two ways: one to bake and the other to smoke.
The children wanted to learn to smoke meat to such a degree that they asked the school if they could build a smokehouse. Eric Masters, a long-time staff member of Dot Lake School headed this project with the students in the school’s workshop room. The village purchased the materials for the youth to use to construct it, and a welding instructor from Tok School, who heard of this project, joined in to teach the children welding, which they used to construct the firebox of the smokehouse. The teaching staff were so impressed by the children’s enthusiasm and dedication to the project that he wanted to participate in their learning. As a result of these efforts, Dot Lake School won first place in a job fair competition, which stipulated using a vocational skill. By welding the firebox to produce smoke for the smokehouse, the children were able to showcase their abilities and win the competition.
The children prepared some of the moose to smoke for dry meat and are preparing some of the white fish to smoke for dry fish as well. The smokehouse now resides behind the council offices and will be used in culture camps for years to come.
In addition to preparing white fish, the third day of culture camp included guest instructors such as James Kari, a long-time professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks in the Alaska Native Language Center. He shared materials about native languages for the tribe’s digital archive and digitized them. Irene Arnold, an elder from Tanacross and a native language expert, helped direct the tribe’s materials while they were being digitized and discussed what these materials mean and how to store them properly.
Sonny Luke, a traditional song composer who has created many original songs in the native language, taught those attending about native singing and drumming. The day ended with a potlatch where the children learned its traditional rules and how the gift giveaway works.
The 2024 Culture Camp would not have been possible without the staff of the Native Village of Dot Lake who stepped in and did whatever was needed to make this camp a success. We are so appreciative of their time, talents and dedication to this event.
