Sunday, September 30, 2007

Party time, excellent...

There's this really cool tradition up here called a "throw party"...basically what it is, is that when a lady or a female member of your family reaches a big life milestone, you invite all the other ladies in the village over and toss gifts, essentials, and random stuff to everyone off your roof/porch/whatever. From what we are told, it apparently originated out of a mix of celebration, a sense of community sharing, and also a little bit of bragging (hey, look at how cool I am, I can afford to throw all my stuff to you all, cuz I can just go get more!) Really, it all just adds up to a good time for the ladies...not to mention a little bit of elbow-sharpening and jockeying for position :-P

So, apparently, last spring Sara had discussed this all with a woman whose granddaughter had an occasion coming up over the summer (picking her first berries! woo!!), and they decided that in the fall, after we were all married up and back to the village, they'd do kind of a joint throw. Well, this all went down last week, and it was a lot of fun to watch.

There was definitely a lot of "boxing out" and trying to get good spots, and the windy conditions made for some interesting throws on lighter items. Also, unfortunately there were a few injuries (kitchen knives...yes, packaged, but still pointy...and large rubbermaid items were the culprits), but everyone seemed to have a grand old time.

I'll let Sara further elaborate on the whole story on her blog at some point, but I just wanted to post a pic (and maybe a video, once I get it off the camera and formatted), and let you know what we've been up to...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

DUDE! credit where credit is due. Throw Parties are given by woman and have woman participants BUT boys can "earn" a throw too. Like for first seal-catch, etc.

Don't get all weepy Shaun we can have a throw for you at some point too. Throw in some mud and nakedness and it'll REALLY be a party to look forward to watching.

--Christina.

Ay'atang'aq said...

ditto. Families can give a throw for any member of their family (male or female... like for a first catch or something) but only women can attend and catch things.