THE INVITING-IN FESTIVAL
The Inviting-In Festival (Aithúkaguk) is a great inter-tribal feast, second in importance to the Great Feast to the Dead. It is a celebration on invitation from one tribe to her neighbors when sufficient provisions have been collected. It takes place late in the season, after the other festivals are over. Neighboring tribes act as hosts in rotation, each striving to outdo the other in the quality and quantity of entertainment offered. During this festival the dramatic pantomime dances for which the Alaskan Eskimo are justly famous, are performed by especially trained actors. For several days the dances continue, each side paying the forfeit as they lose in the dancing contests. In this respect the representations are somewhat similar to the nith contests of the Greenlanders. As I have noticed the dances at length elsewhere,[26] I shall only give a brief survey here, sufficient to show their place in the Eskimo festival dances.
The main dances of the Inviting-In Festival are totemic in character, performed by trained actors to appease the totems of the hunters, and insure success for the coming season. These are danced in pantomime and depict the life of arctic animals, the walrus, raven, bear, ptarmigan, and others. Then there are group dances which illustrate hunting scenes, like the Reindeer and Wolf Pack dance already described, also dances of a purely comic character, designed for the entertainment of the guests. During the latter performances the side which laughs has to pay a forfeit.
Elaborate masks are worn in all of the dances. The full paraphernalia, masks, handmasks, fillets, and armlets, are worn by the chief actors. They are supported by richly garbed assistants. An old shaman acts as master of ceremonies. There is an interchange of presents between the tribes during the intervals but not between individuals, as in the Asking Festival. At the close of the festival the masks are burned.
KEY TO PLATE XI
A—Outer Vestibule. (Lā´torăk.)
B—Summer Entrance. (Amēk´.)
C—Front Platform. (Ṓaklim.) Seat of Orphans and Worthless.
D—Plank Floor. (Nā´tūk.)
E—Rear Platform. (Kā´an.) Seat of Honored Guests.
F—Smoke Hole. (Ṙa´lŏk.) Entrance for Gift-lines.
G—Entrance Hole. (Pug´yărăk.)
H—Fireplace. (Kēne´thluk.) Seat of Spirit-Guests.
I—Underground Tunnel. (Ag´vēak.)
J—Side Platforms. (Kā́aklim.) Seats for Spectators.
K—Chorus of Drummers.
L—Feast Givers. (Nä´skut.)
M—Namesakes of Dead.