ИСТИНА

There are different types of ritual feeding practiced by the contemporary Asiatic Yupik population. It is quite widespread to feed objects - drawings, stones brought from the cemetery, symbolic miniature objects such as the clothing items of a deceased or tiny sculptures. People feed their ancestors for specific purposes (to improve weather, for help with a problem, even to find a car on the way to their home village) and at different places - at the cemetery, at home, in the sea or at abandoned settlements. They feed particular deceased people (even if they are not their relatives), entire clans or simply all the ancestors without specification. The main preserved hunting ritual of lowering boats into water is a feeding ritual accompanied by a throwing of cigarettes and reindeer meat into the water or fire. Feeding ancestors has become so widespread that sometimes it is done everyday before a meal - people just pinch tiny bits of the food inviting ancestors to eat with them. But the core ritual of feeding the deceased is a commemoration of the dead (aghqesaghtuq) that is held once a year in autumn or twice a year in autumn and spring, however it is held by some families in summer. This ritual is practiced by almost every Yupik family with the exception of individual Christians. Though the plot of the ritual of remembrance of the dead is quite simple, the ritual itself has a great number of nuances and differs from one family to another. In my report I am planning to describe the ritual in its diversity and through the description reveal some features of the contemporary Yupik intellectual culture.