A warm-hearted gathering of elders and youth

SIMATUK MICHAEL
Special to Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — As a television journalist I always feel more of an observer than a participant in the stories I cover.

In late August I covered an event that I got caught up in. It was fun and it warmed my heart.

Two hundred or so elders from the regions of Nunavik and Nunavut joined youth from both regions to learn from each other about youth in the past and youth in the present. The event was called the “Elders Gathering.”

It was organized by the Pairiyiit Society and the Town of Iqaluit recreation department, and funded by the Brighter Futures Program of the Kakivak Association. Each community also did some fund-raising of their own.

I was assigned by the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation television show Kippinguiyautiit. As a journalist, I initially watched to learn about the youthful games of our elders.

Despite my deep affection for, and my interest in Inuit elders, I was not aware of many of the games from our past. These games were played by Inuit youth to entertain themselves before youth had television to entertain them as they do today.

I got really intrigued by one game. It was an elimination game where the one person left standing is the winner. As an observer, I began to feel a part of the whole as the chanting continued, even though I wasn’t directly participating.

Here is how it went:

Two people, one a man and the other a woman, act as callers. They move down the row of players singing the chant and touching each player on the shoulder.

The chant contains within it a word that eliminates a player being touched when the time the word comes up. The elimination word is “Iquutimaaqi.”

The chant began:

“Aaah,” and the caller would touch the first person on the shoulders;

“Kivaaqi,” and the caller would move to the next person and touch their shoulders;

“Iquutimaaqi,” the caller would touch the next player who would then be eliminated;

“Aammimimi,” then on to the next person;

“Aammimimimi,” to the next person;

“Aammimimimimi,” to the next person;

And then the chant is repeated again as the game continues until the word “Iquutimaaqi” comes up again, and again. Eventually only one person is left standing. That person is the winner.

The week-long elders’ gathering included games and dancing for Inuit of all ages The youth seemed very proud to be participating with their elders. It was good healthy fun.

For my part, I was greatly honoured when a number of elders who recognized me from my many years on television came up to me and shook my hand and gave me hugs.

It gave me a warm feeling and I thanked them all. With more gatherings like this, I think the generation gap might narrow.