| Abbreviation | WEIO |
|---|---|
| First event | 1961 |
| Occur every | Year |
| Last event | 2023 |
| Next event | 2024 |
| Purpose | Multi-sport event for Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and other Native American athletes |
| Headquarters | Fairbanks, Alaska |
| Website | www |
The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (or WEIO) is an annual USA national multi-sport event held over a four-day period beginning the 3rd Wednesday each July, designed to preserve cultural practices and traditional (survival) skills essential to life in circumpolar areas of the world. These games are only between Native Americans in the United States and allow no participants from other nations.
The WEIO features games or sports rooted in ancestral hunting and survival techniques employed by the Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and other Native Americans in USA, as well as dance, storytelling competitions, and an annual cultural pageant, called Miss WEIO, that focuses on cultural knowledge.
WEIO began in 1961 as the World Eskimo Olympics and was initially held on the banks of the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska, [1] in conjunction with the Golden Days celebration festivities. The event was sponsored by the City of Fairbanks, through the city's Chamber of Commerce. [2]
City in first games:
In 1970, sponsorship of the event was transferred to the statewide newspaper Tundra Times and several revisions were made. This includes the name change – which inserted "Indian" to better reflect the ethnicity of the participants – and the introduction of events for women. The first decade of the events featured male-only participants; eventually, the number of events with women competing increased. [3] Women now participate in some of the more arduous events, including ear pulls and high kicks.
Six years later, WEIO reorganized as a 501(c) non-profit organization, which took over sponsorship from the newspaper, and has been responsible for plans, preparations, and stagings related to the event.
After four and a half decades in Fairbanks, the games were relocated to Anchorage, Alaska in 2007 following a successful bid to host the event. [4] WEIO board members were concerned that Fairbanks officials were becoming complacent, [5] and elected to examine other venues.
The organization's general assembly voted to have the games held at the new location earlier that spring. [6]
The event in Anchorage proved to be too costly and the games have not returned since. Fairbanks is recognized as WEIO's permanent home.
In 2018, WEIO introduced a new logo designed by Yu'pik artist Aassanaaq Ossie Kairaiuak, who is better known as a member of the band Pamyua. The new design was chosen because it better exemplifies the cultural roots of the organization. It is now included on WEIO's website, weio.org and Facebook page.
The 2020 WEIO event was canceled due the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 (60th Anniversary) WEIO Games were scheduled for July 21–24, 2021 at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the opening ceremonies featuring PBS Kids character Molly of Denali. [7] [8]
Source: [9]
2023: [12]
2022: [13]
2021: [14]
2019: [15]
2018: [16]
2017: [17]
Events played at the WEIO are either traditional or everyday tasks unique to Eskimo or northern native culture: [20]
Alaska is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. It is in the Western United States region. The only other Non-contiguous U.S. state is Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost state in the United States. To the east, it borders Canada. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait, with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically a semi-exclave of the U.S., it is the largest exclave in the world.
Eskimo is an exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit and the Yupik of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, the Aleut, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the family of Eskaleut languages.
The Yupik are a group of Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Iñupiat. Yupik peoples include the following:
Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the world and the northernmost in the United States, with nearby Point Barrow as the country's northernmost point.
The Iñupiat are a group of Alaska Natives whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaat, including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough, affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough; and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation. They often claim to be the first people of the Kauwerak.
The Arctic Winter Games are a biennial multi-sport and indigenous cultural event involving circumpolar peoples residing in communities or countries bordering the Arctic Ocean.
The Carlson Center is a 4,595-seat multi-purpose arena in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. It is the third largest arena in Alaska by seating capacity after the Sullivan Arena and Alaska Airlines Center, both of which are in Anchorage. It is home to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks ice hockey team and also serves as the site for the university's commencement exercises as well as graduation ceremonies for Lathrop, West Valley, and North Pole High Schools. The building served as the site for the Top Of The World preseason college basketball tournament until its demise in 2007. Opening in 1990, the venue is named after John A. Carlson (1920–1988), who served as Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor from 1968 to 1982.
Miss Alaska USA, previously known as Miss Alaska Universe, is the beauty pageant that selects the representative for the state of Alaska in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by its winner. The pageant is directed by Garness Productions.
Ann Fienup-Riordan is an American cultural anthropologist known for her work with the Yup'ik of western Alaska, particularly on Nelson Island and the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska. She received Historian of the Year awards from the Alaska Historical Society in 1991 and 2001.
The Alutiiq language is a close relative to the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language spoken in the western and southwestern Alaska, but is considered a distinct language. It has two major dialects:
The Yupʼik or Yupiaq and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yupʼik, Central Yupʼik, Alaskan Yupʼik, are an Indigenous people of western and southwestern Alaska ranging from southern Norton Sound southwards along the coast of the Bering Sea on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and along the northern coast of Bristol Bay as far east as Nushagak Bay and the northern Alaska Peninsula at Naknek River and Egegik Bay. They are also known as Cupʼik by the Chevak Cupʼik dialect-speaking people of Chevak and Cupʼig for the Nunivak Cupʼig dialect-speaking people of Nunivak Island.
As of 2020, Alaska has a population of 733,391.
Nalukataq is the spring whaling festival of the Iñupiat of Northern Alaska, especially the North Slope Borough. It is characterized by its namesake, the dramatic Eskimo blanket toss. "Marking the end of the spring whaling season," Nalukataq creates "a sense of being for the entire community and for all who want a little muktuk or to take part in the blanket toss....At no time, however, does Nalukataq relinquish its original purpose, which is to recognize the annual success and prowess of each umialik, or whaling crew captain....Nalukataq [traditions] have always reflected the process of survival inherent in sharing...crucial to...the Arctic."
The ear pull is a traditional Inuit game or sport which tests the competitors' ability to endure pain, and also strength. In the ear pull, two competitors sit facing each other, their legs straddled and interlocked. A two-foot-long loop of string, similar to a thick, waxed dental floss, is looped behind their ears, connecting right ear to right ear, or left ear to left ear. The competitors then pull upon the opposing ear using their own ear until the cord comes free or the opponent quits from the pain. The game has been omitted from some Arctic sports competitions due to safety concerns and the squeamishness of spectators; the event can cause bleeding and competitors sometimes require stitches.
The Inuit ear pull game is a harsh test of physical endurance....[in which] a thin loop of leather is positioned behind the ears of each of two competitors who then pull away from each other until one gives up in pain.
Dear Lemon Lima is a 2009 family comedy feature film written and directed by Suzi Yoonessi. Based on her short film of the same name and developed with the support of Film Independent and its Filmmaker Labs, this film is about a 13-year-old half-Yup’ik girl navigating her way through first heartbreak and the perils of prep school in Fairbanks, Alaska. In learning the meanings of love, friendship, and community, Vanessa Lemor finds her voice by embracing her heritage and reclaiming the spirit of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO) at a private school where her narcissistic sweetheart's family is legendary.
An Eskimo yo-yo or Alaska yo-yo is a traditional two-balled skill toy played and performed by the Eskimo-speaking Alaska Natives, such as Inupiat, Siberian Yupik, and Yup'ik. It resembles fur-covered bolas and yo-yo. It is regarded as one of the most simple, yet most complex, cultural artifacts/toys in the world. The Eskimo yo-yo involves simultaneously swinging two sealskin balls suspended on caribou sinew strings in opposite directions with one hand. It is popular with Alaskans and tourists alike. This traditional toy is two unequal lengths of twine, joined together, with hand-made leather objects at the ends of the twine.
Arctic sports or Inuit games (Iñupiaq: anaktaqtuat) refer to a number of sports disciplines popularly practiced in the Arctic, primarily by the indigenous peoples of the region, such as the Inuit. Arctic sports often refer to the sports of Yamal, Alaska, Greenland and parts of Canada, while sports of the First Nations are referred to as Dene games. Traditional Greenlandic sports are referred to as Kalaallit Pinnguaataat. Many of the sports and disciplines are largely athletic in nature, while others lean more towards martial arts or gymnastics.
Irene Reed, was an American anthropologist, linguist and educator, central in preserving and promoting the Yup'ik language in Alaska.
Laura Mae Bergt was an Iñupiaq athlete, model, politician, and activist for the Iñupiat and other Indigenous Alaskans. Born in the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska to bi-racial parents, she grew up in Nome and Kotzebue before attending high school in Sitka. Involved in the Native Olympic movement, she was both a nine-times winner of the Arctic Circle blanket toss event and served as chair of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in 1966. She worked as a promoter for the new state of Alaska attending trade shows and making marketing appearances as a spokeswoman and guest on radio and television programs. From the 1960s, she worked in various policy positions at the tribal, local, state, and national level to address issues like disability, education, employment opportunities, housing, and poverty, and promoting the rights of Indigenous people.
Lael Warren Morgan was an American journalist, author and historian who wrote books about Alaska's history and people.
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