YUPIK

also called Asiatic, or Asian, Eskimo, Western Eskimo group of Siberian Asia and of Saint Lawrence Island and the Diomede Islands in the Bering Sea and Strait. They are culturally related to the Chukchi. The traditional economic activity of the Yupik-speaking Eskimo was the hunting of sea mammals, especially seals, walrus, and, until the latter half of the 19th century, whales. Trade with the Russians developed at the end of the 19th century. The Yupik also traded with neighbouring reindeer breeders and with Alaskan Eskimo. (Some Yupik specialized in trade and used their economic advantage to become village chiefs, with such functions as opening and closing the hunting season, helping to mediate quarrels, and deciding the times for trade journeys.) Hunting methods included harpooning from shore or boats, spearing animals in land drives, and, later, the use of guns. Hunting fur-bearing animals, fishing, and collecting plant food were auxiliary activities. Kayaks (one-person, closed skin boats), bidarkas (open, flat-bottomed boats), and whaleboats provided coastal transportation; dog teams and sleds were used on land. The Yupik practiced shamanism and believed in benign and harmful spirits; the latter caused various misfortunes, especially illness. Certain animals and birds were (and still are) considered sacred and not to be harmed. Rituals, mainly connected with ensuring future success in hunting and with thanksgiving for past hunts, often included dramatic performances and dances. Women generally played an important part in religious rituals. Under Soviet and Russian administration, new equipment was made available for sea hunting, and new occupations (e.g., processing products from skins and cooperating with Chukchi in reindeer breeding) were introduced, but such measures as forced exile from unproductive traditional settlements have disrupted if not destroyed a once highly efficient and self-reliant culture. Compare Chukchi.