North Slope residents will gather in person and virtually around a snow sculpture to support each other in grief

To bring light to the darkest time of the year, Utqiaġvik residents will hold a candlelight vigil around a newly created snow sculpture and honor their lost loved ones this weekend. People in the North Slope villages will also get a chance to join the Blue Christmas event virtually.

The event is the Christian tradition that happens around the winter solstice to support people who are grieving and experiencing depression during holiday time.

“Blue Christmas is for everybody that has had loss, and we want to create that space for them,” said Yvonne Biswokarma, a volunteer at the Arctic Mission Adventure Ministry, which has been spearheading the event for five years in a row. “We want to prevent suicide, and we also want to be there for anybody who’s lost a teen in their family or a close friend to suicide.”

[From 2023: Alaska artist creates snow sculpture in Utqiaġvik to support people grieving during holidays and symbolize the light within]

Utqiaġvik whaling captain and community leader Herman Ahsoak decided to be one of the speakers during the event to share his story. Ahsoak’s nephew died of suicide several years ago, and since then, Ahsoak said he has struggled to process and talk about his loss. He missed the Blue Christmas event last year and kept to himself but this year he wants to approach it differently.

“I’m sure that it would be a lot easier for us if we attended the event and talked to people there,” Ahsoak said. “I want to encourage everybody and let them know that you are never alone. There are people out there that will listen and help you through the grieving process if you need that. Don’t isolate yourself.”

The visual highlight of this year’s event will be a large snow sculpture that symbolizes unity through subsistence practices across the region, said Rachel Aumavae, Arctic Adventist Church coordinator and president of Pt. Barrow Lion’s Club.

“What they all have in common is subsistence hunting, whether it be whaling or whether it be traditional hunting inland,” Aumavae said about residents in the North Slope villages. “Just like with our grief, we all have that in common.”

The drawing of the snow carving depicts an umiaq, a traditional whaling vessel, with various animals and figures on it to symbolize whaling in coastal North Slope villages, said Alaska artist and sculptor Paul Hannis. Several figures will be next to the umiaq to reflect inland trapping and hunting traditions in Anaktuvuk Pass and Atqasuk.

“There’s going to be some elements that are apart from the vessel, but they’ll all be working together,” Hannis said.

Ahsoak helped Hannis come up with the title for the sculpture: Paammaagiigniq Agviqsiugnikun aasii Anuniagnikun Nunami, which translates as “Cooperation through whaling and hunting inland.”

The figures in the sculpture are mascots of the schools in the North Slope villages: huskies for Alak School in Wainwright; rams for Harold Kavelook School in Kaktovik, a wolverine for Kali School in Point Lay; eagles for Meade River School in Atqasuk; wolves for Nunamiut School in Anaktuvuk Pass; a trapper for Nuiqsut Trapper School; harpooners for Point Hope Tikigaq School; whalers, wolves and Arctic foxes for Utqiaġvik schools; and a snowy owl for Utqiagvik’s Kiita learning Community.

By choosing those symbols familiar to students in local schools, the idea is to engage the youth with the artwork, Biswokarma said.

“We want to include youth more in the traditional lifestyles as a way to help them feel more of a connection to their community and feel more like the community needs them,” Biswokarma said. “We want to make sure that the young people don’t feel like they’re a burden. That they (know they) are a contributing member to the community, and we need them.”

The overall idea for the sculpture was a result of collaboration between communities across the region, Hannis said.

“It was really neat to see such a broad amount of input come together so well and so easily, and it’s just going to be really fun to make this thing,” he said. “People’s faces light up when I tell them what I’m making this year so that’s cool.”

Hannis started carving the sculpture last Saturday and planned to complete it by Dec. 21. He invited residents to stop by the south side of Eben Hopson Middle School and chat with him while he works.

“Don’t be shy,” he said.

A snow sculpture has become a highlight of Blue Christmas in Utqiaġvik after Hannis last year carved out a semicircle of eight people hugging each other to symbolize support and unity. It remained in place into April, helping residents feel community support, Biswokarma said.

“People commented that they felt like they could go and they could sit there, and there was just something special about that that people could really connect with,” she said.

Last year’s sculpture was 8 feet tall and 20 feet across, and this year’s design will be even larger, Hannis said.

Besides the candlelight vigil next to the sculpture this year, Blue Christmas participants will also hear music and words of encouragement from several speakers, including Mark Tamaleea, a youth mental health advocate. The event closers will be Barrow Dancers.

“We should have the Barrow Dancers at the end so it can bring joy,” said Ahsoak, who is also a member of the dance group.

The event — supported by the borough, city, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and other entities — will start at the Eben Hopson Middle School cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. and will continue outside the building, near the sculpture.

Organizers will broadcast the event live on their Facebook page, and villages will have watch parties with refreshments provided, Biswokarma said.