Exchange and Trading in Northern Regions

Ritual Stick and Messenger Feast

Abstract

Diversified rituals such as Bladder Feast and Whale Ceremony have been observed in traditional communities of Alaskan Eskimo. Among them Messenger Feast is distinguished itself from common trading markets where people merely gather to contribute their share in the respect to that the whole deed of trading is conducted within the framework of a traditional ritual. Employing information gathered on-site studies and documentary records, the current paper is to testify that in the occasion of exchange and trading among Alaskan Eskimo in coastal districts of Bering Strait their ritual and its singing and dancing help to iron out the onerous equalization of claimed prices being capable of inviting serious conflicts.