Everybody Loves Whales

Day 3 here at Vacation Bible School, Brevig Mission, Alaska (July 11). Somehow, the weather is still holding, and all around is the beauty of the water, mountains and sky. I saw kids swimming in the Bering Sea today; the water didn't even seem cold to my touch. The sun is blazing down through a blue sky at all hours (though mauve, orange and pink ran through the sky at 2 am this morning) and I think I got a little sunburn on my cheeks today.

With the weather so beautiful and the fish so plentiful, we knew our attendance at VBS might be a bit lower. It was: about 20 kids. But the ones that came had a good time. They listened during story time (the woman at the well) and sang with gusto at songs like "Father Abraham" and "This Little Light of Mine." We made bookmarks during craft time and then the kids wrote down what they've liked best about VBS so far and threw their "wishes" down our "well" that we'd made from boxes from the store.

At about 3:45 pm, just before we planned to go outside for games, someone came in and said, "They got a whale!" All the kids rushed to the window, where we could see maybe two small dots on the horizon. People had spotted a Minke whale the last day or so in the bay. They'd been chasing it. And they got it. Since they were so far away, we had the kids quiet down, finish their snack, and go outside for games. After a quick round of "Red Light, Green Light," we sent them home and told them we'd see them on the beach soon.

We watched out the window of the upstairs parsonage until the boats got closer. We watched 4-wheelers, people, kids and bikes stream down to the beach. We went too. The atmosphere was electric. Kids were swimming in the sea. People were watching the boat, telling stories and eating. Depending on who you asked, it had been somewhere between 8-20 years since they'd gotten a whale here. Villages farther north get them, but usually not Brevig Mission.

The boat got closer to shore and so we followed it farther down the beach, where even more people were waiting. Finally, the whale appeared, its dorsal fin black and shark-like, drug behind two boats. Suddenly, men and boys came from everywhere, attached ropes and started pulling. They pulled for awhile, until someone came down the beach with a backhoe and finally, the back of the shiny white and gray whale landed on the beach. As soon as they let go of the ropes, the children flocked to the whale. People touched it, stroked its leathery skin. Cameras and phones flashed everywhere; there was so much talking and energy.

Then, like a symphony, the men and boys started cutting. No one argued or bossed anyone around. Even though the village hadn't taken a whale for almost two decades, they seemed to know just what they were doing. They cut the whale from the tale, cutting chunks about 12-inches wide. Using the ropes, the peeled the blubber off first, then put it aside, glistening white in the sun. Whale blubber is called "muktuk" and is eaten raw with salt or boiled. Then they cut the meat off the bone, red and heavy. People sat on the beach and watched as the men and boys cut and carried the meat. The organ meats came next, the intestines white like so many sausages and the stomach puffed up like a giant balloon. The last thing I saw them cut off was the baleen, pure and white. It wasn't clear to me (or the little kids I asked) if anyone was going to eat the organ meats, though one teenager told me she'd eaten whale brain before.

The entire process, from landing the whale to cutting most of it up, took about two hours. When I left around 7 pm, there was basically just a carcass. Pastor Brian told me the dogs will get their share, though our group wondered if the bones will be harvested later for carving.

I've heard before that bringing in a whale can be a spiritual experience. I had wondered if Pastor Brian was expected to say a prayer of blessing or thanksgiving for the gift of this whale. He was over in Teller for a church meeting when the whale landed. People had stopped by to ask if Brian knew there was a whale. So I called him, thinking in my head about a whale blessing, and told him people were asking for him. He just said, "That's because I like muktuk."

Being part of this experience was very special for our group. It's already been such an adventurous week, what with the body washing up on shore, the beautiful weather and some of our group sighting a musk ox herd with a brown bear in pursuit. A whale just made it so much more interesting. Even though no one said a prayer (aloud) for the whale, I think most of us were saying one in our heads and hearts, not just for the whale but for the experience of being here, and being present, in this place.