Why a Booktrail?
How do the Alaskan islanders celebrate Christmas?
King Island Christmas
What you need to know before your trail
Winter is closing in on Alaska’s King Island, and soon the Eskimo villagers will be cut off from the world for many months. That suits them fine — but only if they can first brave a rough and windy sea to fetch the new priest in time for Christmas. “That mysterious thing, the spirit of Christmas, is brought heartily to life. Rie Muqoz brings to her brilliantly stylized pictures a knowledge stored up during a year spent as a teacher on the island in the Bering Sea
Travel Guide
King Island
The island, is just a mile long. A group of Inupiat who called themselves Ukivokmiut, which means ‘People of the sea’ were its inhabitants. The small village was named Ukivok.
A century ago, King Island was a bustling community of 200 people who passed their days hunting seals. However now it’s just a ghost town after the men left for war and a series of illnesses claimed many of those left behind. Those who did survive left to get jobs on the mainland
The Bureau of Indian affairs closed the island’s only school in 1959 because of fears of a rock slide.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: King Island Christmas
Destination: King Island , Alaska Author/Guide: Jean Rogers
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