World Eskimo Indian Olympics

The World Eskimo Indian Olympics were very interesting. I attended while dave was finishing his last day of work. There were not many people there. Apparently the events take place during the day but the main attraction is at night. They give demonstrations of the events that took place during the day, award the medals and in some cases have some other unique events, like the seal skinning, that I missed.

I saw three different events: a) Kneel Jump, b) Two Foot High Kick and c) Ear Pull. For the Kneel Jump, they sit back on their legs and jump up to the standing position. Whoever jumps the farthest away from the starting line wins. The boys jumped over 55 inches, while the girls were around 45 inches. The Two Foot High Kick entailed jumping from the ground and hitting a ball tied over five feet in the air with both your toes. It was very neat. Some of the guys looked liked coiled springs leaping six feet into the air with no effort. The record set in 1986 was over eight feet!!

Here are a few photos of the Two Foot High Kick:

Here are a few photos of the Ear Pull:

I also participated in an Intertribal Powwow. There were about six different groups of drummers from all over the US that took turns drumming and singing. Some people were dressed in Native American regalia, while others, like me, were in street clothes. We all danced and listened to great music. It was a lot of fun.