The Drums of Winter (Uksuum Cauyai)

Digitally Remastered DVD Edition

This feature-length documentary explores the traditional dance, music and spiritual world of the Yup'ik people of Emmonak, a remote village at the mouth of the Yukon River on the Bering Sea coast. The Drums of Winter (Uksuum Cauyai) gives an intimate look at a way of life of which most of us have seen only glimpses. Dance was once at the heart of the community's spiritual and social life. It was the bridge between the ancient and the new, the living and the dead and a person's own power and the greater powers of the unseen world. 

In The Drums of Winter, the people of Emmonak tell us through actualities and interviews how their history, social values and spiritual beliefs are woven around the songs and dances that have been handed down to them through the generations. We also learn that it is not just old songs that are important; new songs and dance movements are created to reflect modern life with all its complexities. Each time a person gets up to dance, he is strengthening the continuity of the ages, and insuring the survival of his culture. 

The film follows the elders of Emmonak as they prepare for the coming ceremonial gathering (potlatch) with a neighboring village. In the Kashim (qasgiq or men's house), they practice their songs and painstakingly work out the motions of the dances. Each movement has meaning and plays a part in telling a story. In the days before television, radio, bingo and weekly basketball games, dance was the sole means of entertainment. Throughout the film, archival photographs and film footage accompany the words of early missionaries who brought Christianity to the area. These sequences provide a historical context for the film and give us a strong sense of the resilience of Yup'ik culture, having survived despite a century of missionary suppression.

Films in the Alaska Native Heritage Film series:

At the Time of Whaling

The Drums of Winter (Uksuum Cauyai)

From the First People

In Iirgus Time

Joe Sun

On the Spring Ice

The Reindeer Thief

Tununeremiut

Note on Term "Eskimo":

The films in this series make use of the name "Eskimo." While once broadly applied, it is a perjorative term and considered offensive. While the inception of the word is a matter of debate, it is no longer used or applied in our film catalog. The context in which the term appears in this series is an acknowledged relic of a colonial past, presented in its original version. DER apologizes for any offense caused.