Camp Qungaayux

This cross marks the grounds of Camp Qungaayux, a culture camp on Unalaska where the old ways of the Unangax, the Aleut people, are kept alive. The camp was founded in August of nineteen ninety-seven with the goal of passing traditional knowledge to young people, both Unangax and not. Each summer, elders and teachers gather here to share skills that have sustained life on these islands for thousands of years.

Children learn Aleut dance and the Unangam Tunuu language, weaving and skin and gut sewing, and how to make the graceful bentwood hunting hats their ancestors wore. They learn to prepare salmon and to harvest seal and sea lion. The Russian Orthodox cross reflects the faith that took root here in the seventeen hundreds, when Russian fur traders reached Unalaska.

The camp is a living answer to generations of pressure on Unangax culture.