Alaskan village to celebrate caught whale

BARROW, Alaska, June 15 (UPI) -- A whaling captain says the bowhead whale he and his crew caught will be celebrated as the first whale taken by the Alaskan village of Point Lay in 72 years.

Whaling captain Julius Rexford said the Nalukataq blanket toss celebration scheduled to honor the catching of the whale will be dedicated to the late elder Dorcas Neakok, revered for her involvement in whaling returning to Point Lay, The Anchorage Daily News said Sunday.

The village, whose population stands at nearly 250 people, will hold the Nalukataq event on June 26 to mark the capture of the whale as part of the Inupiat spring festival.

"It's a symbolic celebration that a whale was taken," Rexford told the Daily News. "And it's also just having fun on the blanket, throwing candy to the kids while you're being tossed up in the air, over the windbreaks."

The last time that Point Lay enjoyed a Nalukataq feast following a whale catch was in 1937, the newspaper said.