Singers in kuspuks and head scarfs chanted Christmas hymns in English, Yup’ik, Russian and Church Slavonic. Next to them, three young men spinned sparkling, pinwheel-shaped stars on wooden poles, each with an Orthodox icon of a Nativity scene in the center.
The tradition called starring, or Slaviq, is a part of Russian Orthodox Christmas, celebrated across Alaska on Jan. 7. The Alaska Native Medical Center brought the holiday to the Yagheli Shesh Qenq’a Anchorage Native Primary Care Center for the patients who couldn’t gather with their families or in church.
“They need to feel like the culture and the traditions are still including them,” attendee Anastasia Oleksa said. “They’re perhaps stuck in the hospital after failing surgery or trouble, illness, you know. And it brings new life to this new year.”
One of the speakers at the event, Archbishop Alexei of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska in the Orthodox Church of America, spoke about the history behind the tradition. He said starring, or Slaviq, involves a group following a person carrying a pole with a star and an icon. They go from house to house, and sometimes village to village. When they stop, they sing hymns, facing the spinning star…