#tlingit tribe

[prairie-tales]

Chilkat blanket.

Region: British Columbia.

The Tlingit word for these traditional Chilkat blankets is Naxein, meaning ‘fringe about the body’. They were made by the women of the tribe from mountain-goat wool, to designs painted by the men onto planks of cedar wood. The formline designs are divided into two groups: one representing animals and the other the human face. This is an example of the second group, showing a large face in the centre of the blanket. Three separate sections of the design are set out very precisely; the height at the centre is half the width and the black-and-yellow striped border is one-twelfth of the total width. The divisions of the fields are clearly marked and the side sections are symmetrical. There is, however, generally some variation in the curve of the lower border.

Items like this blanket are traded extensively and were highly prized for the Chief Dances at Potlaches, when the chiefs of the southern tribes would wear them. This type of blanket weaving was once carried out over a wide area, but disease decimated many people and the art died out with them. The Chilkat women alone carry on this tradition.

Source: ‘Folk Art’, Susann Linn-Williams, pp. 220-21.

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Tlingit robe.

Region: North-West Coast.

This Tlingit robe, made of goat’s wool and embellished with otter fur, would have been worn by high-ranking at their great feast, , or Potlaches. As with the blankets that they made, the Tlingit women created the robes following designs painted by the men on planks hewn from cedar wood. These deigns were very similar to those on the blankets, and this robe is decorated with representations of the bear. The mythical Bear Mother of the North-West and Canada gave birth to a child who could change into a bear. The brown bear was the totem of the Tlingit peoples, who believed that many animals were once humans who were so alarmed by the daylight released from a box by the mischievous Raven that they took refuge in the woods. These animals could transform themselves back into humans. And the ability of the bear to walk on in its hind legs gave substance to this belief. Tlingit legend tells of a woman who married a bear. The bear instructed her in the correct and respectful ways of killing him and the woman took these rituals back to her people.

Source: ‘Folk Art’, Susann Linn-Williams, pp. 226-7.

[prairie-tales]

Tlingit soul catcher.

Region: North-West Coast.

This traditional bone soul catcher, decorated with inlaid abalone shell, was used by the Tlingit peoples of the north-west coast of America, and would have been a vital part of a tribal shaman’s equipment. It was believed that a soul or spirit could be driven out by witchcraft or during a dream, thus leaving the body vulnerable to disease. The shaman, or medicine man, would locate the spirit and use his soul catcher to trap it and restore it to the body.

The soul catcher is made of a hollowed-out animal bone with openings at either end, carved to resemble the open mouths of animals. When the shaman had enticed the soul or spirit into the catcher, he would plug the ends with pieces of cedar bark to imprison it within the catcher before returning it to the body. Smaller versions of the shaman’s soul catcher were often worn around the neck to ward off illness, and they were also placed in the smoke holes of dwellings to catch any souls that might leave the inhabitants bodies.

Source: ‘Folk Art’, Susann Linn-Williams, pp. 168-69.

[prairie-tales]

Tlingit totem pole and community house in Totem Bight State Park, Ketchikan, Alaska.