Halibut were caught with large wooden hooks. Olachen, which yielded an oil, were caught with nets. The oil was rendered by boiling the fish with red-hot stones in a wooden canoe. The Tlingit hunted land mammals with traps, snares, and the bow and arrow.
What did they wear? The Tlingit men wore breechcloths, and the women wore short skirts made of cedar bark. If they lived where the weather was colder, the women wore longer deerskin dresses, and the men wore pants with moccasins attached. What language did the Tlingit tribe speak? The people spoke in their own Tlingit dialect, an Alaskan language distantly related to the Athabaskan languages. Tlingit Religion and Beliefs The Tlingit tribe believed that a creator god,called Kah- shu-goon-yah, made the universe and controls its fundamental features.
Raven, a Trickster god, taught the Tlingit people the institutions by which they lived. The jek, or supernatural spirits, are found in almost anything.
The jek could confer on people healing powers, wealth, war powers, and ceremonial status. The Tlingit believed that every person possessed a mortal and an immortal soul, and when they died, if morally worthy, they ascend to Kiwa-a, the highest heaven. Those that had led evil lives would be condemned to Dog Heaven, where they would be punished. The Tlingit also believed that, in time, all souls returned to the living through reincarnation.
The tribe are strongly associated with Totem Poles. Tlingit Art Wood carving, usual painted, was the outstanding art of the Northwest Coast tribes. The Tlingit artists carved grotesque faces of animals, birds, mythical creatures and people on storage boxes, house fronts, house posts, boats, and grave posts. They also made wooden masks for the ceremonial dances and dramatic performances. The grotesque masks were also used during wars and conflicts.
Tlingit Art: Chilkat Weaving The Tlingit also used the Chilkat weaving technique, which had spread throughout the Northwest coast tribes. Mountain-sheep wool and mountain-goat hair was woven to create striking designs featuring symbolic devices. Chilkat weaving was applied to creating blankets and clothes including tunics, leggings, robes and shirts. A feature of Chilkat clothes was a long wool fringe. Wall-hangings were also created using the Chilkat weaving technique. Chilkat clothes was worn by dancers during Tlingit rituals and ceremonies.
Traditionally the Tlingit chiefs would wear Chilkat blankets during potlatch ceremonies. What clothes did the Tlingit wear? The clothes worn by the Tlingit were similar to those worn by the Chinook Tribe - please refer to this article for comprehensive information about Northwest clothing.
There were, however some differences. Many of their clothes and blankets were made by the Chilkat weaving technique. They men also wore a moccasin style shoe during winter hunting trips, whereas the tribes in the southern regions of the Pacific coast went barefoot. The Tlingits also wore wore basketry hats made of finely woven spruce root and bear grass. The designs and patterns of these hats often displayed a person's status and family connections. What transportation did the Tlingit use?
Dugout Canoes The Tlingit canoe builders hollowed logs with fire to make the canoes they paddled in the rivers as well as the big seagoing whaling canoes. Some of the canoes were large enough to carry 30 to 60 people. The Tlingit dugout canoes were often carved and painted at the ends. The paddles used for driving these canoes were slender and long-bladed, and also painted with symbols and designs.
The lightweight canoes were perfect for travel along fast streams and shallow waters and were sturdy enough for the rough waters of the bays and of the Pacific Ocean. Seals and sea lions were the most valuable sea mammals to the people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. Symbols of wealth and plenty, they provided food, clothing and medicines. In addition, skins were fashioned into floats and bags, the intestines into string and bow-strings, and the bladders into containers.
The Northern Pacific is home to a number of different species of sea mammal. The harbor seal Phoca vitulina lives everywhere along the coast and enters many rivers. The northern fur seal Callorhinus ursinus is an offshore migrant.
The northern sea lion Eumetopias jubatus ranges along most of the coast, frequenting both offshore islands and estuaries. The smaller California sea lion Zalophus californianus and large northern elephant seal are found in the area as well. Most Pacific Coast peoples admired whales from afar. Hunting these mammals required both great skill and endurance. The whale was never actively hunted by the Tlingit; however, beached whales were an important resource.
A single whale could provide a village with blubber and skin for food, bone for tools, sinew for rope, and oil for lamps. Before commercial whaling, the most common species of larger whales were the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae , which often entered straits and sounds, and the gray whale Eschrictius gibbosus , which migrated seasonally just off the outer coast.
The orca or killer whale Orcinus orca , once commonly called blackfish, is present all along the coast and abundant in waters from Alaska to Puget Sound. Killer whales were a clan symbol for many tribes. The sea otter Enhyda lutris was once very common all along the outer coast. With the Europeans' arrival in , their pelts became the most sought-after trade product, resulting in the animal's near extinction.
Unlike the other members of the amphibious otter family, the sea otter Enhydra lutris lives the majority of its life in the water. The sea otter, the largest member of the weasel family, ranges along the Pacific coast from Alaska to California.
Nature has equipped the sea otter with many adaptations for a life in the ocean: tightly-packed water-repellant fur; a long, strong, and flexible body built for vigorous swimming; flipper-like hind feet and webbed paws to propel it through the water; and ears and nostrils that close underwater.
An adept underwater hunter, the sea otter has a very rapid metabolism and must eat frequently, often four times each day. Its stiff whiskers are sensitive to water turbulence and alert the otter to nearby prey, which it snatches in its strong jaws. An otter eats what is readily available and easy to catch, including fish, frogs, crayfish and crabs. The sea otter's large, rounded molars are perfect for crushing sea urchins, abalone, and mussels, which it pries from rocks with its forepaws.
When it comes to handling objects, the versatile otter is a master of manipulation. Other than primates, otters are the only mammals that use tools in obtaining food. To dislodge abalone underwater, an otter grasps a stone between its forepaws and bangs it against the edge of an abalone shell. It may take three or more dives to successfully dislodge the tasty abalone from its shell. However, an otter may use the same stone over and over again.
Once it has obtained its catch, the sea otter brings its food to the surface. The otter places a stone on its chest and uses it as an anvil on which to open mussels, clams, and other shellfish.
Food is carried to the surface in the otter's forepaws and the stone is placed in a flap of skin under its arm. The otter may roll in the sea between bites to clean itself of debris and keep its fur clean. The fur coat which was perfect for a life at sea also nearly cost the species its life.
The sea otter was hunted close to extinction for its pelt until it was protected by one of the first international endangered species agreements in This feast bowl is carved in the shape of a seal, complete with its head, flippers, and body curve. It was used on special occasions to serve eulachon or seal oil.
Oil rendered from the eulachon, a small slender fish, is a prized condiment that is mixed with fish, berries, and other foods. It is also a nutritious dietary supplement, notable for its high vitamin A content.
Special spoons made from steam-bent mountain goat or sheep horn or wood were brought out to use at great feasts. The handles were usually delicately carved with crest animals from family stories about their ancestors' legendary encounters.
The fisherman talks first to the hook and then to the halibut after he catches the fish. Before he can lift it on board, he quickly strikes the fish on the head with the heavy club to subdue it. At the same time, he apologizes to the halibut, saying it is not him that strikes, but his hunger. The stylized carving on this club may represent an otter or another predator adept at catching fish. Images of predators add power to the club. Open-worked baskets were used for everyday tasks such as carrying clams.
Excess water drained easily from these sturdy baskets. At the western edge of Alaska, the forces of wind, waves, and currents, together with the runoff from the land, combine to form a dynamic, constantly changing, and demanding environment.
This area is the most varied and richest of the Earth's environments, and it is also the most subject to change. The movements of the tides subject the plants and animals of the region to submersion in salty waters, exposure to air, cycles of drying and warming by the sun and wind, exposure to fresh water in rain, and the violence of Pacific storms.
Seemingly, an area of so many and such contrasting stresses would not be able to support an abundance of organisms; however, intertidal areas all over the world are teeming with rich and varied forms of life, many of them unlike anything found anywhere else. In fact, most of the Earth's life occurs at or near boundaries or convergences--between air and land or in the thin, phosphorescent layer of water at the surface of the oceans.
Life is, indeed, a marginal affair. Our eNews features information on exhibitions, upcoming events, and subscriber-only special offers!
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