Tlingit Indians of Southeastern Alaska

APPENDIX A: Brief Description of Tlingit Culture

I. General Information

Many scholars have place great importance on the environment of Southeastern Alaska as a contributor to the form of culture took. There always seems to have been a great abundance of food available; and because of this ready availability of food, the people did not need to spend all their time on subsistence activities. Instead, they could devote time to other pursuits - such as the artwork and the ceremonies which are so visible in Tlingit culture.

Although environment was surely a crucial factor in determining the subsistence cycle and in allowing for the elaboration of art and ceremony, there is another very important fact about Tlingit culture which colors all other parts of the culture: the social structure.

Social structure is the way people view their roles in society and their relationships with others. It includes such concepts as "family", "status", and division of labor between males and females.

In Tlingit culture, the social structure in its entirety was most completely operative in the winter village. Each winter village consisted of several large houses, and each house was owned and lived in by a single extended family, or clan. The household head was usually an elderly, respected, and wealthy man, and other members of the household included his male relatives, their wives and young children. Since clan relationship was determined through the mother, the men related to the household head were not his sons, but rather his nephews and younger brothers. Any slaves owned by the family lived in the house as well.

In some villages, certain clans were too large for all members to fit in a single house. In those cases, the clans were represented by more than one house in the village. Each house maintained its own definite and immutable identity, however; it had a name and crests all its own, and membership in the house group was hereditary just as was membership in the clan as a whole.

Life in the large Tlingit community houses was perhaps a bit different from your and your students' family experiences. For one thing, an individual was seldom lonely; in fact, there may have been a decided lack of what many modern Americans feel is a necessity, privacy. In addition, a child had many more role models than his own parents or guardians: grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other adults were constantly available to guide and help the child. And in case of the death of a parent, there were many more adults who could readily assume the parental role.

A single house might be the home of up to 50 or 60 people. Membership in the household was the most crucial identifying characteristic of an individual and Tlingits had great pride in their clan and house group. Still, in such a large group, it was inevitable that there would be personality conflicts now and then. In Tlingit culture there were certain patterned ways of dealing with such problems. For instance, although many families shared the same house, each had its own small sleeping compartment where its private property was stored. Each woman cooked meals for her own family, though in company of other women over the central fire pit. Meals were individual affairs, not the family gatherings that are the Western ideal: when a person was hungry, he or she ate; there was always a box of soup or some dried salmon around. These practices allowed individuals to live in the same building while avoiding many potentially unpleasant encounters.

In addition, certain relationships which were almost certain to be the cause of friction were circumscribed by customary behavior. A son-in-law never spoke directly to his mother-in-law, but always through an intermediary. An adult sister never spoke directly to her adult brother, the uncle and disciplinarian for her children. Interferences between mother and mentor was therefore eliminated. (deLaguna 1972 : 492 ; 483)

In spite of these formalized relationships, jealousies and dislikes were sometimes expressed, though not always overtly. Rather, they might take the form of witchcraft. It was generally believed that witches were touchy, jealous, and begrudging individuals who practiced their craft only on members of their own families. The motivation was often jealousy of wealth or position; thus a younger and less important brother of the house head-man might make his older brother ill.

A bewitched person required the aid of a shaman who was of a different clan from himself. The shaman was believed to be the only person who could correctly and definitely identify the witch. His job was thus to identify the witch, then make him confess, and finally force him to undo the spell which was making his relative ill.

A distinction was made between witches and shamans (the Tlingit word for shaman, "ixt" is sometimes translated as "medicine man" or "witch doctor" in the literature). Shamans were sometimes feared individuals, but their task was to cure people, not to make them ill.

The complement of the local clan group, which was represented in a single village by one or more clan houses, was the larger clan group which cut across village boundaries. Thus, there were Kaagwaataan households in Klukwan, Sitka, Yakutat, and Hoonah. (Krause 1956:78,80).

This extension of the clan group beyond one's local community was important in that it allowed a hunter or fisherman to travel throughout the area, always certain that he had a place to stay in a neighboring village. It also allowed for the extension of ceremonial and trade activities beyond the village, and broadened the range of possible marriage partners to villages outside one's own.

The village, on the other hand, was merely a geographical location in which several unrelated clans chose to live. It was not a political unit; there was no village "chief" who had authority over all clans; instead, each clan had its own recognized leader. There was an important advantage for a Tlingit clan in living next to another unrelated clan: potential marriage partners were readily available. A person could not marry within his or her clan, so it was necessary to establish a social relationship with another clan. Further, Tlingit society was divided into two marriage groups (called moieties), and each of the clans belonged to one or the other of these marriage groups. Kaagwaantaans, for instance, belong to the Wolf/Eagle moiety, while Kiksadis belong to the Raven moiety. Members of these two clans could therefore marry each other. .Thus, it was not enough to have unrelated clans living in the same village; in addition, at least one of the clans had to belong to the moiety opposite to that of the other clans.

In the context of this interweaving social network of clan and village, the local clan group was the basic economic and social unit of Tlingit society. It was the local clan which hosted large memorial feasts called potlatches. Similarly, wars or feuds were undertaken by and directed against single local clans or households, not against whole villages or extended clans. Ownership of resource areas (salmon streams and berry patches) by local clans is discussed below.

Tlingit social structure was matrilineal (determined through the mother) and exogamous (one married outside one's own clan). Since the clan name was passed on through the mother, children-were of the same clan as their mother. Their mother's brother was also of the same clan, and was responsible for teaching his nephews all clan lore, as well as disciplining them. The nephews in turn inherited rights and property from their uncle rather than their father. The father, being of a different clan from his children, could not be responsible for their education.

II. Yearly Cycle

Summer fish camp was. a time and place of exceptional abundance for the traditional Tlingits. All five species of salmon (king, sockeye, dog, humpback and coho) were fished by the Tlingits. Often different streams were the spawning grounds for different species, so the people moved from stream to stream as the summer progressed and the different varieties began their upstream journeys.

Each salmon stream was owned by a particular local clan or lineage - that is by a group of related men and their families (as were many other resource areas, such as berry patches). (Oberg 1973:Chapter III). Anyone not of the owner clan would have to ask permission of the lineage head before fishing there, even if no members of the owner clan were presently using the stream. Trespassing on clan property could result in partial or full payment of the catch to the owner lineage or, at worst, to feuds (see Oberg 1973: Chapter III and deLaguna 1972:361).

Families thus returned to the same fishing areas from year to year. The cycle was generally the same: by early summer, everyone had packed up skins, tools, cooking utensils, and other necessities, put them into the family's large (up to 35') dugout canoe, and paddled to summer fish camp. They set camp up alongside one of the salmon streams owned by the clan. Often whole households would move to a single spot, though sometimes the household would split into smaller family units, to hunt sea mammals, dig roots, or pick early berries.

Once salmon runs began in earnest in late summer, most of the time was spent fishing, cleaning and drying the salmon. Enough fish had to be collected by each man to last his family through the winter, and if his clan had planned a potlatch (a large party/feast), he had to catch surplus for the feast. Thus, summer was generally a very busy time. Nonetheless, long days and mild weather made it a time to be looked forward to.

Late fall and early winter, after fishing season was over and people had returned to the winter villages, were the most popular times to give potlatches. The urgency of gathering food for the winter was past, so people were more relaxed in their life style than they had been in recent months and had time to socialize (Oberg 1973:72). Furthermore, boxes and rafters were full of food and there was a feeling of abundance after the harvest of the salmon.

The word "potlatch" is from the Chinook trade language and originally meant "a gift". The term has been used to represent any large feast at which food and belongings were given away by the hosts to the guests. There have been many descriptions and interpretations of potlatches, but they can probably be best understood in the context of relationships between clans.

A very general definition of Tlingit potlatch is as follows: it was a large-scale ceremonial party of several (usually eight) days' duration. It was given by the clan of a recently deceased individual, for the purpose of honoring that individual and announcing who was to take his place in clan social structure. The host clan invited clans who were of the opposite moiety from themselves: the guests of honor were members of the clan of the dead person's father. Since members of the father's clan had performed the cremation and burial duties for the deceased, the potlatch was given to honor them and to repay them for their services.

In actual practice, since potlatches were extremely costly to give, a single joint potlatch was often given for several recently:deceased members of the clan. The potlatch was then sponsored, organized, and paid for in large part by the heir of the most important and wealthy of the recently deceased (deLaguna 1922:606).

An additional, though somewhat incidental function of the potlatch was to provide an oppoi~tunity for seeing out-of-town relatives, for dancing, for staging contests, games, and theatricals, and for courting.

A clan began planning for a memorial potlatch shortly after the body of its deceased member had been cremated. It usually allowed itself at least a year to amass enough food and gifts to stage a good potlatch, and during that year the clan members gathered more berries, made more bentwood boxes, caught and prepared more salmon, and trapped more furãbearing animals than they usually did. Ceremonial costumes were refurbished; songs were practiced; and members of the opposite moiety were hired to fix up the old house or build a new one, or to erect a grave marker for the deceased.

Guests were also notified a year in advance of the potlatch. This allowed them time to compose songs for the event, and to practice clan crest songs and dances.

When preparations for the feast had been completed, messengers were sent to the households of those guests who lived in the village, and to appropriate households in other villages as well. The guest list basically included the clan of the deceased's father, as well as all local clans who were of the moiety opposite that of the hosts. The clans most honored were those which stood in a relationship of having taken care of the dead of the host clan. All guests were members of the moiety opposite that of the hosts, and there were at least two guest during the eight-day potlatch will illustrate this.

The ceremonial honoring of the dead, with its formalized speeches, songs, and dancing, took up one whole day or evening. But on the other evenings during the eight days guests entertained their hosts. They performed songs and dances illustrating a clan crest or story. The performances by guests evolved into contests between guest clans, to determine which clan could remember more clan songs and dances, which clan presented the most flawless group of dances, which clan danced most dramatically, and so forth.

Another component of the potlatch was the feast. Huge amounts of food were served by the host clan. Here, too, guests competed with each other in eating contests: who could drink a whole bowl of fish oil; who could eat a huge (four-foot long) serving dish full of food, and so forth. The rivalry between guest clans ranged in character from extremely tense contests which sometimes erupted into violence, to good natured contests with a lot of joking and laughing.

After the eight days of ceremonies, eating, dancing, and generally having fun, the guests and hosts alike were exhausted from the activity, the mental strain which accompanied the competition, and lack of sleep. Guests returned to their homes, and life settled down for a time to the slow-moving cycle of winter activities.

During the winter, there were daily chores to be performed, and hunting and trapping for immediate consumption, but the major portion of the time was taken by up manufacturing activities: weaving baskets and blankets, carving tools and ceremonial items, making canoes and preparing boards for a new community house to be put up the following summer. In addition, during mid-winter (November to February), important sources of pleasure and excitement were games, stories, and potlatches (Oberg 1973: Chapter IV).

The beginning of spring meant to the Tlingits, as it does to all peoples, a renewed sense of vigor and enjoyment of life. Spring meant fresh fish again, fresh plant-foods, and a greater portion of the time spent outdoors. Spring also meant easier and more comfortable traveling, and thus trading activities picked up, particularly after the first harvest of eulachon oil.

III. Art

The art of the Northwest Coast Indians, from the Nootka in the south to the Tlingit in the north, has long been recognized as a well developed and beautiful design tradition. North Americans have appreciated and purchased the art work from this area of the continent since the late nineteenth century, and the current market value of Northwest Coast art in the New York and London auction houses is higher than it has ever been. There is, thus, no doubt that this particular style of art has great appeal to people brought up on European styles.

What is less often recognized than the style is the fact that this art, unlike the post-Renaissance art of Europe, was not developed solely as art. That is, although the decorative element was important to Northwest Coast Indians, this element never existed apart from other elements of life and culture. The relationship between art and life is one of the key concepts of this unit.

Art and Clan Stories

Northwest Coast art is a double representation. First, the designs represent certain animals. Second, they represent single moments in the life and history of a particular clan. For instance, a frog design on a Tlingit button blanket or totem pole represents both the actual frog and the story about how the Kiksadi clan came to own the frog crest. Crests are property, just as houses or boats are. In fact, no other clan in Sitka is allowed .to reproduce the image of the frog unless given permission by a head man of the Kiksadi clan. Similarly, only the Kiksadi version of how the Kiksadis came to own that particular crest symbol is considered the correct one, for only a clan member has been educated in the folklore of the clan since birth. Thus, there has traditionally been a copyright on designs and stories in Northwest Coast folklore and art.

There are complexities in the rules of who is allowed to reproduce which design. First, several different clans may have the same crest animal, although the stories behind those designs and the experiences which led to the clan obtaining the crest symbol from the animal itself would be different. Secondly, the carver or painter of a design was often not a member of the clan.to which the design belonged. Rather, he was hired by a member of the owner clan to carve the totem pole, bentwood box, or other artform. The designs he used were the crests of the clan that was hiring him. A complex bond was established between clans that carved and painted designs for each other, tied in with marriage between the clans.

In the days since tourists began to visit the coast of British Columbia and the Southeastern portion of Alaska, the relationship between crest and clan has become somewhat altered. Never before the coming of tourists did a Northwest Coast artist carve an object unsolicited, then sell it to someone completely unknown. Before that time, everyone knew the rules governing the use of crests and stories; but with the influx of tourists, many people ignorant of the rules owned and used heretofore private property without obtaining permission. Sometimes the crestãbearing art object was sold by a low ranking member of the clan, someone who did not have the legal right to sell or dispose of his crest symbols. In those cases, the symbol was still considered the clan's exclusive property by the elders.

In addition, with the entry of the Northwest Coast area into the Western economic system, the obvious way for a Native artist to support himself was by doing what he knew best: carving, painting, weaving. Over the years, one result of this practice was a weakening of the ties a clan had with its crest symbols. Some of the younger members never learned the stories behind the symbols, and never developed the appropriate respect for them. The designs became more and more commercial: commodities to sell.

Nowadays, as a result of the selling of artwork and telling of stories to outsiders, they are no longer exclusively in the hands of clan members. There are several books of Northwest Coast stories commercially available (a list occurs at the end of this guide), and clan elders are gradually accepting the use of some of these materials in schools as a way of preserving the stories and crests. You should be aware, however, of the difference between the original clan versions of the stories and most of the published stories. First, there may be some details left out of the printed books. Second, there will certainly be differences between the style and delivery of the stories as they appear in the books and as they were originally told. Remember that Northwest Coast Indian literature was all oral until the nineteenth century, and oral style differs greatly from written style (see Richard Dauenhauer's Folklore Handbook, pages 22-27 for a description of oral style). A third difference between printed and original versions may be in the intended audience: clan stories are for everyone, adults and children alike. They are not meant to be children's stories, edited and abridged for youngsters. Rather, a child heard the correct version from the time he or she was born. You should be aware of these three possible discrepancies before you use any of the published sources of Northwest Coast folklore.

You should also be aware of the large number of crest designs in Northwest Coast art. There are over thirty Tlingit clans and many more crests; consequently, we have not matched all the crest designs discussed in this unit with specific clans.

Raven Stories

Clan and crest stories are not the only genres depicted in Northwest Coast art. Another common subject is Raven and stories about his adventures during mythical times. Raven is an important character in Northwest Coast folklore; besides being one of the two moiety crests (i.e., Raven on one side and Eagle or Wolf on the other), he is also the culture hero who brought about many of the natural phenomena we see today (fresh water, daylight, dry land after the great flood, for instance). In addition to the many favors he did for mankind, he also attempted to do himself a few. In his role as a self-serving trickster, he always managed to get into trouble, and many of the Raven-as- trickster stories are very amusing.

In general, Raven stories are not owned, and in the past everyone knew the Raven cycle. The activity ideas which appear in this guide stress the designs associated with crest stories. However, you may also use Raven designs and stories (contained in Appendix H, p. 185 of this guide) as the basis of activities.

Functional Aspects of Art

The designs on objects thus function as constant reminders of the social system. There is also a more concrete function attached to Northwest Coast art: the designs are often made on functional objects. Thus, storage boxes, berry baskets, canoes, houses, clothing were all decorated. Some of the ensuing activities underline this aspect of the art.

MATERIALS LIST & GOALS
SECTION 1: Tlingit Country
SECTION 2: Clans
SECTION 3: Summer Camp
SECTION 4: Tlingit Economy: Surplus
SECTION 5: Wrap Up

APPENDIX A: Brief Description of Tlingit Culture
APPENDIX B: A Sample Winter Clan House
APPENDIX C: Northwest Coast Materials in ASD AVS Center
APPENDIX D: Juvenile Literature on Northwest Coast Cultures
APPENDIX E: Art Bibliography
APPENDIX F: Northwest Coast Cultures Bibliography
APPENDIX G: Schools Which Own Northwest Coast Study Prints
APPENDIX H: Raven Stories (reprints)
APPENDIX I: Recorded Versions of Clan Crest Stories
APPENDIX J: Some Northwest Coast Art Activities