Lost Chilkat Blanket Found

A lost chilkat blanket that was in Colorado was brought back to Alaska. The blanket was believed to be woven over 100 years ago. The blanket was woven by Klukwan weaver Anna Klaney, it is going to be stored in Juneau after being brought back by Mary Paddock. Like most of the Klukwan ceremonial objects this blanket was either taken or sold to art dealer within the past 50 years. Since the blanket is back in its home state the Tlingits are very happy and the article says that if the blanket were to be auctioned it would be an estimate $150,000. That is really expensive for a blanket, and I thought my $60 comforter was expensive!
http://chilkatvalleynews.com/archive/2003-43-1.html

Ceremony

While I was searching for some type of ceremony and dance videos on the web, I came across a video that had dancing and the blanket. In the description of the video it says that the lady being filmed is dancing at the Native Northwest Coast Dancers. I tried to put the video on the blog itself but I couldn't so to watch tribal dancing just click the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP8sfmq_CDI

The Native People of Alaska

Langdon, Steve J. (2002)l The Native People of Alaska. Tlingit and Haida, Southeast Coastal Indians, page 100.

When I was looking for more information on the Tlingit people, a thought came to my mind how about I go back and look over the book that we got at the beginning of the semester. Since that I have talked about the culture and hunting (some what) I want to inform my readers on how the Tlingit people traveled. Since the Tlingit people lived in Southeast Alaska there is a lot of water surrounding them. The Tlingits depended on dugout canoes for their transportation, the canoes were made out of spruce or cottonwood because red cedar is not found in this region of Alaska. There were two different sizes of canoes that were made, the small size was 10-16 feet long with a "u" shaped bottom that was designed for short trips, the canoe carried up to five people. The larger canoe was 20-50 feet in length it was used for long distance traveling, trading and war. These canoes had v-shaped bottoms and the draft was very deep. Both of these canoes were propelled by diamond shaped paddles, both men and women paddled. Canoes are still being made today but obviously not the same traditional way.

Tlingit Spear

In the post before I talked about who the Tlingit people are and I explained what their culture is like. The food that was consumed most was fish, so let us learn about how they used to fish. The Tlingit people used the spear mostly for fishing in shallow waters were the fish could be visible. The spear was made from young fir or spruce. It almost always had a neatly rounded shaft that was 10 to 15 feet in length and the largest diameter was 1/4 inch to 1/2 inches at the fore end of the spear this would give the spear perfect balance. To strengthen the end of the spear it was wrapped with sinew, hide or spruce roots. The end was hallowed so that the butt of the barbed head (kut) could fit, the "kut" was commonly made out of bear bone. The head of the spear was made out of walrus ivory or copper, the length of the spear head varied from 3 to 8 inches with a 1/4 inch thickness. The head of the spear was attached to the shaft by sinew or hide. Although I have never seen this spear, I think this is a vital piece to the culture of the Tlingit people.

The Tlingit People

The Tlingit people are American Indians that live in the southeast region in Alaska. These people range all the way from southern Alaska to Portland Canal, they live the Northwest Culture type and are very close to the Haida's and Tsimshinian. The tlingit is wide spread there are some Tlingit speakers in British Columbia these speakers are refered to as "gunana" which means foreigners according to the to the Tlingits that live on the coast. These Tlingits that live on the coast live of the land through hunting, fishing and community gatherings. The animals that the Tlingits ate consisted of seals and fish like halibut, salmon, and herring were caught with hooks, basketry traps, and spears. The life of the Tlingits change drastically after the 1836 small pox epidemic, the population was estimated around 6,000 post this epidemic. The sub-group that was affected the most were the Tonga's who had almost 1,000 members but after the small pox outbreak the group shrunk down to a total population of 173 people in the group. These days the Tlingit nation is holding there own and are trying to keep the tradition.

Kings and Shamans

Like the king to his thrown, the shaman has his "thrown" if you will in the Chilkat Blanket. Whenever we see a thrown we think of a king, it is the kings thrown nobody else's. When there is a king in a village or country he is for the most part respected by the whole community. The same could be said for the shaman, he is looked highly upon only because he is a spiritual healer. Thinking about the shamans within the villages, I think of he or she being an outkast to the people. He is only talked to when needed. Once again two very different cultures are more similar then you ever thought them to be.

Chilkat Blanket vs Ordinary Blanket

When we think about blankets the first thought that comes to mind is sleep or warmth. The blankets that the Tlingits used are not for comfort, it's more like a symbol to have the Chilkat Blanket wrapped around you. The Chilkat Blankets were only worn by chiefs, shamans or people of high regard. If you were to go into anybodys room you will see a blanket, for the Tlingits not everybody has a Chilkat Blanket, only a certain few have them. It just goes to show that a very simple object can have two very different meanings in different cultures.