The Tlingit are an Alaska Native people whose aboriginal homelands stretched along the Pacific coast for more than 400 miles. The Tlingit were 18 distinct and autonomous groups. Each group felt that it was distinct from the others and had its own unique origins and ancestry.
One of the most spectacular features of the Northwest Coast cultures is their art tradition. Rosita Worl, in her entry on the Tlingit in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, writes: “
“Though their art has gained international renown, the Tlingits believe it embodies more than aesthetic qualities. For them its visual features—including clan crests—symbolize their social organization and depict their spiritual relationship to wildlife and the environment.”
In traditional Tlingit society, the most important social structure was the clan. In his book The Social Economy of the Tlingit Indians, ethnographer Kalervo Oberg reports:
“The clan has a name denoting its place of origin, a story of its genesis, and a history of its migration.”
The clans also own symbolic property which includes emblems, songs, dances, names, stories and spirits. Clan crests show the origins and history of the clan, particularly the adventures of an ancestor. In an 1898 article reprinted in A Wealth of Thought: Franz Boas on Native American Art, Franz Boas writes:
“Most of these traditions tell of his encounter with an animal or spirit, which, from that time on, became the crest of his family.”
These crests adorn ceremonial objects and regalia.
The Tlingit clans are matrilineal, which means that each person belongs to the clan of their mother.
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC) in Spokane, Washington has an extensive collection of American Indian items—over 30,000 objects. Many of these were obtained when the Museum of Native American Culture closed, and its collection was transferred to the MAC. In 2018, a group of Tlingit representatives of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes in Alaska investigated the MAC collections. The Tlingit team identified sixteen items of religious and cultural significance that qualified for repatriation. Before repatriation, these items were displayed in a special exhibit, Reclaiming Culture.
According to the display:
“It is with the blessing and permission of the Tlingit people that we celebrate these important and sacred objects before they are returned to southeast Alaska and reunited with Tlingit culture keepers.”
Shown below are the clan crest hats which were repatriated from the MAC to the Tlingit.
Killerwhale Hat
Porpoise Hat
Whale Hat
Indians 101
Twice each week—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—this series presents American Indian topics. More about the Indian nations of the Northwest Coast from this series:
Indians 101: The Northwest Coast Culture Area
Indians 101: Northwest Coast Canoes
Indians 101: Tlingit Migrations
Indians 101: Northwest Coast Masks (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Northwest Coast Hats in the Portland Art Museum (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: The Northwest Coast Potlatch 100 years ago, 1921