I'm hoping that the
young people that are gonna be coming here
feel the spirit of the building
or feel the spirit of our people
because you know I had a
nephew who's Chookaneidí
and he came from you know he's from here
and he said to me
why should I worry about Glacier Bay? I don't go there anyway.
I'm a Chookaneidi Yádi
and it made me feel bad that
he even thought that way.
So what I'm hoping is that the
young children that are going to be here can say
"I am so proud to be who I am."
"I am Tlingit. I am so proud to be who I am."
And I'm hoping that there's some way
that we can instill in them that they
need to be proud of who they are.
TLINGIT greeting following ancient protocols.
TLINGIT response and invitation to come ashore.
And now we are here to celebrate
and bring joy
back to the land of our ancestors
Singing and drumming
What's happening?
You see before you a house.
This house to us is a keystone.
The keystone holds up the bridge.
The bridge between
The National Park Service
and the Huna Tlingit
through HIA.
What is happening now
The park and the Huna clans through HIA
are reaching out and taking their hands
holding hands in partnership.
We're going to go into the second
hundred years starting tomorrow.
And we're turning over a new chapter
in which the National Park Service
is joining in partnership with the clans.
TLINGIT oratory
It is well known
that our ancestors lived here through time immemorial.
And our eagle clans that are sitting over there
and those that are standing here.
The glacier came down
and we scattered.
And now today
the canoes that came here
is the ceremonial return of the Huna Tlingit.
TLINGIT oratory
Tlingit
You made us very very happy and we thank you.
When the canoes came back it was a
ceremonial return of the Huna Tlingit.
It's not just the pullers that was on there.
They brought all the Huna people
in spirit back to our shores here in
Glacier Bay.
TLINGIT oratory
Chookaneidí
Wooshkeetaan
Kaagwaantaan
TLINGIT oratory
This happens to be one of the most
important part of our ceremonies today
because we can't move forward without
thanking the Tree People for giving
themselves to our people to create what
you see before us.
When we put the chips
in the fire, the essence of these chips is
going up with the spirits of the Tree People.
So we treat it with the proper respect.
We cannot move forward
until we have done this.
Our people believe in the highest
spirits of everything that lives.
So we have to treat it all with the highest respect.
Our elders always told us if we
disrespect the spirits, things could happen to us,
so everybody that is
here with us today because of the ceremony,
we do not want to have anything happen
to you beautiful people here amongst us.
So we speak to the spirits
of the Tree People.
Aas Kwáani
We reference the women. They have become the tree people
because they are the ones that
gave us life.
It is because of them
we hold them very high.
Kaa yaa uwane teen
With the highest respect.
Yei awe
Gulalcheesh
For the Raven portion we conclude with a spirit song.
It's like putting the stamp of approval on ceremonies.
Tlingit singing
When the eagle grabs onto something,
and he can't fly with it he tows it ashore
And that's what he did.
The story he told... they went across to Grouse Fort,
Groundhog Bay.
Several boats from Hoonah.
To return the Cháak (eagle) screen
X’een awe yei duwa saakw..x’een
TLINGIT
They were bringing back the screen from Grouse Fort
TLINGIT
They were bringing the screen and the house post across
when the eagle saw a large
king salmon on the surface of the water.
The eagle flew down and grabbed it.
The fish was so big it pulled it into the water
Tlingit
What the Eagle represents here
is this Tribal House
grabbed hold of our culture, and it won't let go!
You could see the forces pulling it back,
but the Eagle will take it to the shore
Our culture has been grabbed back
by the Eagle here
the time has come now when we will
officially give the tribal house a name
we have protocols, we have traditions
This house is unique because it has four clans in it.
Ordinarily it would be a single clan,
but because it has four and we're
giving an official name each clan will say the name
Xunaa Shuka Hit
and everybody will say "Xunaa Shuka Hit, AHH!
Everybody will say the same thing so
we'll practice before I turn it over to say it.
"Xunaa Shuka Hit, AHH!
That sounds pretty good!
We believe that in our culture when the
opposite clan says it you're breathing
life into the person or building so
that's what you'll be doing right now
you'll be breathing life into the tribal house.
I'll ask my brother to say it first,
and you'll have to repeat it after him.
"Xunaa Shuka Hit, AHH!
Tlingit Singing and Drumming
Like our elders always said,
"what we ever do is for our children and
our grandchildren's grandchildren."
So this house is going to be here
for many, many grandchildren.
You know I I can't really explain how I feel..
My father is Chookaneidí.
My grandfather David Davis is Chookaneidí.
I am Chookaneidí Yadi. So you know the other day
was feeling kind of sad because the
people that were not with us anymore.
The ones that fought and told us the
direction to go are not here.
But it is a happiness too. I'm happy because they
gave us direction and here we are.
In a house that's going to be here forever.
For our young people.
I think that the young young people that are here
have to feel proud of what's going on today.
But anyway
When you've got government agencies that are working together:
U.S. Park Service,
U.S. Forest Service,
Hoonah Indian Association,
Government-to-Government relationships
that's the way it's supposed to be
I wish the rest of the world could work like that.
It would be so cool!
Today we celebrate a long-awaited dream.
We're drawn here to celebrate a building
but that building is a symbol of
something far larger for both the tribe
and the National Park Service
on its hundredth anniversary.
The Huna Tlingit canoes have arrived
Leaders from the four clans
driven by the ice from Glacier Bay are here.
The Tákdeintaan,
The Chookaneidí,
The Kaagwaantaan,
and the Wooshkeetaan.
As well as representatives from many other clans.
The park is honored by the opportunity
to be part of this great dream.
i am honored to be able to stand here with Frank
and celebrate this great partnership.
The Xunaa Shuka Hit
will provide the opportunity to reach
tens of thousands of visitors to help
them understand
Tlingit culture and provide a potent
symbol of the connection of Glacier Bay to the Tlingit.
She lifted up the side of the tent and start calling the ice
like you would a dog.
And her sister told her, "what are you saying?"
"This is taboo! You are not supposed to do that."
And she ran to her mother and told her mother
"what is my sister saying?"
"She's called in the ice."
We have four grieving songs that we sing.
Its all about this place we still grieve after it.
We still long for our homeland.
We didn't give it up. It still belongs to us.
We don't live here, but we still claim it as our Homeland.
We tell a story we still claim Glacier Bay.
Alright
The house has a name.
You heard the Chookaneidí story.
And we're going to prepare for the second hundred years.
Tlingit Singing and Drumming
So I'm going to try to elevate your spirits
as Tákdeintaan.
Tlingit
We will never try to be offensive to one another.
We know we've gone through hard times before.
To try to organize this celebration.
Today it is time for the Tákdeintaan
to stand up and show that you can learn about the Tákdeintaan.
That the more you learn about it you become more cohesive with the four clans.
It is difficult to leave our homeland.
I can still feel the spirit
Tlingit singing and drumming
And outside we had a big rock pile.
My grandfather Andrew told me you could see it.
When he was a young boy.
It was quite a large rock pile. there's a rock for every person on that pile.
That's the way the Tlingits did things.
They marked the place. That was their mark.
so Wooshkeetaan had the first mark in Glacier Bay
by building the house on top
because the Tlingits didn't build a house just anyplace without permission.
But then if it is their land, they don't have to have permission.
It was nobody's land, so they built the house up there
and that's where are mark was first in Glacier Bay
But then the ice came and people moved out.
And after the ice went away they came back.
Well anyway we didn't stay there very long because it was still freezing.
So we moved out from there into the village.
A shark had the bullhead in his mouth.
The shark got into a fight with something,
and he was losing so the bullhead swam out there to help him.
And when he helped him he overextended himself.
He couldn't make it back to shore,
so the shark picks him up and swam ashore with him
to shallow water.
Singing and Drumming
The canoe has an anchor.
It's still keeping our culture alive.
Tlingit
Ancestral home of the Kagwaantaan.
Tlingit singing and drumming
A awe ee een kaxwaaneek
Yaa ltudaneiyi Kaasteen
Haa jee yateex’ yidaat
November yaat aya
haa ku.eexi gaxsatee
ax shatx Lgeis’
kaa Jibbo Gaakeesh
My brother Yeekaanaxduteen
My grandmother told us since the time we were little kids
She said, "What are Chookaneidí?"
"What are they?"
She said, "They're brave"
"They were never afraid to die."
These are the stories my grandmother told us.
The story of Khasteen.
She says the things we've been learning keep us in contact with our ancestors.
Singing and drumming
The history of the Tlingit on the land was washed clean by the ice coming in
and you know and so we've kind of
made it so that people can better connect to that.
The Park Service doesn't
build "re-creations."
This is not re-creation, this isn't a restoration of something
this is a modern interpretation of the
core values and symbology
of the Tlingit people.
We specifically targeted not to just
copy some some older design
but to have people who are living deep into the culture
interpret that.
and to interpret it to an
audience of their children
and the public in way that they would understand.
Tlingit drumming and dancing