SITKA Administrative History

Chapter 2:
SITKA -- HISTORICAL OVERVIEW (continued)

Because of the mild climate and lush flora and fauna that made subsistence relatively easy, the Tlingits had time to develop a complex social system and to pursue a high degree of aesthetic creativity. The people based their beliefs on kinship and communication with all living things.

Tlingit territory encompassed most of today's southeast Alaska. It was divided into 13 or 14 areas called kwans that each had from one to six permanent villages. Three groups, the Sitka kwan, Husnuwu kwan, and Kake kwan, claimed parts of Baranof Is land. The west side of the island was the territory of the Sitkans. [62]

Within a kwan, there were clans based on kinship. Clans owned salmon streams, hunting grounds, berry patches, sealing rocks, house sites, family crests or emblems, and spirits. The head of the clan guarded its properties and directed trading activities. Clan chiefs had power, rank, and wealth. They belonged to the nobility. The nobility spoke for a clan and preserved its honor. The other people were commoners and slaves. Most Tlingits were commoners who did the necessary day-to-day work. Slaves could be captured or purchased. They performed the more onerous and dangerous tasks. Slaves were not members of the clans they served. [63]

Every Tlingit was a member of one of two social divisions in a village. One group was Raven. The other group was Eagle or Wolf. Children had to marry a member of the opposite group. Tlingits traced their descent matrilineally. Family members lived together in a clan house. They shared canoes, slaves, crests, songs, hunting, and ceremonial objects. The house leader, usually the oldest brother of the family matriarch, led ceremonial activities. [64]

For events such as marriages, births, deaths, or the dedication of new crests or houses, the Tlingit people had elaborate rituals. When possible, members of a house hosted a potlatch for one of these events. Neighboring villagers were invited to come and feast and dance. The people told stories. The ceremonies involved giving and receiving gifts. Hosting a potlatch indicated wealth and social status. [65]

The southeast Alaska Native people carved elaborate designs on their ceremonial masks, rattles, dance paddles, and even everyday utensils. Although some carved posts were inside houses and some mortuary columns stood near the gravehouses on the ridge behind their village, totem poles were not part of the Sitka Tlingits' heritage until historic times. The Haida and Tlingit Indians to the south are better known for carving totem poles. Such poles served several functions. Crest poles gave the ancestry of a particular family, history poles recorded the story of a clan, legend poles related experiences real and imagined, and memorial poles commemorated an individual. All bore symbols or crests that belonged to a particular lineage, house, or family. Symbols used by the Tlingit Raven group included ravens, hawks, puffins, sea gulls, land otter, mouse, moose, sea lion, whale, salmon, and frog. Those of the Tlingit Wolf and Eagle groups included wolf, eagle, brown bear, killer whale, dog fish, ground shark, and halibut. Traditionally, the totem carver was a member of the clan opposite the person who commissioned it. [66]