Tlingit Indians of Southeastern Alaska

5 days (1 week)

OBJECTIVES

1. Students can relate at least one reason for trade among Alaska Natives
2. Students can define "surplus" and state its relationship with trade and potlatches
3. Students can name two groups with whom the Tlingits traded
4. Students can explain why water routes were used for trading purposes
5. Students will compare trade/barter with purchasing from a store

ACTIVITIES

NEW VOCABULARY

eulachon
spawn
commodities
boon
hazard
marmot
dentalium
abalone

Section 4: TLINGIT ECONOMY: SURPLUS

DAY 1

CONCEPT: SURPLUS, TRADE, SEASONALITY

TEXT: PAGES 12-13 IN KAHTAHAH

Now go back to pages 12 and 13 in Kahtahah, which you previously skipped.

Spring Eulachon Camp

One day as they were watching a bald eagle swooping to the water for a fish. Kahtahah told her foster mother that she liked the summer camp best of all the places that they lived. "All winter it is dark and cold and rainy." she said. "Then spring comes and we go up the Stikine to the eulachon camp, but it as still cold. In summer camp there are no grizzly bears to be afraid of and there are so many different things to do, so summer camp is much the nicest."

The eulachon camp was where Snook's family always stopped for two or three weeks in the spring on the way up the Stikine to hunt grizzly bears and to gather spruce roots. There they fished for eulachon, a sort of needlefish smaller than a herring, commonly called hooligan. These fish came into the big rivers to spawn by the millions, sometimes before the ice was gone. Then the men had to set their nets of woven spruce roots through holes in the ice, but the nets were often carried away if the eulachan run came after the breakup of the ice and the big blocks of ice rushed down the river, sweeping everything before them. The men who went out an canoes to dip up the fish in their baglike nets were in danger, too. Only the spring before, one of the slaves had drowned when a cake of ice upset his canoe.

The Indians knew when a fish run was coming because great flocks of sea gulls followed the eulachon up the river, flying about, screaming, diving, swimming and fighting as they fed on the eulachon all day long. The women strung hundreds of the little fish on bark ropes, hanging them in the sun and the wind to dry, sometimes with a slow smoking fire under them.

The fish were so rich in oil that it dripped out while drying. But the most important part of eulachon fishing was trying out the oil, which was done in several steps. First, the fish were heaped in large piles until they were partially spoiled, which separated the oil more quickly. The fish were then put in canoes or big boxes, and water and hot rocks added. The water was kept boiling with additional rocks until all the oil from the fish had risen to the top. When cool, the thick grease was skimmed off and stored in wooden boxes.

When the eulachon run was large all the Indians filled many boxes with grease. The Tlingits liked to use the oil themselves for dipping dried halibut and salmon and as a sauce for boiled salmon eggs, but they also traded it to Indians who did not own a spring camp on the Stikine. Good eulachon fishing grounds made rich Indians because others traveled long distances just to buy the oil.

ENRICHMENT: RESEARCH ON EULACHON

Some students might be interested in finding out more about eulachon-their distribution throughout the state, for instance. Check with the Department of Fish and Game and the book Illustrated Keys to the Fresh Water Fishes of Alaska by J.E. Morrow (Alaska Northwest Publishing). Have the students report to the rest of the class.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: TRADE

Trade is introduced on page 13 of Kahtahah when the book states, "Good eulachon fishing grounds made rich Indians because others travelled long distances just to buy the oil." Remind students that each Tlingit area had slightly different resources, and these differences were one basis for trade between areas. Thus the Stikine area was rich in eulachon oil, while the Hoonah area was rich in seal skins and seal oil.

Trading usually took place in the spring and surrvner for two reasons: 1) travel was safest at this time; and 2) many of the resources which were traded has just been harvested in the winter or spring, so others were in a position of having excess goods on hand to trade.

TRADE VS. BUYING IN A STORE

Most students nowadays have had little experience with seasonal shortages and overabundances of commodities. You will thus need to help them stretch their imaginations to understand why trading, unlike buying things in a store, was a seasonal activity for the Tlingits and other Native Americans in this part of the world. Refer them back to their consideration of what their home town would be like were there no modern amenities (the first activity in the Athabascan unit) if they seem to have difficulty with this concept.

READINESS FOR THE TLINGIT TRADE GAME

Students were introduced to the game and its rules at the beginning of this unit. They will now play it again, but this time you will be emphasizing new concepts and engaging them in discussions about those concepts afterward.

The four points to emphasize at this point are:

1. Tlingits traded because they wanted things that weren't available in their area
2. Tlingits were able to trade because they had a surplus of goods (be sure to define "surplus").
3. Tlingits did a large part of their trading in the spring and summer.
4. Tlingits traded with Haidas, Tsimshians, Athabascans, and in rare cases, Eskimos.

You might design a four-question quiz around those facts, requiring each child or group of children to achieve a perfect score before beginning to play the game. Note that these points are also covered in the quiz at the end of this section.

PLAY THE TLINGIT TRADE GAME

Provide students with time to play the game at least once.

DAY 2

PLAY TRADE GAME

Allow about half the period for students to continue playing the game.

DISCUSSION TO FOLLOW GAME PLAYING

Discuss the information contained in the game after students have played. Some topics or activities are:

1. Which conmiodities seemed to be most valuable to the Tlingits? Why?
2. What commodities are considered valuable to the students in their lives today? Why?
3. Who would Snook probably have traded with when he was selling his eulachon oil? What things did he probably get in return for it?
4. Which of the villages on the game board did Kahtahah live near?
5. Why were the trade routes primarily along waterways? (Note: trade routes often crossed passes to reach water routes, the Chilkoot Pass being the best known example, but most travel did occur by water.)
6. How did, being a member of a clan affect (help or hinder) trading? Let students refer to the Boon and Hazard cards to answer this.
7. What (if anything) do students trade (stickers, pencils, marbles, etc.)? Discuss the differences between trading with someone you know and buying from a large grocery or department .store. (Eg: bargaining, concern for remaining friends after the transaction, items not being available in stores or money not being handy, etc.)
8. ENRICHMENT: If another class in your school is using the Tlingit Trade Game, set up a trade situation with that class. Determine as a class what coninodities the other class might want which you have, and what you want in return. Choose negotiators to act for the entire group. Emphasize that negotiators must have the approval of the group before making an agreement.

DAY 3

CONCEPTS: SURPLUS, POTLATCH STRUCTURE

STRUCTURE CLASS POTLATCH OR PRESENTATION

At the beginning of this unit, your class clans began preparing to present themselves, their crests, and stories in some sort of a ceremony. If you choose to make these presentations in a formally correct potlatch, the following information will be important.

If, on the other hand, you plan simply to have each clan make a presentation in turn to other clans, you need not go into the potlatch as a social occasion.

Background information on potlatches appears on the following five pages. Your presentation to students should include information on these topics:

1. Potlatches were made possible because of surplus food.
2. Purpose or occasion for a potlatch
3. Who gives the potlatch
4. Who comes to the potlatch
5. The structure - or what takes place
6. The gifts
7. Discuss how your own class plans fit within the framework of a traditional potlatch.

THE TLINGIT POTLATCH:
A Simplified Description

Potlatches are the most highly valued enterprise in traditional Tlingit culture. Even today, when people no longer live in clan houses and do not always follow the ancient marriage rules, a potlatch is still the most important thing a clan does.

A potlatch is more than a party or feast. It is given for a specific purpose and it has a specific form. It is given by one clan, and the guests are of other clans. Here's how it works:

PURPOSE OR OCCASION FOR A POTLATCH

Traditionally, a potlatch was held when a new clan house had been built and needed to be dedicated, as a memorial feast for a recently deceased clan member, or as a rite of passage for a young person entering adulthood.

Nowadays, added to those occasions are the honoring of a past or present clan member, perhaps giving that person one of the traditionally owned clan names which are recycled generation after generation, and adopting non-Tlingits (usually spouses of Tlingits) into the society.

Translated into a classroom activity, a simulated potlatch could be given to announce the name of the class or classroom, to honor the teacher or formally introduce him or her to the parents or guests, to display class projects, or to formally introduce all class members to the guests.

WHO GIVES THE POTLATCH

A potlatch is given by a clan -- a large group of related people. In the old days, it was the house group which gave the potlatch, aided by other house groups within the clan. (In some cases, there was only one house for a clan; in others, the clan was so large that it had three or four houses. An individual was born into a certain house within the clan, and did not move from house to house.)

Clan membership comes from a person's mother. Whether boy or girl, the child is automatically a member of his or her mother's clan.. The father is of a different clan (one could not marry within the clan).

In the classroom, clan membership can be simulated. All class members are "related" to one another for purposes of the potlatch. They should choose a name and a crest design to represent themselves. It would also be appropriate to tell the story of how the crest design came to be theirs at the potlatch.

WHO COMES TO THE POTLATCH

Within Tlingit society, people are either Raven or Eagles. About half of the people are each. Clans are also either Raven or Eagle clans. Thus, a child inherits both the clan membership and the designation of Raven or Eagle from its mother. There are about 25 Raven clans, and 25 Eagle clans.

When a clan gives a potlatch, it invites members of the opposite group. That is, if the clan is a Raven clan, all the guests would be Eagles, and vice versa.

The host clan decides which opposite clans to invite by remembering who has invited it to potlatches in the past. The potlatch is a sort of social obligation to those who have hosted you.

In the classroom, the guests, even if they are mothers of you students, must be considered of the opposite group. (Remember that a person's father, husband, and brother-in-law are members of the opposite group in Tlingit society. It is therefore coroTlon and correct to have those people as guests at one's potlatch.)

Inform your guests of their group designation as they enter your room, perhaps with an information booklet to explain why, for purposes of the potlatch, they are not related to their children.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE POTLATCH

In the past, potlatches lasted tour days. Nowadays, they are shorter, but have the same basic structure. The steps in planning and giving a potlatch are:

First, a clan must have worked hard enough to meet all its food, clothing, and shelter needs, and to have some surplus goods as well. Because a potlatch costs so much in time, food, valuables, and nowadays in money, this first step is crucial. Second, the clan invites the guests months in advance, telling them the purpose of the potlatch. All guests must accept the invitation.

When the guests arrive at the village or clan house of the hosts, the chief of each clan gives a speech complimenting and thanking his hosts for inviting him. The host then gives a speech welcoming and complimenting the guests. Then, one of the hosts introduces the guests (one at a time) and seats him or her in a prearranged location. Protocol and formality are important parts of Tlingit culture, and children learn early the proper forms of politeness and respect for others. These lessons are put to practice in the potlatch.

The potlatch then begins. The activities proceed in the following order:

1. First day: Guests are served food (great amounts of it) by members of the host clan. They don't have to get up to get their own food. Hosts then serve themselves. After the feast, the hosts dance for the guests, in doing so displaying clan treasures and explaining in song how they came to be the property of the clan.

2. Second day: The visitors dance for the hosts. These dances are also story - dances, representing some occurrence in the guest clans' histories.

3. Third day: Theatricals and contests between the clans are held.

4. Fourth day: Gifts are given to the guests by the hosts. Guests depart.

THE GIFTS

In the past, the gifts given were coppers (large pieces of worked copper obtained from Athabascans in the Copper River area) or slaves.

Nowadays, gifts are blankets, money, flowers, canned goods, soda, fresh fruit, scarves, and clothing. The gifts are given to the guests according to their rank: highest ranking people (nowadays there aren't strict rankings, but people considered of highest status) are given gifts of the greatest value, and served first.

In the classroom, some handmade art projects, food, etc. can be given to the guests.

THE ROLE OF THE GUESTS

Gifts are given to guests for two reasons: First, because the guest clans have each, in the past, given gifts to the hosts at potlatches of their own. And second, because the guests are performing a service for the hosts.

This service consists of being witnesses. In Tlingit culture, because it was traditionally an oral culture, social facts (such as marriage, naming, house building and ownership) were recorded in the public memory, not on paper. Guests attested to the fact that the claims or honors given by a clan had been legally made. In a culture where ownership rights were considered extremely important (similar to our own modern culture), it was vital that a group's, claim to anything, from a clan crest or story to high status, be validated by other members of the society. This kept disputes over property to a minimum.

In the classroom, this validation by the guests comes in the form of acknowledging that the class is indeed named what the students wish to name it; or that the students have a right to be proud of their members and teacher; and so on.

SUMMARY: RULES OF THE POTLATCH

1. Potlatches can only be given to people of the opposite side.

2. Potlatches must have a purpose related to the identity of the hosts as a unified clan: either displaying one's crests, thus asserting who they are, or honoring a past or present clan member.

3. The host gives gifts.

4. The gifts must be returned at a potlatch by the guest clans. There is no time limit, but in the past, six or seven years was considered ample time to reciprocate.

5. Enjoy yourselves!

DAY 4

PLAN CLAN PRESENTATIONS

Provide students with a day to finish planning for clan presentations or the class potlatch.

Send out invitations to guests.

REVIEW FOR QUIZ

Point out the Tools of the Trade poster to the students, since one of the questions on the quiz deals with tools.

Also review Worksheet 6 with students, since matrilineality and moieties will be on the quiz.

DAY 5

Quiz 2

Quiz 2 (in pdf)

Quiz 2 Answers (in pdf)

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