English 11: Week 1: Tlingit Indians

Two of the people first introduced in this book, Garvey and Edwin, are part of the Tlingit Indian tribe. I have no previous knowledge of this tribe so I made my first post about them. In all of the sites that I looked at they all supported the Tlingit tribe being from Alaska and mainly Southeast Alaska. This is seen in the book on the first page with Cole being sent to and exclusive island in Southeast Alaska as a punishment. The Tlingit tribe has mainly lived by the ocean for their whole existence. They find their main food source in the ocean whether it is fish from the sea and near by streams and rivers to the sea mammals. Many of the Tlingit members build their houses closed to the rivers and streams so they have the salmon in the water and close to them for fishing. The Tlingit Indians not only spent their time fishing and gathering food, they also worked on building their homes and canoes, making baskets and carving totem poles. The Indians obtained the wood to build and create all of these goods with the trees in their own back yard. (because I started and finished this book today i know that the totem poles will carry a very important role in this book with Petter and Cole) The Tlingit heirlooms represent the ancestors of the clan and they are mainly animals that the ancestors have came in contact with. The heirlooms are used in rituals to honor their ancestors. In the rituals there are many dances that represent different things such as animals or emotions of the tribe. (Again this will connect with the book with Cole and his dances of the animals) The Tlingit culture believed that the bear signified the relationship between animals and humans, because of their belief in this close relation the Tlingit Indians rarely killed bears.



Sources
"The Tlingit Nation." Native American People/Tribes. Apr. 2005. 29 June 2008 .

"The Tlingit of the Northeast Coast." American Indians in the Natural World. 1998. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 29 June 2008 .


"Tlingit." Feb.-Mar. 2000. 29 June 2008 .