Tlingit Indians, Essay Example

Tlingit Culture, Tradition and Way of Life before Colonization

The Tlingit are a Native American tribe indigenous of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, and more specifically the Southeastern coast of Alaska and British Columbia and Yukon territories of Canada. The Tlingit have maintained a hunter-gatherer society.[1] They have lived in these regions for over 10,000 years and are today part of the First Nations.[2]

The Tlingit are united in this region, as they are bound by specific geographic areas, and their culture and societies are complex and rooted in the land in which they live. They are divided into Eagles and Ravens, and this distinction is based on status and role within their society. Both groups are peaceful toward one another, and each groups are even further divided into separate clans. The Tlingit were once strictly divided by hierarchy and class within the clans, such as nobles at a higher rank. The Tlingit also once owned slaves before being outlawed by the United States.[3] The Tlingit believe in persisting through time. This means that a clan’s ancestors are in the present time united with the present clan as well as the future clan. The Tlingit had a legal system based on property ownership, which included both physical and intellectual property rights, such as names, crests, songs and land. Sacred sites are considered the most prized possessions, and  can include the moon and the sun. Rights to ownership would pass from ancestor to clan as a collective, and such is the way the Tlingit regard sacred ownership.[4]

As with culture, the Tlingit regarded many sacred traditions. The Tlingit religion is based on a creator, called Kah-shu-gooh-yah, who was responsible for creating all living beings. Kah-shu-gooh-yah also controlled the sun, moon, daylight and the stars.[5] Raven then organized the world around them, and many of the Tlingit beliefs and customs are based around Raven.[6] Another major aspect of Tlingit traditions and beliefs is that each person has a guardian spirit, and spirits were sent to either heaven or hell after death depending on the moral life on earth. Once this afterlife completed its cycle, the spirit would then be reincarnated and sent back to earth.[7] The Tlingit also believed in the ability for those who are “purified” to cure others of illness and protect others while in battle. This was accomplished by conducting elaborate ceremonies.[8] The Tlingit also held giant feasts for many important events, such as death. These feasts are called Potlatches and when one’s death is being observed, the Potlatch consists of three stages in order to properly send the deceased’s spirit off to the afterlife.[9]

The decision making process in the Tlingit tribes is held in their clans and birthrights. This means that the social structures are built in to the clan for all time, as ancestors are eternally connected to their current clan.The Tlingit believed in the notion of “an eye for an eye” when it came to punishment for serious infractions between clans. For example, if a member of a clan

was murdered by a member of another clan, someone from the clan must die as punishment for the crime. [10]

Bibliography

Benson, Diane. “Tlingit: Countries and Their Cultures.” World Cultures. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Sr-Z/Tlingit.html. (23 Sept. 2015).

PBS. “Introduction to the Tlingit Culture and Repatriation.” Harriman Expedition Retraced. http://www.pbs.org/harriman/explog/lectures/worl.html. (23 Sept. 2015).

PBS. “Alaska Natives Before Statehood.” American Experience. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/alaska-natives/. (23 Sept. 2015).

Sullivan, Lawrence, ed. Native religions and cultures of North America: Anthropology of the sacred. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2003.

[1] PBS. “Introduction to the Tlingit Culture and Repatriation.” Harriman Expedition Retraced. http://www.pbs.org/harriman/explog/lectures/worl.html. (23 Sept. 2015).

[2] PBS. “Alaska Natives Before Statehood.” American Experience. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/alaska-natives/. (23 Sept. 2015).

[3] PBS. “Introduction to the Tlingit Culture and Repatriation.” Harriman Expedition Retraced. http://www.pbs.org/harriman/explog/lectures/worl.html. (23 Sept. 2015).

[4] PBS. “Alaska Natives Before Statehood.” American Experience. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/alaska-natives/. (23 Sept. 2015).

[5] Sullivan, Lawrence, ed. Native religions and cultures of North America: Anthropology of the sacred. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2003, 162-167.

[6] Sullivan. Native religions and cultures of North America: Anthropology of the sacred, 162-167.

[7] Sullivan. Native religions and cultures of North America: Anthropology of the sacred, 162-167.

[8] Sullivan. Native religions and cultures of North America: Anthropology of the sacred, 162-167.

[9] Benson, Diane. “Tlingit: Countries and Their Cultures.” World Cultures. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Sr-Z/Tlingit.html. (23 Sept. 2015).

[10] Benson. “Tlingit: Countries and Their Cultures.”