Tlingit: northwest coast North America - Varang update p13

[mikedemana]

Wow! Love those totem poles and the figs...they do look so fun to paint.

Keep it up - very inspiring!

Mike Demana

[juergen c. olk]

Tlingit Fort and village,,etc,,and Haida people.

[James Morris]

Thanks for all the images everyone. Keep them coming!  I’m collecting inspiration pretty much all the time. I’d love to build a Tlingit village but need to plan ahead as to what games I actually want to run.

Thanks for the totem pole pics. None of the toy ones are quite right so it may be a case of sculpting my own or perhaps 3d printing. Probably going to be the same story with canoes.

Here’s the latest crazy war helmets in progress from the painting table.  Yes, I am using GW Contrast paints as base coats, followed by various highlights.  The range of browns is perfect for this subject.

[Atheling]

 

Slightly OT and forgive my ignorance but do 'we' know much about the Tlingit culture? Spiritual beliefs in particular?

If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful.

[James Morris]

Slightly OT and forgive my ignorance but do 'we' know much about the Tlingit culture? Spiritual beliefs in particular?

If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful.

Hi Darrell, there is plenty to read and watch about this subject. The Tlingit are very similar to other northwest coast tribes with potlatch rituals and shamanism.

I really enjoyed this short BBC series (sadly it has just gone from iplayer but you can watch clips
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07m771x

This website is also a good start:
https://m.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/tlingit-tribe.htm

[Atheling]

Hi Darrell, there is plenty to read and watch about this subject. The Tlingit are very similar to other northwest coast tribes with potlatch rituals and shamanism.

I really enjoyed this short BBC series (sadly it has just gone from iplayer but you can watch clips
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07m771x

Ah, that's a shame I missed that..... still, the BBC tend to recycle stuff on iPlayer so i may yet be in luck.

This website is also a good start:
https://m.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/tlingit-tribe.htm

Thanks James 

[Atheling]

James, I managed to find something on YouTube:



There are some beautiful weaves on there in what were likely to be original colours which no doubt differ from museum pieces due to discolouring with age.

[James Morris]

James, I managed to find something on YouTube:



There are some beautiful weaves on there in what were likely to be original colours which no doubt differ from museum pieces due to discolouring with age.

Yes, quite a few good Tlingit/ northwest coast tribe videos on Youtube.  There is a deep heritage here that many of the younger First Nations members are recording and sharing on video.

I just found both of those BBC episodes on Youtube too.  Definitely worth a watch:





And, for variety, a 12 minute film from a modern Tlingit armourer/ carver about warriors' armour.  I found this pretty interesting!

[Atheling]

Yes, quite a few good Tlingit/ northwest coast tribe videos on Youtube.  There is a deep heritage here that many of the younger First Nations members are recording and sharing on video.

Glad it was of interest.
 

I just found both of those BBC episodes on Youtube too.  Definitely worth a watch:





And, for variety, a 12 minute film from a modern Tlingit armourer/ carver about warriors' armour.  I found this pretty interesting!

Fab. Added to my Watch Later list  Good breakfast viewing tomorrow morning

[Codsticker]

Maquinna, The Nootka Chief. I have heard of him.

I might have an idea for that. Do you know what the club looked like?

Jewitt's own description is pretty good:
"... he (Maquinna) wished me to make for his own use a weapon of quite a different form, in order to dispatch his enemy by one blow on the head, it being the calculation of these nations on going to war to suprise their adversaries while asleep. This was a steel dagger, or more properly a spike, of about six inches long made very sharp, set at right angles in an iron handle of fifteen inches long, terminating at the lower end in a crook or turn, so as to prevent it's being wrenched from the hand, and at the upper, in a round knob or head, from whence the spike protruded. This instrument I polished highly, and the more to please Maquina, formed on the back of the knob, the resemblance of a man's head, with mouth open, substituting for eyes, black beads, which I fastened in with red sealing wax."

He also gives a good description of a 'cheeltoolth' (war club). This is from The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, Capive of Maquinna: Annotated and Illustrated By Hilary Stewart.

[Raza Decon]

Codsticker - I read this four times. It sound like a version of the standard Tlingit Dagger.

Here is a image of the dagger i found

[Codsticker]

The images you have shown there are specifically daggers, and the "spike" part certainly may well have looked like the blades of those pieces but it is set in a ball at the end of, and at a right angle to, an iron handle 15" long in the above description. The design was distinct enough that other tyees wanted Jewitt to make them one but Maquina forbid it. 

[Raza Decon]

Ok i took a deeper dive, could the have been a spiked club? The Tlingit used sickle bladed clubs. Some time ago I found a odd club that does not match the others I found. Here is a picture of that club -



This comes close to what you are thinking. A club with a spike at a right angle. About 15 inches, and with a head at one end with a face. While this does no match the description perfectly, would you say it was close?

[Codsticker]

Yeah, it looks similar.

[Raza Decon]

Here are some of the PNW Tribes Heroes, Shaman, Totem Pole and the Witch Hunter