Tlingit wicker hats

The Tlingit people had three types of wicker hats. Hats in the form of truncated cones were worn when traveling n boats and to protect from rain. Hats of the same form but richly decorated and painted were worn by common people during ceremonies. The second type is wide hats whose brims and crown were braided in the same way and covered with a common pattern composition. These hats were worn by rich householders during celebrations. The third type is chiefs’ hats with cylindrical extensions. They were worn during the potlatch and were distinct symbols of chiefs or separate settlements and representatives of different tribes. 

The Kunstkamera contains more than twenty wicker hats which belonged to the Tlingit people and the Pacific Eskimos – Chugach and Kadiak. It is hard to define their exact belonging. The hat with four conical extensions that point to the number of potlatches thrown but its owner is probably Tlingit, but it could also have been made by Eskimos from the Kadiak Island. Ceremonial hats for potlatch with very wide brims were definitely made by the Tlingit people. The whole surface of these hats is covered with animal images – tribal patrons of their owners. Each composition on a hat consists from secondary pictures and the main one that was usually painted on the brims. Very rarely the image of one animal or bird occupied both the crown and the brims. 

Wickered hat. USA, Russian America. The Tlingits. Early 19th cent.		Ritual hat. USA, Russian America. The Tlingits. Early 19th cent.		The Indian dressed in ceremonial costume. USA. Sitka. The Tlingits, late 19th c.
Wicker hat. USA. Russian America. The Kodiak Eskimos, 1801-1850		Wicker hat. USA. Russian America. The Tlingits.