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Tlingit woven cloaks
Ritual woolen cloaks of the Tlingit people (chilkat) are now of great value, and in the past they were also very expensive serving as a sign of nobility and well-being. Not each householder could have a chilkat. Aristocrats wore cloaks whose surface was covered with complicated patterns and wicker hats with several cylindrical extensions. Each such extension symbolized a potlatch – a celebration the organizer of which gave expensive presents to guests.
The Tlingit people adopted the technique of chilkat making in the 19th century from their south-east neighbors – Tsimshian Indians. The ancient style of images on cloaks is similar among all Indians of the North-West coast. The cloaks received their name from a settlement whose weavers were famous for their works with complicated patterns in the form of a stylized eye. They were woven, or, to be more precise, braided from mountain goats down. Down was picked from a killed goat’s skin, and then purified. Threads were made from down by twisting it on a hip with one’s palm, and then attached to a horizontal crossbar fixed on two poles. Clews lay on the ground in baskets or bags. Cloaks were made by women, but samples of patterns were prepared by men. The ornament was divided into three parts – the central and the side parts. The central part of a cloak covered the back of its owner and was open for public view. Here the tribal emblem of the owner was placed. Among members of the Raven phratria the chilkat was decorated with wings, and the headdress was decorated with a carved raven head. Long strands of dark threads on the cloaks of members of the Wolf phratria symbolized tails.
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