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Create and share assignments aligned to College and Career Readiness standards with LDC CoreTools

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Create and share assignments aligned to College and Career Readiness standards with LDC CoreTools

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Samples of SE Alaska projects with photos and write-ups.

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Samples of SE Alaska projects with photos and write-ups.

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Sealaska Heritage

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At Sealaska Heritage Institute's Walter Soboleff Building, visitors will see monumental art made by some of the best artists of our time, and each tribe--Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian--is represented in the large installations. Visitors will first see huge, 40-foot panels on the exterior designed by the internationally celebrated Haida artist Robert Davidson.

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Cowichan Coast Salish Native Pacific Northwest

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Intro sequence from 1990 BBC documentary film "Haida Gwaii: Islands of the People" featuring Haida leader, Guujaaw, and his son Jaalen. http://www.haidanation.ca

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(need to create a free account)

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Create and share assignments aligned to College and Career Readiness standards with LDC CoreTools

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Center for Collaborative Education (need to create a free account)

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Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC)

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Create and share assignments aligned to College and Career Readiness standards with LDC CoreTools

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Sealaska Heritage

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HAIDA LANGUAGE CURRICULUM - K-12 | Sealaska Heritage

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High School Language Development Based on Literature

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High School Language Development Based on Literature

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Sealaska Heritage

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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON LITERATURE - High School | Sealaska Heritage

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Alaska Humanities Forum

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Home | Alaska History and Cultural Studies

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Alaska History and Cultural Studies offers an online curriculum designed to teach Alaskan high school students about their state, its rich history and its people. The Alaska Humanities Forum and the state's leading historians, anthropologists, geographers and educators developed the course.

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Religion

In Northwest Coast culture, their customs, beliefs, and history were passed down orally through stories, songs, and dances.

They had stories about why certain things occurred, for example, the changes in season. There were also stories about each group and how they first appeared in this world. All of these stories were passed down to subsequent generations.

The people of the Northwest believed that they were surrounded, at all times, by supernatural beings interfering with the natural world.

In their culture, spirits were connected to all living things.

The only link between the spirit world and the natural world was the 'Shamans' or 'Medicine Men'.

Haida Raven Dancer

Shamans

Shaman

It was a Shaman's job to cure the sick, to ensure that there was adequate food, and to influence the weather. The belief was that they had the power to do all those things through an ability to communicate with the spirit world.

Both men and women could have been Shamans, however, they were most often men.

When someone took ill, it was believed to be an intervention by the spirit world, or a loss of the person's soul. Shamans were the only people who communicated directly with the spirits, so they were the only ones who could cure the sick.

Shamans wore:

Bearskin robes

Aprons

Rattles

Skin drums

Charms

Neckalces

Masks (on some occasions)

The Shamans used their rattles to summon up powers from the spirit world. Then they went into a trance, communicating directly with the spirits, asking them to cure the ill person.

Shaman's necklace

Shaman's charm

Ceremonies

'Potlatch' was the name given to most Northwest Coast celebrations. It comes from the Nuu-chah-nulth word 'pachitle' meaning 'to give'.

A potlatch was a big celebration that often took more than a year to plan. The ceremony usually corresponded with a person's change in social status, for example, marriage, birth, death, and coming of age. It included a feast, singing and costumed dancers, and some potlatches lasted as long as two to three weeks.

Most importantly, though, potlatches became a way in which families could show off their wealth to others.

Each person invited to a Potlatch received gifts related to their social rank. Some examples of gifts: canoes, slaves, carved dishes, and eulachon oil. The more wealth that a family gave away (as gifts), the more prestige was bestowed on them.

Potlatch dancers

Costumed dancers

Winter Dances

Winter Dances were staged performances with masked dancers that created an illusion of death or of direct contact with supernatural powers.

Chilkat dancer

Dignity Potlatch

The most important social event of the coastal people was a huge feast they called the potlatch.

A chief would call people to attend a potlatch to celebrate a birth, or marriage, or to mark the finishing of a new house.

He would honour everyone with gifts, the more lavish the better, to show everyone how successful a leader he was.

A Dignity Potlatch was held if an important person, like a Chief, had an embarrassing moment, like falling out of a canoe. The purpose of this smaller potlatch was to offset any humiliation the person suffered.

In Northwest Coast culture, a person could not be laughed at, or they lost all dignity. Therefore, a potlatch reestablished some dignity.

Art

Art played a major part in Northwest Coast culture.

They were known for their:

Basketry (basket, hats)

Woodworking (masks, totem poles)

Weaving (Chilkat blankets)

Basketry

The Northwest Coast people used baskets for storage and trade.

Hats were particularly important for the Northwest people because they were used as protection from the rain.

Woodworking

Woodworking, particularly carving, was an art form passed down from generation to generation. They made totem poles, canoes, 'bentwood' boxes, sculptures, and masks.

Totem Poles

Totem poles were large carved poles used to display the clan crest and social status of a family.

The poles were carved directly out of cedar trees, so some were up to 15 metres tall.

Most totem poles had both animal and human forms carved into them, usually representing the family crest.

Totem poles were usually painted black, red, blue, and sometimes white and yellow.

In Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwakw'wakw culture, a poles with a bird on top showed the house of the Chief.

It usually took help from most of the village to raise the totem pole.

Canoes
The art of carving canoes was passed down from father to son, and no one, except the official canoe carvers was allowed to carve the canoes.

Bentwood Boxes
Bentwood boxes were made from a single cedar plank. The plank was steamed and then bent at three corners and pegged together. Bentwood boxes were used to serve and store food, and were also common at ceremonial feasts.

Sculptures

Masks

Northwest Coast carved masks were an important part of all ceremonies.

The Haida had a transformation mask as a common theme was metamorphosis.

Masks in copper was a sign of wealth.

Beaver mask

Tlingit Bird mask

Weaving

Women were responsible for all the weaving, and they made clothing, mats, and bed sheets.

For weaving the women used softened cedar bark strips or cattails, with coloured grasses to add colour. The materials were collected during the summer months and then dried.

One of the most common things they wove was the chilkat blanket.

Weaving inside a longhouse

Clothing

Haida leather cape

The people of the Northwest Coast wore very little clothing, except when it was cold.

In the warmer months, men would often go naked, and women would only wear bark skirts.

The women made most of the clothing out of softened cedar wood or bark, animal leather, and wool.

Rainy Weather

Haida Spruce root hat

Since it rained a lot on the Northwest Coast, clothing was more important for blocking the rain than for keeping them warm.

They wore bark capes and spruce hats as protection against the rain.

Social Status

Two Haida Chiefs with Chilkat blankets and headdresses

Northwest Coast society was built on personal wealth and social status, so they typically wore clothes that followed the class system.

If a person was rich, they showed it by wearing fancier clothes and jewelry.

Chiefs (the highest ranking individuals) wore a chilkat blanket, dance apron, leggings and mocassins.

Chilkat Blankets

Chilkat blanket

Chilkat Blankets are one of the most well known symbols of Northwest Coast culture.

The colourful blankets worn for special occasions, were woven from goat's wool and cedar bark, and then painted.

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The Northwest Coastal People - Religion / Ceremonies / Art / Clothing

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Religion In Northwest Coast culture, their customs, beliefs, and history were passed down orally through stories, songs, and dances. They had stories about why certain things occurred, for example, the changes in season. There were also stories about each group and how they first appeared in this world.

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This site is dedicated for Alaska Native Language learners and educators.

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The Hero's Journey | Discovering Our Story

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Teaching Basic and Advanced Vocabulary by Marzano

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Teaching Basic and Advanced Vocabulary by Marzano

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ASCD Book: Teaching Basic and Advanced Vocabulary: A Framework for Direct Instruction

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Wings Brushing Boughs: Stads K'un named Haida Gwaii's national bird Critters

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HAIDA LANGUAGE CURRICULUM - K-12 | Sealaska Heritage