One Within Another Robe and the Raven’s Tail Robe

YEIL KOOWÚ • QWĒGAL GIA’T • RAVEN’S TAIL WEAVING

Hands Across Time Raven’s Tail Ensemble

Hands Across Time (Robe), Voices from the Glacier (Apron), and Leggings by Janice Criswell, Marguerite Fiorella, Bonnie Fitzjarrald, Mary Lou King, Kay Field Parker, Kathy Rado, Janet Hall Schempf, Marcia Stier, and Kristen Tromble, 1990-1991. Design by Cheryl Samuel.
ASM ED90-1, TD19-29

The Yan Shuka Dancers of Juneau “brought out” the robe at Celebration, and invited T’aaw Chan (Dr. Walter Soboleff, important Tlingit leader and elder), to have the honor of dancing the “first dance.”
Photo by Steve Henrikson

Janice Criswell (Haida/Tlingit) and Cheryl Samuel help start the robe.
Photo by Steve Henrikson, 1990

The weavers are ready to remove the robe from the loom. Back row, l-r:  Kay Parker, Marguerite Fiorella, Janice Criswell, Kristen Tromble, Janet Hall Schempf, Cheryl Samuel, Steve Henrikson. Front row, l-r:  Joni Lewis, Mary Lou King, Kathy Rado.
Photo by Steve Henrikson, 1991

This ensemble of raven’s tail regalia was woven by volunteer weavers at the Alaska State Museum. In the late 1980s, the art of raven’s tail weaving was revitalized through classes taught by Cheryl Samuel at the University of Alaska Southeast. The Hands Across Time ensemble was woven at the Alaska State Museum by a group of Samuel’s student volunteers, who collectively contributed 1800 hours of weaving, to create the first raven’s tail weaving with a new design (not a replica of a historical piece) woven in Alaska since the early 1800s. The regalia is made available to dancers for use at traditional ceremonies and important events, and over the years has been danced at dozens of memorial feasts, dedications, weddings, and graduation ceremonies.

Shukee.át (Dancing Headdress)

Chilkat Tlingit
Gift of the Alaska Historical Association, 1926. ASM II-B-1018

This type of ceremonial headdress consists of a feather-covered crown, with a wooden carving on the front, and ermine skin-covered trailer. The sea lion whiskers help distribute eagle down, which floats out of the crown during dancing. The carving on the front may represent the killer whale and hawk personified.