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

Raven’s Tail Robe

by Delores Churchill (Haida), early 1990
Loan Courtesy Nancy Kovalic, LC.483

Delores and Holly Churchill, Klawock, 1984
Photo by Ray Troll

Delores Churchill, renowned as a weaver of spruce root baskets, was one of Cheryl Samuel’s first students to learn raven’s tail weaving. Churchill explains: “This robe was woven in the village of Old Massett on Haida Gwaii and is possibly the first one woven here in over 150 years. The weaving process was witnessed by many people in the village, and there was a great deal of enthusiasm and interest. It was also a summer of catching crab and harvesting the natural bounty of the island, as well as weaving, all traditional activities. The top border is known as a Raven’s Hood design, and the next forms are Raven’s Tail, followed by a Haida tattoo design. “The side border, I originally called Fishnet…I have since changed the name to Spider Web, which is a basket-weaving pattern. The bottom border represents the Haida story of the first people coming out of a cockleshell…after the great flood. On Rose Spit, the sandy beach where the story takes place, cockleshells are what you find. The sea otter pelt on the top represents the early fur trade with China.”

The owner of this robe, Nancy Kovalic, believes in maintaining the ceremonial role of these important weavings, and has loaned it on several occasions to be worn and danced at contemporary ceremonies. Robert Davidson danced in this robe at Celebration ’96, and for his wedding to Terri-Lynn Williams in 1996. Alaska State Museum Curator Steve Henrikson also wore it for his wedding to Janice Lynn Criswell in 2003.