HISTORIC CHILKAT ROBE WELCOME HOME CEREMONY

Feb. 26, 2024

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will hold a public ceremony this week to welcome home a historic naaxein (Chilkat robe) that was purchased by six people in the Lower 48 and donated to the institute.

At the ceremony, the Chilkats will pay tribute to a Nisga’a (sometimes called Tsimshian) woman who married a Chilkat man and brought the art of weaving to the Klukwan Tlingits. The Nisga’a woman gave the Chilkats a woven apron with a beaver design, and a woman from the Gaanaxteidí clan in Klukwan took it apart to study the weave. From there, the women of Klukwan grew into such prolific weavers that the art practice came to be known as Chilkat weaving.

The Chilkats later wove a robe that bore the same design as an old Tsimshian blanket. That design is featured on the Chilkat robe donated to SHI and the piece is estimated to be at least 150 years old.
The ceremony will include a special recognition of the donors, Bob and Rita Moore, Nancy Kovalik, Martha and Eugene Nester, Ashley Verplank McClelland and Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse; and the weavers who assisted in securing its return, including Evelyn Vanderhoop, Wooshkindein Da.Aat Lily Hope and Mangyepsa Gyipaayg Kandi McGilton.
The event will also include a traditional Spirit Dance to welcome it home and bring life back into the robe.

The ceremony is scheduled for 12 pm on Friday, March 1 in the clan house at SHI’s Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau. SHI will also live stream the event. The public is welcome to attend.

About Chilkat Robes
Chilkat weaving, which is unique to Northwest Coast cultures, is one of the most complex weaving techniques in the world. Chilkat weavings, which function as clan at.óow or ceremonial objects within the Native community, are distinct from other weaving forms in that curvilinear shapes such as ovoids are woven into the pieces. The curved shapes are difficult and very time-consuming to execute, and a single Chilkat robe can take a skilled weaver a year or longer to complete. Traditionally, mountain goat wool and yellow cedar bark were used. Harvesting and processing the wool and bark was also a complex and laborious task. In recent years, Chilkat weaving was considered to be an endangered art practice. A few Native artists mastered the craft and are now teaching it to others, giving hope this ancient practice will survive.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee and a Southeast Regional Language Committee.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, SHI Communications and Publications Deputy Director, 907.321.4636, kathy.dye@sealaska.com.