The Importance of Art in Tlingit Shamanism

Nick Becker

01H:011:American Indian Art

organized, hierarchical societies. Seven distinct language groups, relatively homogenous in

lifestyle and customs, flourished along the coast between modern day Oregon and 1200 miles

north into Alaska.1 The Tlingit people are found the farthest north and were one of the most

prosperous inhabitants of this region due to an abundance of natural resources in the area.

Consequently, Tlingit villagers devoted much of their time engaging in artistic pursuits.2

According to an article published the St. Louis Museum of Art, “[the Tlingit] produced creative

art more lavishly than in any other North American Indian area.”3 The Tlingit were an animistic

society, believing themselves to be direct descendents of animals. Their everyday lives revolved

around rituals that were strongly influenced by these animistic beliefs.4 They produced an

assortment of artwork ranging from small, colorful rattles to intricate and elaborate totem poles.

One might suggest that Tlingit artwork was produced as an elaborate form of decoration to

communicate or enhance the social standing of the elite, as seen in many Native American

societies. In actuality, the qualities and motifs present in the Tlingit artform are deeply

connected with their religious beliefs and are essential elements of Tlingit shamanism.

The Tlingit shaman, functioning as a healer, religious leader, and mediator between

humans and spirits, was one of the most important members of Tlingit society. The shaman

shared equal social status with the village elite, although they differed in that the shaman

possessed spiritual power while the elite held secular power.5 Despite this difference, both

parties used various forms of artwork to express their social status. For the shaman, various

trinkets, masks, rattles, and other paraphernalia enhanced his spiritual wisdom and increased the

potency of his rituals.6 His artwork was adorned with symbols and motifs that were intimately

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related to the rituals he performed. To comprehend the mechanisms by which these objects were

believed to increase the shaman's power, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of the

Tlingit worldview.

Tlingit beliefs and customs arise from their fundamental distinction between the world

inside the village versus the world outside of the village. The village, consisting of well-

constructed homes and governed by rules imposed by the elite, represented control over their

environment.7 Contrasting the village was the area beyond the village: a mysterious world of

overgrown forests, treacherous mountains, dangerous coves, and craggy coastlines. Evil and

benevolent spirits alike were believed to roam in this uncontrollable world. To the Tlingit, a

healthy individual was one who strictly adhered to the laws and structure governing the village.

An individual became ill when an essence of the person was taken outside of the village by a

witch, believed to be the physical manifestation of evil spirits from beyond the village.8 Only the

village shaman possessed the means and power to move freely between these two worlds. The

village represented safety and familiarity, while the world beyond the village was home to the

supernatural. This distinction between the two worlds is incorporated in the artwork

accompanying shamanic rituals.

To successfully heal an ill member of the village, a shaman was required to enter a state

that would allow him to leave the village and enter the world of the divine. The shaman did not

merely walk out of the village to transport himself to the supernatural world. His journey

involved three rites of passage identified by the ethnographer Arnold van Gennep Arnold in

1960: separation, liminality, and incorporation. Separation occurred when the shaman removed

his everyday clothes and donned his shamanic apparel and adorned his body with rattles, claws,

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and other items of power.9 The middle phase, liminality, signified the passage of the shaman's

soul from the structured world of living into the world of the divine. It was in this phase that the

shaman's power had the highest potency. To signify his separation from the secular world of the

village, the shaman rapidly switched between a variety of masks decorated with unusual features.

These features removed the shaman from normal society by giving him the appearance of being

simultaneously male and female, human and animal-like, and young and old.10 The final phase

of his ritual was the process of incorporation whereby the shaman and his patient left the spirit Artwork as
increasing
world to return to society. A raven rattle, often known as a chief's rattle, was commonly used in the
effectiveness
this step due to its symbolism alluding to structure and order.11 In all three of these phases, the
of ritual
shaman utilized artwork extensively as a means to increase his power and to improve his ability

to act as a mediator between the human and spirit worlds.

The symbols and motifs present in the artwork of the shaman allude heavily to the

animistic beliefs of the Tlingit. Even the most abstract designs found in the Tlingit artform are
Referencing
based on animals.12 By including a reference to an important animal on a piece of art, the animals as a
way of
shaman was able to channel some of its power into his rituals. Several spirit animals called yek
drawing
were of particular importance to the shaman. According to Jonaitis, the otter was "said to their power
into ritual
embody the spiritual force of shamanism more profoundly than any other yek.”13 The Tlingit

believed that an individual who drowned became an otter, so an encounter with an otter was

actually an encounter with a transformed human. The octopus was also of great importance to YEK = Tlingit
power
the shaman due to its ability to shapeshift and change its color.14 The properties of these two yek animals

capture the essence of Tlingit shamanism, the goal of which is to transport the shaman from the

world of the living to the spiritual realm. Another important yek is the raven, which was thought

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to he the source of all human culture. The raven is found in both secular and religious contexts,

and it played an important role in Tlingit creation myths. In one tale, the raven was thought to

have transformed the world into the world seen today by releasing the sun, moon, and stars from

a box.15 A distinct linear art style is seen throughout Tlingit artwork that was noted as early as

1786 by Captain Charles Dixon to be refined and set in its forms.16 Crawford suggests that the

Tlingit used this linear style to represent parts of animals found in Tlingit mythology.17 In many

pieces of art, mythical creatures taking on a human-like form were distinguished through careful

use of lines and patterns. The linear art style of the Tlingit is of great importance because it is

representative of their highly structured society. The Tlingit shaman incorporated this art style

and depictions of yek in their artwork to enhance their rituals.

The first two phases of shaman rituals, separation and liminality, involved significant
Phases of
shaman
usage of masks to transform the shaman from a worldly being to a member of the supernatural rituals:
Separation
realm. Neil suggests that masks used by the Tlingit shamam “served as catalysts for
Liminality
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transformation.” The shaman wore a series of masks to obscure the inherent traits of being a Incorporation

human, distancing himself from the social structure of the village. An example of one of these Masks as
catalysts for
masks is shown in Figure 1. Sharp lines, geometric shapes, and very few colors work together totransformatio
n, distancing
create the strong image of an eagle in this wooden mask. The mouth and nose are accented in
the shaman
vibrant red, perhaps to signify the intent of the shaman to communicate with the spirits. from the
social
Protruding prominently from the center of the mask, the beak is the focal point of this piece. structure of
the village
Although this piece is clearly representative of an eagle, the eyes are distinctly human-like. This

would have an essential feature of the shaman's ritual as it displays human/animal duality, an

essential aspect of liminality.

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 To encourage and signify the return of the shaman to the human world, he often wielded a

raven rattle. Raven rattles are unique because they were owned by both shamans and the village

elite. The rattles display symbols and motifs that allude both to the profane order of Tlingit

living and the supernatural world. Due to the role that the raven played in Tlingit mythology, it

was commonly used as symbol of human culture.19 The raven was of profound importance to the

shaman in the ritual phase of incorporation because it signified the desire to return to the world

of the living. A typical raven rattle is shown in Figure 2. The rattle is a wood carving in the

shape of a raven, on whose back a human is seen to recline. The human has a long tongue that

flows into an additional bird-like head protruding from the back of the raven. This scene
Scenes and
displays the concept of liminality as it suggests an exchange of knowledge between the human
shapes in the
and a spiritual being. Straight and slightly curved lines comprise a number of geometric shapes rattle
representing
found throughout the object. These shapes work together to evoke a sense of order, alluding to both human/
spiritual
the strict social structure of Tlingit living. During typical use, the rattle was shaken facing downrelation and
social
because it was believed that if the rattle was shaken facing up, the rattle would fly away.20 By
structure
using the raven rattle, the shaman signified the end of his spiritual journey and marked his return

to the village.

An intimate connection between the Tlingit worldview and their artwork is clearly seen Intimate
connection
upon inspection of the artifacts used by the shaman. While historians and anthropologists are between the
Tlingit
generally limited to an etic perspective of the Tlingit people as a whole, one can attain a deeper
worldview and
insight into their beliefs by understanding the mechanisms by which the artwork of a shaman their artwork

increased his spiritual power.

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 Notes

1. Crawford, Virginia. "Northwest Coast Indian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland

Museum of Art 65, no. 9 (1978), 299.

2. L.A.P. "Two North American Indian Wood Carvings." Bulletin (St. Louis Art Museum)

12, no. 1 (1976), 1.

3. Crawford, Virginia. "Northwest Coast Indian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland

Museum of Art 65, no. 9 (1978), 300.

4. Jonaitis, Aldona. "Liminality and Incorporation in the Art of the Tlingit Shaman."

American Indian Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1983), 41.

5. Ibid., 42.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid., 43.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid, 45.

10. Neil, Janet. "Masks and Headgear of Native American Ritual/Theatre on the

Northwest Coast." Theatre Journal 38, no. 4 (1968), 455.

11. Jonaitis, Aldona. "Liminality and Incorporation in the Art of the Tlingit Shaman."

American Indian Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1983), 46.

12. Crawford, Virginia. "Northwest Coast Indian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland

Museum of Art 65, no. 9 (1978), 301.

13. Jonaitis, Aldona. "Liminality and Incorporation in the Art of the Tlingit Shaman."

American Indian Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1983), 48.

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 Notes

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Crawford, Virginia. "Northwest Coast Indian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland

Museum of Art 65, no. 9 (1978), 299

17. Ibid., 302.

18. Neil, Janet. "Masks and Headgear of Native American Ritual/Theatre on the

Northwest Coast." Theatre Journal 38, no. 4 (1968), 460.

19. Jonaitis, Aldona. "Liminality and Incorporation in the Art of the Tlingit Shaman."

American Indian Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1983), 48.

20. Ibid.

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 Bibliography

Crawford, Virginia. "Northwest Coast Indian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65,

no. 9 (1978), 299-309.

Emerson, Thomas. "Materializing Cahokia Shamans." Southeastern Archaeology 22, no. 2 (2003), 135-

54.

Gennep, Arnold Van. The Rites of Passage: A Classic Study of Cultural Celebrations. 7th Imp. ed.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.

Jonaitis, Aldona. "Liminality and Incorporation in the Art of the Tlingit Shaman." American Indian

Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1983), 41-68.

L.A.P. "Two North American Indian Wood Carvings." Bulletin (St. Louis Art Museum) 12, no. 1

(1976), 1-5.

Neil, Janet. "Masks and Headgear of Native American Ritual/Theatre on the Northwest Coast." Theatre

Journal 38, no. 4 (1968), 453-62.

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 Illustrations

Figure 1: Tlingit shaman mask (c. 1800) on display at the Museum Rietberg.

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Figure 2: Tlingit raven rattle (c. 1869) on display at the American Museum of Natural History;
Accession number: 19/830

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