EPISODE 247 YUKON DIARY THE TLINGIT PEOPLE AND THEIR LEGENDS (why mosquitoes want my blood)

alan skeoch

Feb. 2021

A Tlingit Raven rattle.  The raven is a central legendary creature of the Tlingits and many other First Nations people.  Often

as a trickster…possessing both good and evil tendencies.  

*NOTE: We have a pair of ravens living in our sons’ drive shed.  They watch us…make one hell of a mess…rob

other baby birds…talk to each other or us…seem to know us by facial recognition…drop their excrement on

my fanning mills.  I feel like a  Tlingit…love and hate.

Why tell you about these people?  Reason…links to the Yukon. They  knew the secret trail across the mountains  to the Yukon…Chilkoot Pass.

But they could not understand the third for gold.  Given a choice they would choose lead because lead  makes

bullets and  Hunting for food and  clothing seemed more important than gold. 

For those of you who love mystery as  I do, the Tlinget people are the most mysterious of all First Nations.

They are believed to be Ainu people.  Some are blue eyed.  Big people.  How did they arrive on the west

coast of North America thousands of  years ago?   When massive ice sheets made the ocean lower.

Is evidence of their arrival long gone beneath the waves of global warming?   So  much more to say

so little time to say it.   

Most endearing story?  The legend of the origin of the mosquito and the giant who loved  human blood.

The legend  makes some sense.  I have shared the torment … the viciousness … of mosquitoes…unremitting

bloodsucking…trying to kill me at times…mosquitoes are  trying to get even with that Tlingit with the knife.

Now I understand.

alan

Tlingit People

Friday Sept. 14, 1962

After waking I explored Juneau as much  as was possible before  takeoff  time.  Lots

of curiosity shops…art shops.   What was apparent was the richness of  Tlingit legends.

It was a Tlingit that revealed the  Chilkoot pass to gold seekers heading for the Klondike.

Tlingit village 

Tlingit art brings  legends to life.  Two ravens?  What are they doing?  Protecting

or threatening or both?  Animism

Later I bought a wall hanging reputed to be  Tlingit in origin but more likely mass produced

in Japan.   Interesting though.  Titled  “Toads on Tidewalker” .  Must have some ledgenderyu

meaning among the Tlingits.

The Tlingit people of Juneau, Douglas Island, Skagway are related to the Ainu people  of Japan

and other ancient peoples of Siberia.   Today there are over 16,000 Tlingits living in North America

principally on the west coast although some have spread across the continent.  At time of first contact

the population was estimated at 15, 000 of which half soon died of smallpox. So today, the Tlingit 

population has returned  to first contact level.

They were converted to the Russian Orthodox Christian church in the 18th century  when  Alaska

became Russian territory…and  most maintain that

connection .  Some suggest the reason might be a tribal attempt to resist the  surrounding white  culture

which was trsditionally Presbyterian.

Photograph of two Tlingit children  taken in 1903 and owned by Miles Bros. #872  Public Domain

Did they cross the Bering land bridge as most North American First Nation people did some 10,00 years ago

when the world was  colder and a  great quantity of water was ice?  Not sure about that. The Tlingit are Ainu.

The Ainu are mysterious people of Northern Japan.  They are not Japanese ethnically.  They are different.

Did the Ainu island hop along the coastal  island chain from Japan and  perhaps Korea and Siberia to North

America thousands of years ago?  A maritime people. Asiatic in origin for sure as genetic testing has proven

When?  No idea but certainly more than 10,000 years  ago.  Why?  No idea why they risked such a migration.

Were  they following the animals?  Were they driven out by other peoples?  Possibly.

   taiken.co/uploads/2015/05/820px-Ainu_Woman_from_Japan_with_the_Department_of_Anthropology_at_the_1904_Worlds_Fair-481×600.jpg 481w, taiken.co/uploads/2015/05/820px-Ainu_Woman_from_Japan_with_the_Department_of_Anthropology_at_the_1904_Worlds_Fair-321×400.jpg 321w” sizes=”(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px” apple-inline=”yes” id=”D0E17B72-A89E-452B-B7F9-7CA3A5DD1A9F” src=”http://alanskeoch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/820px-Ainu_Woman_from_Japan_with_the_Department_of_Anthropology_at_the_1904_Worlds_Fair.jpg”>

THE  Ainu people of Japan….different from the Japanese, population from 25,000 to 200,000 living

around Hokaido.   Their history hidden .  Some suggest they are Caucasian in origin as blue eyes

and size suggest.  No one is sure but they remain a mystery people.  perhaps  Tlingits are Ainu in origin.

Ainu religion holds the belief that everything has its own spirit or god to which one can pray and make offerings. This is particularly prevalent in their hunting culture. Prior to eating any meat, they will perform a ritual with the intention of “sending back” the spirit of the animal they are about to eat. Ainu also believe in an afterlife and believe that upon death their immortal spirits will join the “Kamui Mosir” (land of gods)

The Tlingits  explanations of the world around them are fascinating.  Why do mosquioes like to torment

us so  much?  The Tlingit explanation.

19th century Tlingit camp…drying salmon

TLINGIT LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF MOSQUITOES

:  How  the Mosquito came to exist

Once upon a time there was a  giant who loved to eat human beings and drink their blood..  One brave Tlingit man

decided to do something about the situation before  all humans … all Tlingit people …

were  eaten.  He pretended he  was dead.  The  giant found him, touched him, decided

his body was still warm and therefore edible.  The giant carried the man home for a

fine dinner.  But he needed wood for his fire so left the man on he floor to get wood

outside.  The  Tlingit man looked around and grabbed the giant’s skinning knife then

threatened the giant’s son with the knife at the boys throat.  “Tell me where  your father

keeps his heart,”  he demanded.  “In his heal,”  the terrified boy angered and when

the giant stooped at the door…he had to stoop because he was bigger than the doorway…

when he stooped the Tlingit man stabbed him in the foot killing him.  But the giant

did not die and threatened to kill and eat all Tlingit people.   So the man cut the giant

into small pieces and flung the pieces on the land.  Then the  pieces became  alive

as mosquitoes who spend their time on earth sucking the blood of Tlinget people.

And that is why we have mosquitoes on earth.

ORIGINS OF LIFE  ON EARTH:  TLINGlT LEGENDS

The Tlingit legends centre around the raven.   Ravens are also featured in legends of many 

other First Nations people where the birds are associated with trickery,  lies and  mimicry.

Ravens are a force for good and evil.

Tlinglt legends try to explain where their people came  from…and the nature of the world

around them…by the Gift Boxes held by the Great Spirit.   These gift boxes were first given

to the animals that existed before humans…i.e. before Tlingits.  When the animals opened

these cedar boxes all the things that make our world were  released…mountains, fire,waer,

wind, seed.  But one  box was special and had been given to the seagull.   It contained the light

of the  world.  All was darkness because the seagull refused to open that cedar box which

was clutched  under the seagulls wing.  The people pleaded with the raven to persuade the

seagull to release the  light needed by the world.  The raven tried begging, flattery, trickery to

get the box opened.  No luck.  So raven stuck a thorn in Seagulls foo…pushed it deep  until

Seagull dropped the box.  It opened and  ou came the sun, the moon and the  stars brining

light so the  first day coold begin.

The ravens skill at trickery also accounts for the presence  of water in the world.   It put ash

on its tongue to show the owner of water extreme thirst. When  given a drink the raven grabbed

the water and put it into a sealskin bladder and flew away with water which  was then released

into the world.

DID MY WALL HANGING HAVE  ANY MEANING?

“Toads on Tiedwalker”…no meaning that I have found yet.  Although

the term tied walker is a solid clue.   The Tlingit are matrilineal…trace

family origins via females.  And the legendary tide walker was female.

Perhaps  someone  reading this knows far more than I do.  Feel free to

enlighten me.

alan skeoch

FEb. 2021