THE KEY FEATURES OF THE TALHTAN CULTURE
Culture “refers to the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together form a people’s way of life” (Gerber & Macionis, 2014, p. 58). Rich in resources and vast in size, the Tahltan nations relationship with their land is evident in all aspects of their culture, from governance to traditional stories; therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine in detail how the land has shaped the Tahltan people’s beliefs.
Governance
Traditional Social Organization
The traditional social organization of the Tahltan was based on the Raven and Wolf moieties (Albright, 1984, p. 11). A moiety is “one of two descent groups in a given population” that usually intermarry (Roufs, 2015). One
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of Canada’s first ethnographers, James Teit, shared that during the early 1900’s, the Raven moiety had three clans, the Tudenekoten, Naloten and Tlepanoten, within it while the Wolf moiety had four clans (the Talakoten, Naskoten, Tagicoten and Nana’ai (as cited in Albright, 1984, p.11). Each clan was comprised of families claiming common origin based on “localization, matrilineal decent and grades of rank (Albright, 1984, p. 12) and had their own chief. The chief would settle disputes amongst clan members and directed families hunting activities within each clan’s hunting territory (Albright, 1984, p. 12). Marriage would occur between the Wolf and Raven moieties and would usually be made to strengthen alliances between clans through the sharing of “mutual rights and obligations, exchange of goods and services, and access to hunting areas” (Albright, 1984, p. 12). Inheritance and Feasts Family crests and an inheritance comprised of songs, dances, stories and names were passed down through the mother’s line of descent within a clan (Albright,1984,p. 12; Talhtan Central Government, n.d.). Dances and feasts occurred when people were gathered together (MacLauchlan, 1981, p. 465) with the dances usually happening during the winter and feasts occuring at the end of summer before the hunting season began (Emmons, 1911, p. 109). Feasts were important as they were “held on occasions such as the assumption of a title, completion of a girl’s puberty seclusion, marriage or the anniversary of a death” (MacLauchlan, 1981, p. 465). The feasts were used to mark the completion of a certain phase of a person’s life (i.e. puberty) to allow a person to ascend to a different level of social stature (Rescan, 2012). Oral History The Tahltan language, also known as Na-Dene, is Athapaskan in origin.
Based on oral traditions and teachings, it is taught through songs, stories, dancing and speech (Language, n.d.). In danger of extinction, the Na-Dene langauge recently had a writing system developed (Language, n.d.). The movie, Da Dzahge Nodesidē: We Are Speaking Our Language Again, was produced to highlight what the Talhtan nation is doing to preserve and revitialize their language through immersion and documentation initiatives (Bourquin, 2016).
Stories were told to entertain; however, they contained moral teachings and were used “for making topical points” (MacLauchlan, 1981, p. 465). In The Journal of American Folklore, James Teit published numerous stories with themes around the creation of Earth Mother and Sun Father, the origin of theTahltan and how man and animals interacted (Teit, 1919). These tales were treated as actual history, not mythology (Teit, 1919, p. 234), and included the formation of the different clan crests, told about a great flood and why cremation came about. One tale has the Dog losing his ability to speak to humans because he told a lie about his hunter catching food for his starving people. (Teit, 1919, p.
243) Traditional Economy The subsistence economy of the Tahltan was focused on a semi-nomadic lifestyle with clans traversing between summer fishing villages and more permanent winter homes located on the hunting grounds (Rescan, 2012). Well-established trading routes existed between the Tahltan and the Tlingit and items like moose and caribou hides, marmot robes, obsidian, snowshoes and clothing were exchanged for fish oil, shells, axes, and baskets (Albright, 1984, p. 13). Worldview The worldview of the Tahltan nation is that of interconnectedness and that “social values are centered on principles of cooperation, honour, truth and respect” (Rescan, 2012). They have a strong affinity with the land and believe that nothing should go to waste (Lawley, 2017; Wilde, 2016) and have deemed themselves as “Dena nenn Sogga neh’ine” or “Protectors or Keepers of the Land” (Tahltan Band Council, 2016). The Tahltan Declaration of 1910 stated how the Tahltan have held their lands intact from “time immemorial, at the cost of our own blood” (Documents, 2014). Recent blockades against rampant hunting (Tahltan Save the Moose, 2009) and land exploitation (Mining: Tahltan, n.d.) illustrate how the Tahltan nation will continue to stand up and have their voices heard in how their territory is managed. Conclusion The land gave the Tahltan everything they needed to thrive and they developed ways of managing it through governance by creating alliances through marriage and establishing trade routes. Tahltan stories are rich with teachings around how to respect and honour what they are given from their land and their feasts allowed everyone to partake and celebrate in the lands bounty. Threatened by outside forces such as provincial and federal concepts of resource management, the Tahltan continue to protect what is theirs through negotiations and, when necessary, blockades.
In John Barker’s Ancestral Lines, the author analyzes the Maisin people and their culture centered around customs passed from previous generations, as well as global issues that impact their way of living. As a result of Barker’s research, readers are able to understand how third world people can exist in an rapid increasing integrated system of globalization and relate it not only to their own society, but others like the Maisin; how a small group of indigenous people, who are accustomed to a modest regimen of labor, social exceptions, and traditions, can stand up to a hegemonic power and the changes that the world brings. During his time with these people the author was able to document many culture practices, while utilizing a variety of
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