ICY STRAIT POINT, ALASKA
TLINGIT CHILKAT CEREMONIAL DANCE BLANKET DESIGN REPRESENTS A KILLER WHALE. AGOMEZ@ABQJOURNAL.COM
Long before the peak of the most recent glacier advance in Glacier Bay that displaced their community — during the Little Ice Age in 1750 — the Huna Tlingit’s territory was the stretch of spectacular land that now makes up Glacier Bay National Park. And despite the double punch of the glacier’s advance and western expansion into their physical homeland, Glacier Bay remains the spiritual homeland of the Huna Tlingit today, most of whom now live in the town of Hoonah, which includes Icy Strait Point. “When the advancing ice pushed the Huna Tlingit out of the bay, there were several villages along the shores of Icy Strait,” explains Johan Dybdahl, Director of Special Projects for Icy Strait Point and a member of the Huna Tlingit who grew up in Hoonah. “The best location turned out to be where Hoonah is located now, in the lee of the north wind.” Across Southeast Alaska, Dybdahl explains, you’ll always find Tlingit villages on the winter sun side of bays and islands. Downtown Juneau is only where it is because of the gold strike that happened there in 1880, he says. “The Tlingit had a fishing camp in downtown Juneau’s location, but they would never want to live there in winter since it’s not in the sun,” Dybdahl explains.
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