Discovering the Tlingit Tribe: Culture and Traditions of a Native American Community

The traditional homes of the Tlingit were built to fit the coastal rainforest and the clan-based social life. Key types and features include:

• Plank longhouses (clan or winter houses): Large rectangular houses made from split cedar planks on a post-and-beam frame. They could hold an extended family or several related families, had a central hearth for heat and cooking, and often a decorated front with carved house posts and totem pole-like figures.
• Summer/seasonal shelters: Lighter, open-sided structures or bark-covered lean-tos used at fishing and hunting camps during the warmer months. These were easy to build and take apart.
• Raised storage houses (cache houses): Small buildings elevated on posts to keep dried fish, meat, and other goods safe from animals and damp ground.
• Tents and skin shelters: For short-term camps, people sometimes used animal skins or simple frame tents.

Materials: The Tlingit primarily used western red cedar and yellow cedar for planks, beams, and shingles, and spruce roots or cedar withes for bindings. Entrances often faced the water because travel and food came mainly by canoe. Today many Tlingit live in modern houses, but traditional plank houses and their designs remain important for ceremonies and cultural events.

If you want, I can describe how a plank house was built step by step or show pictures of traditional Tlingit house fronts and house posts.

I think you mean the Tlingit people. Here are some important Tlingit traditions, with short explanations you can read easily:

• Clan system and moieties: Tlingit society is organized by matrilineal clans belonging to two main moieties (often called Raven and Eagle/Wolf). Clan membership shapes identity, who you may marry (usually outside your clan), and what crests and stories you inherit.

• Totem poles and clan crests: Totem poles, house posts, bentwood boxes, masks, and carved objects display clan crests (animals or supernatural beings) and tell family histories, legends, or important events.

• Potlatch (ceremonial feast): A central public ceremony that includes feasting, speeches, gift-giving, dances, and the transfer of names, rights, or property. Potlatches mark births, deaths, marriages, name-bestowals, and other major events.

• Naming practices: Names and titles are important and often passed down through families at formal ceremonies. A person’s name carries clan history and responsibilities.

• Songs, dances, and regalia: Ceremonial dances and songs tell clan stories. Participants wear regalia—robes, hats, masks, button blankets, and other decorated clothing tied to their clan and crests.

• Weaving and textile arts: Weavers create Chilkat and Ravenstail textiles, which are highly valued ceremonial items decorated with complex clan designs.

• Carving and art: Skilled carving produces masks, house posts, rattles, paddles, and totem poles—each with symbolic meaning and clan connections.

• Fishing, hunting, and seasonal camps: Salmon fishing, halibut, seal, and other marine resources are central. Seasonal harvesting, drying, and smoking foods are both practical and part of culture. Ceremonies like the “first salmon” honor the fish and ensure respect for resources.

• House and community ceremonies: Traditional clan houses, potlatches, memorial feasts, and community gatherings reinforce social bonds and cultural knowledge.

• Storytelling and oral history: Elders pass down history, laws, morals, and clan origins through stories and performances.

• Respect for the natural world and laws about rights to resources: Traditional laws and practices govern how resources are shared and how respect is shown to animals and the environment.

• Medicine and spiritual practices: Historically, shamans and healers played roles in health and spiritual life. Many spiritual traditions are still practiced or observed today.

Note: Practices vary among clans, families, and communities, and contemporary Tlingit people balance traditional ways with modern life. If you want, I can give more detail about any of these (for example, how a potlatch works, what Chilkat weaving looks like, or the meanings of common crests).

The Tlingit people wore special clothes that were both functional and decorative. Their attire included robes and capes made from animal skins with intricate designs, hats crafted from wood or woven materials in cone shapes, and soft moccasins made from animal hides to keep their feet warm. They also adorned their clothes with feathers, shells, and beads. Even today, they create and wear traditional garments for important ceremonies and dances.