What were Tlingit homes like in the past? The Tlingits lived in rectangular cedar-plank houses with bark roofs. Usually these houses were large (up to 100 feet long) and each one housed several familes from the same clan (as many as 50 people.) Here are some pictures of Native American homes like the ones Tlingit Indians used. Today, old-fashioned buildings like these are still made from cedar wood, but they are only used for ceremonial purposes. Tlingit people live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you.

 

 

What was Tlingit clothing like? Did they wear feather headdresses and face paint? Tlingit men usually wore only breech cloths and the women only short skirts made of cedar bark. Further inland, where the weather was colder, women wore longer deerskin dresses and men wore Athabaskan-style pants with moccasins attached. Even in the snow, most Tlingit women preferred to go barefoot, but men on winter hunting trips would often wear snowshoes. For formal occasions, Tlingit people wore more elaborate outfits, with tunics, leggings and cloaks painted with tribal designs. One special clothing item of the Tlingits was the spectacular Chilkat blankets, which were woven from cedar bark and mountain goat hair. Here is a website on Tlingit Chilkat blankets, and some photos and links about Indian costume in general.

The Tlingits didn't wear long headdresses like the Sioux. Instead, both men and women sometimes wore basketry hats made of finely woven spruce root. The designs and patterns of these hats often displayed a person's status and family connections. The Tlingits painted their faces with different colors and designs for different occasions, and often wore tribal tattoos. Tlingit women often wore their hair in two long braids, while men usually left theirs long and loose. Like other Northwestern Indians, Tlingit men often wore mustaches and beards.

Today, some Tlingit people still have a traditional cloak or basket hat, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths.