Tsimshian Subsistence

      Like the other indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast region, the water provided most of their food. Salmon, especially, was a major part of the Tsimshian diet. Other fish that they caught include halibut, codfish, herring, and candlefish. They would also eat sea plants such as seaweed, goose tongue, and beach asparagus, as well as hunting sea animals such as seals and sea lions. The Tsimshian relied on fishing, hunting, and gathering edible plants from the land and the sea for their source of food. There was no agricultural system because of the abundance of food available to them. This abundance of food also allowed them to establish permanent settlements. Tsimshian men spent much of their time fishing along the coast and in the rivers and streams. Much of the food that they collected was seasonal, so it had to be preserved for winter and early spring. For example, the salmon travel up the rivers in the fall to lay eggs, so they would catch plenty of fish before winter began. They would also hunt whales, clams, oysters, and mussels. Whales were dangerous to hunt, however, as they would sometimes take days for men to kill them, and there was the added danger of the whale flipping their canoe. They did not rely only on the water for their food, though.To preserve the food, they would either have it dried by the wind or the sun, or they would smoke it in smokehouses.Summer was the main season for hunting and gathering food in the nearby forests. They also hunted bears, moose, mountain goats, and deer, as well as gathering edible plants (such as berries or shoots).

      For fishing, they would use harpoons, fishlines made from cedar, hooks made from bone and wood, nets, and underwater traps. They could easily catch plenty of salmon with these tools before winter began because the salmon would travel upstream to lay their eggs each fall. For hunting, they would use bows and arrows, harpoons, and various traps, such as snares and deadfalls. They also used fish oil to add more flavor to their food. They mainly got the oil from whales, seals, and eulachon, a type of fish. Most of the oil they had was saved for trading, though, because oil was a valuable trade item. 

      The men did the hunting and fishing, and left the gathering of clams, oysters, mussels, and edible plants (from both the water and the land) to the women. The women were also tasked with preparing the meals, and crafting the wooden trays and platters to serve them in. The food was either baked, steamed, or broiled by heating rocks and placing them into cedar boxes or baskets filled with water. This would boil the water and cook the food. The women served some of the fish fresh, but most of it was dried or smoked to preserve it for winter.

      The Tsimshian people would also have ceremonial, gift-giving feasts called a potlatch to honor births, deaths, burials, and other major events. The host of the potlatch would give the guests gifts according to their rank or status. A potlatch involved extravagant or competitive giving and destroying of valued possessions by the host to display superior wealth. These celebrations would often take over a year to plan, and would include singing, costumed dancers, and a feast. Potlatches were mainly a way for the host and their families could show off their wealth to others. The more valuable possessions that the host gave away, the more prestige (and power) they had. However, this system was not purely for showing off wealth, but also to help those in need with the gifts, which included canoes, fish, other foods, and oil.

      Despite large-scale commercial fishing, the Tsimshian people these subsistence patterns are still an important part of Tsimshian life.

The Pacific Salmon, the main food source of the Tsimshian people

Citations:

Miller, Jay

Alaskan Tlingit and Tsimshian. Electronic Document,

https://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/miller1.html. April 14, 2014.

Brock, Peggy

2012 Moveable Feasts: Chronicles of "Potlatching" among the Tsimshian, 1860s-1900s. Electronic Document,

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/eds/detail?sid=449b2be8-fb5d-4420-9850-629dda6e71f4@sessionmgr4001&vid=2&hid=4210&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU=#db=aph&AN=76282583. April 14, 2014.

Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
2013 Tsimshian. Electronic Document,
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/eds/detail?sid=3142a5bc-b2a3-40cf-ac35-30d64d82c2f4%40sessionmgr4001&vid=1&hid=4105&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=39037088

Religion

                The Tsimshian religion is based around one “Lord of Heaven”. This deity aided those who were in need. The Lord would send mystical servants to earth to help whoever was in despair. These servants would come in many different forms (such as natural objects) but were mostly young children, bolts of lightning and animals. The God is worshiped through offerings, prayer, and smoke rings from a fire. Those that do not follow the rules of heaven and commit acts such as murder, adultery, and those that generally don't believe in or speak poorly of him are thought of to be hated by him. Acts that are in the Tsimshian's best interest include simple acts of humanity like being nice to the poor, not being greedy, and treating the Sun and Moon (God's messengers) with respect.

                It was believed that the path to being in good standing with God, as well as in the afterlife, was opened through charity and purification of the body. Purification was achieved through physical cleanliness or fasting. Cleanliness involved bathing and washing their whole bodies (especially before prayer) and many induced vomiting for a mostly empty stomach. Another method of obtaining the best possible outcome of prayer is to abstain from being intimate with their loved ones. Prayer was not necessarily given directly to God, but to his helpers. The afterlife was thought of to be very similar to the life of the living; there were fish that they gathered for food, and many other animals that were always readily available. The only main difference was that the seasons were switched.

                After being partially assimilated into the culture of the white colonists that migrated to North America, the Tsimshian started to adopt English Protestant religious views. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the Tsimshian returned to their original ideals and started teaching religion in school.

Alaska Tsimshian Tribe. Electronic Document. 

     2006. http://alaskannature.com/tsimshian.htm

Women's Status in Tsimshian Society

     Tsimshian society was primarily matrilineal, with evidence of women often holding positions of authority and autonomy within their clans if they were the leaders of wealthy families. A possible explanation for women holding a role such as chief or head of household is the frequent trading or raiding missions in which men would be absent for long periods of time. There is some variation in practices between different clans of the Tsimshian but it is generally not uncommon for women to step into the position of chief of a town when there is no rightful male to assume the role; sometimes they “acquired men's names, a practice that persists today” (520).

     Women and men were allowed independent ownership of personal property and resources that belonged to them and their lineage. There is some dispute over the ownership of resources in marriage; according to the work of Viola E. Garfield the resources and means of production of the woman became a part of the husband's lineage. If they separated or she was widowed her resources were returned to her lineage. An opposing view presented by Albert P. Niblack and William Duncan suggests that married women were economically independent of their husbands, because they had the right to own the resources of their lineage.

     An important example of the autonomy of women in Tsimshian society is their economic and property rights over slave labor, and sexual independence. Control over the production and distribution of resources allowed women to secure social and economic rights because of the influence over the society that their control implied. Wealthy female family leaders often owned slave lovers or sexual freedom; “women regarded as lucky cohabited with hunters, often with their husbands' encouragement as they were amply rewarded for their services” (517). As with the property of their own lineage and their husband, Tsimshian women had complete control over slave labor to buy and sell as they pleased.

These are examples of tools used for activities mainly delegated to males of the Tsimshian society, and products such as baskets created primarily by women in Tsimshian society.
Images retrieved from: http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/tsimsian/traintre.shtml 
accessed on 14 April 2014.

References:

Colonization and the Decline of Women's Status: The Tsimshian Case.

     1991. Feminist Studies. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3178288 accessed 26 March 2014.

Marriages and Family

            The Tsimshian tribe was very complex in structure and has a unique culture. The tribe was organized into four major crests: Eagle, Fireweed, Wolf and Frog. Each crest had four meanings and was further broken down into clans, sub-clans, individuals and family lineages. The villages had families from different crests as well as each person containing their own rank, but none with the same. To maintain their status, arranged marriages were done, as well as people in the same family could not marry another from their own crest, so marriages had to be done with two individuals from different crests (The Tsimshian Nation). When a man decides to marry a woman, he has to pay her father an agreed amount before the wedding. However, after the birth of the first child, the wife’s clan pays back the husband an equal amount. From here on out, the marriage is annulled and the woman can choose whether to stay with her husband or leave him (Canada’s First Peoples, 2007).

For family, 20-50 people could be the amount each family contains within their crest. Heredity was passed down through the mother’s side, which means the lineage and names come from her. Also, the inheritance are from her which include: clan fishing, hunting and gathering land, specific clan crests rights that are used for designing houses, clothes, ceremonies and totem poles (Eyak, Tlingit, 2011). The father does not pass down any heredity but his crest provided him duties to his children. The roles for husband and wife are as follows: the husband would adapt by hunting and gathering and using agriculture, while the wife cleans, cooks and takes care of the children. The wife usually goes to live wherever the husband lives. The education of the daughter would come from the mother, however, for the son; the education would come from the mother’s brother (The Tsimshian Nation).

References:

Canada’s First Peoples 
2007. Northwest Coastal People. Goldi Productions Ltd. http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_nwc6.html

"Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Cultures of Alaska"
2011.  The Alaska Native Heritage Center Museum. http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/nwcp/central/data/tsimshia.html

The Tsimshian Nation. N.p.            http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/nwcp/central/data/tsimshia.html.

The Native Language

The Tsimshian speak their own languages, of which there are three.  Linguists refer to is as "Coast Tsimshian" due to the difference in dialect among the three languages.  There is a cluster of neighboring tribes who speak similar or the same language with different dialects based on their region.  The Tsimshians refer to their language as Sm'algyaz, meaning "real or true tongue."  The language originated in Canada, but since the Tsimshian people moved from Canada to Alaska in 1887, Tsimshian has been spoken on islands at the tip of the Alaska Panhandle.  Today, there are very few native speakers remaining in Canada and Alaska.  This is largely due to the fact that there is no actual alphabet, so the language can only be passed down through the spoken word.  The Tsimshian's situation can easily be compared to the video seen in class, We Still Live Here, because there is little left of their tribe.  Their language is vanishing right before their eyes since there are very few native speakers left, and their language is not written anywhere.  They would largely benefit from a program similar to that which Jane Little Doe set up for the Wampanoag people.

 

 

Citation:

Powell, J.V.

2010 Tsimshian. Electronic document, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/

tsimshian. 20 March, 2014.

http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/languages/ts/

Population Then and Now

The Tsimshian tribe originated as fourteen aboriginal nations in the British Colombia.  In 1887, a missionary reported aboriginals living near Fort Simpson in Canada.  According to a 2011 study from Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence for Indian and Northern Affairs in Canada, there are only 3,264 members left in Canada today.  It is said that Tsimshian people are historically related to the Penutian people from Oregon and California, though that is not a definitive fact.  There is also evidence of Tsimshian tribes having roots in Alaska.

Citation:

The Alaska Native Heritage Center Museum

2011 Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Cultures of Alaska. Electronic document, http://www.alaskanative.net/en/main-nav/education-and-programs/cultures-of-alaska/eyak-tlingit-haida-and-tsishian/. 20 March, 2014.

About The Name

The tribe that we researched was the Tsimshian, which literally translates to "Inside the Skeena River."  Because anthropologists and linguists grouped the Gitxsan and Nisg'a with the Tsimshian, the group we researched became the Coast Tsimshian, even if they weren't necessarily from the coast.  This was because of linguistic affinities between the three groups.  There are multiple spellings for the Tsimshian tribe, including Tsimpshean, Tsimshean, and Tsimpshian, but the spelling we used is the most common. 

Citation:

Powell, J.V.
2013 [2010] Tsimshian. Electronic document, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/tsimshian. 20 March, 2014.