Native American Douglas Chilton (or Yaa nak.ch, his native name) started carving a canoe this fall, when a raven alighted near his workspace. Chilton, who belongs to the Raven clan of the Tlingit Indians, viewed the raven's appearance as a blessing, especially because he and his colleague Rosita Worl from Sealaska Heritage Institute had already worked out a raven design for the canoe prow."I've heard about such coincidences happening to other people, but this is the first time it's happened to me," Chilton says. As word about the black-winged sentry spread, clan elders came to offer blessings and prayers, naming the raven "the watcher." (There is no Tlingit word for guardian.) When Chilton and his family members work on the canoe, the raven takes up a post in a nearby tree and periodically squawks a call, as if to say, "Hurry up!"
Chilton's canoe was commissioned for the new Ocean Hall, shich will be opening next September at the National Museum of Natural History. He is at work now just outside the Sealaska in Juneau, Alaska (a contributor to the Oceans Hall). A web cam is following Chilton's daily progress, and from time to time, the raven can be seen there too. It has a slightly damaged wing, but it seems to be boldly patrolling the canoe and shooing away the curious.
Chilton Remembers seeing a raven, which also had an injured wing, at a site 11 miles away when he was preparing the log for carving. He believes it't the same bird and intends to honor the raven's vigilance by incorporating its damaged wing into the canoe design. Though ravens are common in the Northwest, witnessing a myth in the making--online--that's a rare sign of the times.
Doug Chilton and the Raven
October 18, 2007
http://aroundthemall.smithsonianmag.com/archives/category/natural-history-museum
Around the Mall, Smithsonian Magazine
(Douglas Chilton and the raven, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute)
This article is posted here because people are having difficulting finding it... later I'll have all the periodical info here.
2 comments:
Hi Sonny
My Sister Val Cooday and Garfield Katasse sent me the url to your blogg the other day. I loved the story about "Doug Chilton and the Raven". We have added Doug's live carving of the canoe to the Tlingit National Anthem site since Sealaska Heritage started streaming it live on the internet. We added you blogg to the site with Doug Chilton. Later when I update the Anthem site I will add it to the Art and Celebrity sections of the Anthem.
best
Jesse Cooday
Great story! You have made a lot of progress on the canoe since I saw it in November.
I can't wait to see it finished, too.
;]
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