Culture Tsimshian

bag 65 inlaid gambling sticks, tsimshian (native american), 19th century, brooklyn museum

the tsimshian have matrilineal kinship system, societal structure based on clan system, referred moiety. descent , property figured through maternal line. hereditary chiefs gained rights through maternal line , deposed women elders.

the marriage ceremony extremely formal affair, involving several prolonged , sequential ceremonies. cultural taboos have related prohibiting women , men eating improper foods during , after childbirth.

like northwest coastal peoples, tsimshian harvested abundant sea life, salmon. tsimshian became seafaring people, haida. salmon continues @ center of nutrition, despite large-scale commercial fishing in area. due abundant food source, tsimshian developed permanent towns. lived in large longhouses, made cedar house posts , panels withstand wet climate. these large, , housed entire extended family.

tsimshian bentwood box featuring formline painting, 1850, collection of ubc anthropology museum

tsimshian religion centered on lord of heaven, aided people in times of need sending supernatural servants earth aid them. tsimshian believed charity , purification of body (either cleanliness or fasting) route afterlife.

in common northwest coastal peoples, tsimshian engage in potlatch, refer yaawk (feast). today in tsimshian culture, potlatch held @ gatherings honor deaths, burials, , succession name-titles.

the tsimshian have maintained art , culture, , working revitalize use of language. other coastal peoples, tsimshian fashioned of goods out of western red cedar, bark. fashioned tools, clothing, roofing, armor, building materials, , canoe skins. used cedar in chilkat weaving, credited inventing. historically, tsimshian competed tlingit, haida, athapaskan groups in north , east, , wakashan groups in south.