Rain Hat

The Chilkat people, who lived near the Alaska-Canada border, created robes that were highly valued as trade objects, worn for ceremonial practices, or hung outside houses as symbols of esteem and respect. This robe, with its nearly symmetrical design, is an excellent example of its type, with symbols of totem animals and forms that would have been familiar to all tribal members. The central motif can be interpreted as a diving whale with its wide-spaced eyes at the lower corners, the body with flippers in the center, and the upturned tail at the top. Some scholars have interpreted the prominent face at the center of these diving whale images as the mammal’s blowhole.

Traditionally, robes were made by Chilkat men and women working together. Men created the pattern, the pattern board (the weaving template), and the loom, and provided the goat hide for the wool. Women gathered cedar bark, prepared and dyed the yarn, and wove the blanket. The muted palette was created from plant and mineral dyes.