Tlingit Ravenstail Weaving

Yéil koowú

An older, geometric twined-weaving tradition originating among the Tsimshian and retained by Tlingit and Haida weavers, using bold black-and-white (with sparing color accents) angular patterns evoking lightning and spider webs, understood as the precursor to the later, curvilinear Chilkat technique.

Risk level: Extinct — Revival Exists · Not Applicable — the United States is not a State Party to the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage; no US technique can be formally ICH-inscribed regardless of significance.

Alternate Names: Raven's Tail weaving
Geographic Center: Southeast Alaska, with historical roots also in Tsimshian territory (present-day British Columbia)
Community / Ethnic Group: Tlingit, with origins attributed to the Tsimshian
Estimated Origin: An ancient weaving form practiced until the technique fell out of use around the early 1800s, superseded by the newer Chilkat curved-line technique
Cultural Function: Ravenstail items — aprons, robes, tunics, pouches — were made for family members or gifted to allies, carrying significant ceremonial and status value comparable to Chilkat weaving
Primary Materials: Traditionally mountain goat wool; contemporary weavers commonly use black and white (and sometimes yellow) merino wool
Primary Tools: A simple upright wooden loom, similar in basic construction to the Chilkat loom
Process Overview: Spinning wool, setting up the upright loom, and finger-twining sharp geometric patterns in a technique reconstructed from historic surviving robes after a roughly two-century gap in living practice
Traditional Applications: Ceremonial aprons, robes, tunics, and pouches
Contemporary Applications: Continued revival production for ceremonial and collector purposes, and as a teaching tradition
Notable Practitioners: Lily Hope, who teaches both Ravenstail and Chilkat weaving and represents part of the technique's contemporary revival lineage
Key References: Alaska Department of Education, 'The Spirit Wraps You Around' exhibit coverage; Wikipedia/Indigenous Yukon, 'Ravenstail weaving'; Handwoven magazine, Lily Hope feature
Verification Status: Desk-Researched

More from United States

American Recycled Cardboard and Newspaper Jewelry MakingPapercraft & Printing · Stable
The design and hand-fabrication of water-resistant earrings and bangles from recycled newspaper and cardboard by American designer Luda, working under the name Alla Maude in Long Beach, New York, part of the same wider international…
Lakota Star Quilt MakingEmbroidery & Lace · Vulnerable
An eight-pointed diamond-pieced star quilt pattern that replaced painted buffalo-hide ceremonial robes after the near-extermination of the buffalo herds, becoming, within roughly a generation, one of the central symbols of Lakota honor,…
Plains Ledger Art DrawingPainting & Decorative Arts · Vulnerable
A transitional Plains narrative art form in which warrior-artists adapted the older tradition of painting personal exploits on buffalo hide to the pencil, ink, and colored-pencil pages of trade or captured account ledger books, flourishing…
Cheyenne & Lakota Parfleche Rawhide PaintingLeatherwork · Vulnerable
The painting of bold, symmetrical geometric designs onto stiff, dampened rawhide before it is folded into an envelope-style carrying case, developed to meet the portable-storage needs of horse-mounted nomadic Plains life.
Dakota Pipestone (Catlinite) Pipe CarvingStone & Gemstone Carving · Critically Endangered
Hand-quarrying and carving of the soft red pipestone (catlinite) found almost uniquely at a sacred quarry site in southwestern Minnesota, worked into ceremonial pipe bowls used in prayer and, historically, treaty and diplomatic ceremonies…
Lakota & Cheyenne Porcupine QuillworkEmbroidery & Lace · Endangered
The oldest Plains embroidery technique, in which softened and dyed porcupine quills are sewn or wrapped onto hide, birchbark, or sinew-strung bases in geometric and symbolic patterns, largely supplanted by glass-bead trade goods in the…

All techniques in United States →

Related weaving & textiles elsewhere

Baluchari Silk WeavingIndia · Endangered
Baluchari is a figured silk weaving tradition from Bishnupur and Murshidabad in West Bengal, distinguished by large-scale narrative pictorial panels woven in the pallu (end-piece) of the sari using supplementary silk weft.
Jamdani WeavingIndia · Critically Endangered
Jamdani is a supplementary weft figured muslin weaving tradition of extraordinary refinement, historically centered in Dhaka (now Bangladesh) and practiced in Nadia and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal, India.
Transylvanian Szőttes WeavingHungary · Stable
The Transylvanian szőttes pattern weaving tradition — the geometric warp-float designs in red-on-white that define Hungarian folk textile vocabulary.
Banarasi Silk BrocadeIndia · Endangered
Banarasi silk brocade is a luxury handwoven textile from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, defined by intricate supplementary weft patterns in gold and silver zari thread on a silk ground.
Yok Thong Court Brocade SilkThailand · Critically Endangered
Complex supplementary weft brocade silk weaving producing interlocking geometric and floral patterns on a plain silk ground.
Kani Shawl WeavingIndia · Critically Endangered
Kani shawl weaving is an interlocked twill tapestry technique using small headless wooden bobbins called kani (or kaani) in place of a conventional shuttle.

All weaving & textiles techniques →