The Fairweather Mountains have been formed by the tectonic plates colliding and they are still rising.
Glacier Bay National Park became a park in 1980. Additionally, Glacier Bay National Park combines with Canada resulting in a 25 million acre UNESCO site.
Alaska has the most glaciers in the world. There are 3.3 million acres in Glacier Bay National Park which is three percent of the state and roughly the size of the state of Connecticut.
Bartlett Cove is where the Visitors Center is located. Rangers act as reverse pirates. They board our ship but instead of taking bootie, they bring swag and informative presentations.
What happens to the land when a glacier retreats? Pioneer species such as lichens, algae, and fungus start the process. The longest plant succession study has been going from 1916-2026.
A humpback whale swallows 1,500 gallons and pushes the water out with its one-ton tongue. And filters the phytoplankton to its throat which is the size of a grapefruit.
New word: magnetosphere. Our planet is a giant magnet. This is responsible for aurora borealis.
Tlingit
Am excellent presentation was given by a Tlingit man named Kevin who told his personal story. We laughed, we cried, and we learned.
The Tlingit have been in their location for 13,000 years. Time immemorial means time before memory. The world around them adapts, and they must as well. They hold onto their tradition in one hand, embrace the new in the other hand, then put their own personal touch to their lives.
There are three names for the Glacier Bay region used by the Huna Tlingit. The names evolved as advancing and retreating glaciers drastically transformed their ancestral homeland over the centuries.
The geological change usually barely noticed in the span of a human life. In 1660, there was no Glacier Bay, just a broad lush valley with a glacier on the border. Then…
The elders said that it advanced at the speed of a running dog. It even sheared off trees.
The Tlingit were first pushed out of this area due to the glacier.
The Tlingit were then pushed out when this land was designated a National Park. Most Americans, myself included, revere the National Parks because we view them as protecting the land from development. However, there are rules such as no hunting, etc., which was the lifeblood of the Tlingit.
The Tlingit people are a matrilineal society where descent, kinship, and inheritance are traced through the maternal line.
There is a generational gap for the Tlingit people. The elders were forbidden to speak their own language, carve totems, and wear their ancestral clothing.
The Tlingit love buttons which are an indication of first contact with the outside world. It is called oot and reminds them of the suckers on an octopus. Their house, clan and moiety are on the back of their robes so they enter a room backwards so that you immediately know who they are. This is similar to a name tag.
Grandparents and great grandparents were the only ones who remembered their history. Kevin can speak some Tlingit language but his nieces and nephews are fluent since the local schools are now teaching the language.
Missionaries thought that the totem poles were gods that were worshiped. This was incorrect.
There are four types of poles:
- Some tell a story
- An event that was significant to the community
- Memorialized a person such as a statue today
- Shaming poles stayed up until debt was paid. This doesn’t occur any more. They now have Facebook! 😂
A spruce root basket is like string cheese. It is long and fibrous and holds water. Rain hats are woven as well from the spruce root.
Tlingit potatoes are native to South America. The Tlingit potato is a rare, heirloom tuber that has been grown in Southeast Alaska for over 200 years and is genetically traced to South American varieties. Tlingit traveled by boat to far away areas.
When the tide is out, the table is set. One can find a blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, maybe even a Chuck Berry or Halle Berry!! 😂
Tlingit’s LOVE seal. It doesn’t taste like chicken but it is dry because, there is no fat. The blubber on the seal is all together, not throughout the flesh. It is like olive oil. Seal oil is given to an infant for the first time by a grandparent.
The word for the seal is Sau. They call them “sausages on ice”.
Kevin told a moving story about his people who used to go to a specific island to gather gull eggs. Then they were prohibited from doing so. As a senior project, he petitioned the Park Service for permission. There was lots of foot dragging but he finally got permission for a 24-hour pass.
Then the problem was how to collect them. Only a few were left who remembered so he went to the elders.
If there is one egg, take it. They will lay another. If there are two eggs, take one. They will return to lay another. If there are three eggs, leave it alone. This will ensure a future.
When they returned to the village, they had a list of people to give eggs to starting with the oldest women. She was so moved that she put on her button clad robe, beat her traditional drum and danced and sang with tears running down her cheeks.
It took twenty years and an act of Congress sponsored by Lisa Murkowski to allow the Tlingit people to gather gull eggs on this island. So as of 2020, the entire clan goes to the island to collect gull eggs.
Read more here: Collecting Gull Eggs
Today the Park Service and Tlingit work together, but it remains difficult. They disagree on many things but have decided to at least move forward on the things that they do agree with. Cultural Sensitivity is a must.
Back on the Ship
Amy and I visited the spa for a massage. Her name was Reality and she was from Zimbabwe. It was truly a Reality Check! 😂
There is a lido deck so we started saying “Take me to your lido.” 😂
I was walking down the hallway and a lady asked me “What branch of the military were you in?”
I looked at my outfit and asked,”What makes you think that I was in the military?”
“Well, you are walking straight, with your thumbs pointed forward six inches away from your sides.”
“I laughed and said,”I am probably just wearing too many layers.” 😂
Glacier Bay is terrain wreck. 😂
Amy’s Version on GoAmyGo
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