Anchorage: Sharing the stories of Alaska Natives

As the drummers create a slow, rhythmic beat on their handheld drums, a small group of dancers wearing tribal regalia move, using their bodies and arms to tell a story important to their tribal nation. Citizens from Alaska Native tribes use the experience to share their culture and stories with visitors at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage.

An elder from one of the tribes explains each piece of regalia and the importance it plays. From the shirt a person may wear to the headdress and feathers used, the performances seek to educate visitors about the history, culture and traditions of the state’s nearly 250 tribal nations.

While the dances are enjoyable and educational, the heritage center also features a variety of exhibits to share the stories of Athabascans, Tlingit and Yupik tribes, as well as others through clothing (including winter gear), pottery and figurines.

Outside, traditional homes are located, including earth lodges and cabins. You’ll also find totems representative of southeast Alaska tribes.

Anchorage Museum

But the cultural education doesn’t stop at the heritage center. With a 600-piece exhibit that would challenge any Indigenous display elsewhere, the Anchorage Museum is home to an impressive showcase that explores tribes from around the state. Curated with the assistance of tribal elders and artifacts loaned to the museum by the Smithsonian, the Alaska Native section offers a look into tribes’ history and current life.

With Alaska’s weather changing drastically from one area to another, tribal clothing varies, as well. With heavy parkas intended to keep people warm in temperatures that drop well before zero degrees Fahrenheit, the Inupiaq created theirs from mountain sheep skin and fur from wolverines and wolves.

While the Inupiaq learned to hunt and fish on water, ice and land using natural guides, such as ocean currents, astronomy and wind, today the tribe seeks to combine the best of both the modern world and Inupiaq traditions.

The exhibit also includes traditional hats, tools, pottery and masks, recognizing tribes’ history in Alaska dating back thousands of generations. The Alaska Native section also shares stories from Indigenous Peoples, which offer unique perspectives and experiences, giving visitors a closer look at tribal life.

The story of Alaska Natives includes life before the Russians occupied the land. Vitus Bering, a Dane, was the first-known European to visit Alaska when he arrived in 1741 at the behest of the Russian tsar. The first Russian settlement was developed in 1784 near Kodiak Island.

While other European nations – Britain and Spain – sent ships along the Alaskan coast, it was Russia that lay claim to the land.

Establishing a trading company in Alaska, the tsar even had the Russian Orthodox Church create a presence. Today, the church’s influence continues, though it’s been reduced.

Eklutna church, cemetery

Eklutna, north of Anchorage, has the oldest building in the area. A wooden structure, the church was likely built in the mid-1800s.

A cemetery contains spirit houses over each grave, combining traditions of the Dena’ina and  Russian Orthodox Church. The Dena’ina traditionally cremated people when they died. The Church didn’t allow that, instead burying its dead so they could start a 40-day spiritual journey. Tribal members began laying blankets and installing spirit houses over graves to protect and shelter the person as they began their journey.

Despite Russian land claims, the country occupied little of Alaska. But, diseases, such as a major smallpox outbreak in the mid-1830s, caused major losses of life to the Aleuts, Tlingits, and others.

While Alaska Natives endured major crises at the hands of Europeans and later the United States, when the country “purchased” the territory from Russia in 1867, they persevered.

Today, remote villages, some only accessible by boat or small plane, continue to live in a mixed world of 21st-century technology and traditional ways, such as seal hunting and fishing.

Only Alaska Natives can truly tell their stories. An opportunity to watch the dances and learn stories from elders at the Alaska Heritage Center and through exhibits at the Anchorage Museum are musts when visiting Anchorage.