Tlingit Bear-Ear Headdresses (see below)
Tlingit bear-ear headdresses are one of the three types of shaman headresses:
1. Bear Claw Crown
Ut-Har-Gu ("It's claws"): later mountain goat horns were substituted
2. Spruce-Root Shaman Hat
*Sha-Dar-Yar-Ar-Kee ("spirit around the head"): an oblong hat made of woven spruce root, with imbricated geometric and animal designs - also worn in battle
3. Bear-Ear Headdress
*Con-Goush : actual ears of a bear, or seal skin, similarly shaped wood, leather, or copper... decorated with abalone, human hair, and/or copper
*some examples have baleen (chitinous material from filter-feeding whale mouths) stitched behind the ears to hold the ears erect
*a sign of courage in battle and "favorite" potlatch regaia
*****more examples below
*some examples have baleen (chitinous material from filter-feeding whale mouths) stitched behind the ears to hold the ears erect
*a sign of courage in battle and "favorite" potlatch regaia
*****more examples below
REFERENCES
*Emmons, G.T. The Tlingit Indians. [1991] (written 1888) pp. 49, 174, 300, 380-1, 390)
*Swanton, John R. Social Conditons, Beliefs, and Linguistic Relationship of the Tlingit Indians. (1908) BAE, p. 439
*De Laguna, Frederica. Under Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit. (1972). Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology #7. pp. 591, 694
*Emmons, G.T. The Tlingit Indians. [1991] (written 1888) pp. 49, 174, 300, 380-1, 390)
*Swanton, John R. Social Conditons, Beliefs, and Linguistic Relationship of the Tlingit Indians. (1908) BAE, p. 439
*De Laguna, Frederica. Under Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit. (1972). Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology #7. pp. 591, 694