Tutchone

The Block

Blockmaker, Marlene Drapeau, has followed native tradition, drawing her design inspiration from Mother Nature. Flowering plants are few in the far northern land of the Tutchone, but those that due colour the landscape spark the creative inspiration of beadwork artists. Marlene chose muted tones of beads to more closely resemble the old dull-coloured beads used by her foremothers. This sampling of flowers with raised stamen and pistils is accompanied by bees, busy pollinating the species.

Cultural Profile

The Tutchone have always occupied the central-southwestern area of the Yukon. They speak a Na-Dene language, one of seven Athapaskan languages spoken in the Yukon, with two distinct dialects. Despite differences each can easily understand the other. Throughout their history, the Tutchone have also expressed themselves through singing, dancing, storytelling and other cultural customs.

They traditionally followed a semi-nomadic way of life to take advantage of seasonal, natural resources. The Tutchone fished for salmon and whitefish in spring and summer, and in the fall focussed their efforts on hunting moose, sheep and woodland caribou. Fur trapping and trading was a central part of their domestic economy before 1900. Southern Tutchone moved about in small groups, annually adjusting their movements to changes in the ranges of caribou or moose, to salmon runs, or to ranges of fur bearing animals. The traditional harvesting areas of the Northern Tutchone people included the McQuesten and Stewart Rivers in the north, the White river in the east, the Big Salmon drainage in the south, and the Selwyn Mountains to the east.

Sponsor: Stardale Women’s Institute