Axaa

=My profile= = = I am a Tlingit canoe maker. My name is Axaa. I am 15 years old, a female whose favorite food is dry salmon with fish oil topping and berries. The skill, strength, I have that make me most proudest is carving and painting the canoes. I think the others in my clan amire me most for carving the canoes especially carving the head. The fear I have is that when I am making a canoe the fire might burn everything and this goes along with the weakness I have which is burning the wood to make a hole for the seat. Something else I want you to know about me is that my favorite treat is salmon egg with fish oil.

=The life of a canoe maker=

Today I woke up and saw Te cleaning the house in front of my area and we both said hi. All of the other were already a wake. I went down to the river to take a bath and got dressed. Then I went back to the house and went to my area. The room smelt salmon and fish oil. There were others talking. I fold my bear fur blanket and came out of my area and went to work. My job was a canoe maker. I went to get the canoe that I didn’t finish yesterday and continue it .As I walked back I saw Aas making totem pole she was carving it and sweating a lot. Later I went to have breakfast. I ate salmon smoke with fish oil topping and berries. It was ok not really delicious. When I was done eating I went back to continue making my canoe. The part that I was on was carving the canoe I enjoyed it very much and it was also my favorite part. After a while I was on the painting part so I used the dog skin to smooth it. It was hard but I done it. Then I started painting the canoe it wasn’t as difficult as smoothing the canoe but it was a lot easier so I finish it very fast. After that I had lunch I ate with Dleit and Dis because she was also eating while I was eating too. I had smoke salmon with fish oil again but I also ate salmon egg. It was delicious also because I was hungry and there were salmon egg which was everyone’s favorite treat. I was done with my canoe so I went fishing because I ran out of salmon. I caught so many salmon it filled the basket. When I was done I came by a berry tree so I collected it because it was my favorite. When I came back it was about 6 pm so I left the salmon in my place and went to have dinner. I had dried salmon with fish oil and little berries on top that I just collected after lunch.I had dinner with nearly all the member of the family. After a hard time I went to sleep with the comfortable, soft bear fur blanket.

=My Picture And My House=

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =__Potlach__= Yesterday the potlach was terrific! There were singers and dancers which sang and dance so much. The dancers put their masks on and dance around. Everybody laugh! Some of the mask was a picture of animal and some had the animal's head. The singer sang with the drum and the people all like it very much.

The people arrive in beautiful,decorative canoes and everyone wore their best cloth to the party and was really excited when they saw the beautiful, new present.The people rushed happily to the baby and stared for a long time. Then they would just sit down for a while.

When everyone arrived there was speeches everyone surrounded the speaker and listened carefully to the speaker to show that they are really, really respect the speaker. The speaker said stuff like welcome to our tribe to the baby and the baby spoke the baby language so nobody understood what the the baby girl had said but a lot of use wished to understand the baby language.

We celebrate the baby's birth.The baby looked really healthy and cute. The baby didn't cry but it smiled a lot and it looked like if it was laughing and happy to have the party celebrated. The baby made noise which was the baby language from babyland and then smiled but sadly we didn't get what the baby was saying to us.

When it was lunch the people went to get their food. There were fish stews for the guess and seal meal with seal oil topping. Their were also salmon and berries to eat. The most special thing in the meal was salmon egg which everyone wanted to eat because it was there favorite treat. Something really embarrass happen when I was drinking I suddenly spilled some water on the ground but luckily no body saw it.

After eating the food we all got our hand drums or masks and we dance and sang songs together happily, enjoying ourself. Everybody laugh a lot and smiled. We all enjoyed the activities.

There was so much people that was there. All the members of our tribe came to celebrate the baby birth potlach.

When we all done everything the host gave use the present that was as high as your rank or as low. There were canoes given to the chief and slaves, goat hair blankets, dentalium shells and some other stuffs. The present that most of us wants is the beautiful, decorative, large, new canoe. When the potlach was over the host let us eat the food that was left over. Some of us stayed but some of us got to go. It was my first time so it was so fabulous! It was amazing!

After the party I felt so happy and glad for many reason, one was because the baby was born, another was because this was the first potlach that I have ever been and it was the best, of course!

The best part was when we did the funny dance after lunch. It was really funny also when the baby talked in baby language and smiled. The worst part of the day was when I got really embarrass about spilling the water on the ground and made the ground a bit wet but I was lucky that the other didn't really mind that.