#tlingit modernism

[jadeseadragon]

Preston Singletary @prestonsingletaryglass

Connecting the Cosmos, blown and sand carved glass, 26.5" × 4.5" × 12" 📷 Russell Johnson

"Plan your visit to see the 'Preston Singletary: Tlingit Modernism' exhibit opening at the @douglasreynoldsgallery in Vancouver. BC. on October 21st, and on view until November 18th, 2023."

"Get a sneak peek and view the exhibition catalog."

[breelandwalker]

Frost Moon - November 15 2024

Grab your scarves and mittens, witches - it’s time for the Frost Moon!

Frost Moon

The Frost Moon is the name given to the full moon which occurs in the month of November. In temperate zones in the Northern Hemisphere, November is the month during which the first frost or first hard freeze of the season is usually observed.

Like many full moon names, this is an English translation of a traditional name used by one or more North American indigenous groups, in this case the Cree and the Assiniboine. Similarly, the Anishinaabe and the Ojibwe also called this month the Freezing Moon or Freezing Over Moon respectively, as indigenous naming conventions usually refer to the entire lunar month and not just the full moon itself. Other indigenous names include Deer Rutting Moon (Dakota and Lakota), Whitefish Moon (Algonquin), Leaf Fall Moon (Catawba), and Digging (or Scratching) Moon (Tlingit). The latter refers to the habit of deer and other creatures scratching up the ground to find hidden food caches, as well as bears digging their dens for winter hibernation.

Another very common name for this month’s full moon is the Beaver Moon, due to the increased sightings of these busy little creatures shoring up their dams and food stores before the first hard freeze of winter. (Unfortunately, it’s also a reference to the peak days of the North American fur trade, signaling the optimal hunting time for beaver pelts.)

In some modern pagan traditions, particularly those claiming Celtic lineage, the November moon is also called the Mourning Moon. This occurs when the November moon is the final full moon before the winter solstice. In 2024, the November is not a Mourning Moon, as the December full moon falls on the 15th, several days before the winter solstice. (I was not able to find an original source for this claim, but given the celebration of the beloved dead in October, a subsequent period of mourning and remembrance makes sense. It may also be a reference to the Catholic All Souls Day, but that’s just speculation.)

This particular Frost Moon will be at peak fullness in the afternoon hours of November 15th (4:29pm EST). This is the final supermoon in the four-month consecutive series of supermoons for 2024, so make the most of it!

What Does It Mean For Witches?

This is the month when migrations are finishing up, animals are finishing their cold weather preparations, the temperature starts to plummet, and fall descends rapidly into winter. If you haven’t finished your preparations for winter, mundane or magical, this is probably your last chance to do it. (Don’t forget to prioritize and delegate!)

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder, the temptation to hunker down and hibernate is STRONG. But we have to remember that just like the eponymous Beaver, humans have to stay active during the cold months. Start stockpiling ways to keep yourself busy and motivated, since that Seasonal Slump is on the horizon for many of us.

Consider also the beaver’s dam. You’ve spent the whole year working towards all kinds of goals. Is there still something blocking your way? What might it be and how can you best address and remove the obstacle? Or, alternatively, is it time to stop and rest and see if that roadblock will clear itself with a little time and patience?

In keeping with the Mourning Moon moniker, this could be a good time for reflection and remembrance. Think back on what you’ve built this year and take time to be proud of yourself. Remember what is dear to you, take a moment to miss someone who is gone, and consider rekindling bonds that may have lapsed or grown tenuous during the hustle and bustle of daily life. It’s always a good time to tell someone you love them.

On a practical note, if you have pets that regularly stay outdoors overnight, start bringing them inside or make sure they have a shelter that is properly warm, clean, and secure against human or animal intruders. If it’s too chilly for you to be out without a coat, it’s too chilly for the critters, fur or no fur. PLEASE do not leave your furry friends out in the cold!

What Witchy Things Can We Do?

As we prepare for winter, this is an excellent time to shore up those magical protections. Check on your longterm spells to see if they need refreshing, or just go ahead and do a quick cleanse-and-reclaim as a proactive measure. Even if everything is solid, practice your technique by shoring up points of egress or adding a new layer to the existing wards or trying a new visualization or method for personal protections. Create a new charm or talisman to carry you through the winter or make something festive and decorative that could be given as a gift.

On the subject of cleansing, this is a good time to clear out any stale or disruptive energy that might be lingering from the recent change of seasons. Solstices can be times of transformation, but change is rarely a calm or peaceful process and it brings its’ own set of challenges and upheavals. If things have gotten a little more chaotic than you’d like, take a moment to put your house in order, metaphysically speaking.

If you’re partial to jar spells, consider putting one together to help maintain safety and abundance through the winter months. If you’re going to be traveling for the upcoming holidays, a bit of luck and protection for the journey wouldn’t go amiss either.

If you've been working any longterm magic over the past few months to coincide with the abundance of supermoons, this is the time to bring your working to a culmination. Finish setting things in motion, tie up loose ends, close loopholes, and send your magic out into the world. Be sure to document what you've done and when and what methods you used, as well as any indicators of success to look for later if (and hopefully when) tangible results begin to appear.

Try a frost divination. If your area is starting to see overnight frosts, take a moment in the morning to examine the patterns that the frost leaves on the windows of your home or vehicle. Do you see any patterns or images in the ice crystals? Check the weather forecast and whisper a question into the wind when the overnight temps will drop below freezing. Then in the morning, see if there’s an answer waiting for you!

Happy Frost Moon, witches! 🌕❄

Further Reading:

Additional Lunar Calendar posts

Beaver Moon Magic: November’s Vibrant Moon Meaning in 2024, The Peculiar Brunette.

Beaver Moon: Full Moon in November 2024, The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Beaver Full Moon in November - Buckle and Hocken, TimeAndDate.com.

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison, Llewellyn Publications, 2004.

Image Source - ABC News.

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

[tenosit]

Given it was an so-called International meeting, it is Russia just blatantly advertising its imperialism as an ideological and temporal chimera, where under each flag atrocities were made...

But it is also funny that Russia's only true friends are "I, Me and Myself".

In Saint Petersburg, Russia, the authorities raised the flags of the Russian Empire, the USSR, and the Russian Federation on 180 metre tall flagpoles.

In the minds of the Russians these three states are one and the same entity: Russia.

We in the rest of the world can bother saying that there are fundamental difference between these three states, but for the Russians the differences are superficial, they consider them to be fundamentally the same country, just under different management.

[damnfandomproblems]

respond to a reply on this post: https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/758279107941466112/fandom-problem-5461-cishet-being-used-to?source=share

"are you seriously equating making fun of a marginalized group to making fun of like, idk gender reveal parties or whatever people in your fandom make fun of cishets for doing? Like I don't mock people based on their sexuality but tell me that you do understand the difference between someone making fun of a marginalized group with a high suicide rate and someone poking fun at straight people.(Also, for the folks making racism comparisons: I'm white and when people make white people jokes about like, white people love avocado toast! White people love yoga and saying buddy! or whatever, 1) I don't mind 2) that's much different than a white person making fun of say, Black people.)"

As a poc, and specifically a queer (cisbi) native american (tlingit) who grew up around cishet white people, when it comes to online and fannish spaces I have noticed that people tend to cross the line from making harmless fun to just straight up expressing and encouraging hatred

While this is definitely a minority of people who believe and act out on these beliefs, there is a problem of people truly believing that cishet white people are all genuinely evil and inherently evil at that, and that the only way to "fix" (cleanse) the world of all problems would to be committed genocide in fandom spaces. They immediately assume the worse and dehumanize and rejected similarities they may share with cishet white people. It's absolutely prejudice and need to not only be called out, but utterly tossed in the bin

I get feeling uncomfortable or even wary of people who appart of the same kind of people who have oppressed you because you are not sure if they too have been indoctrinated into the bigotry, but we live in the modern era, more often then not you'll find that most cishet white people just don't care about poc and queer stuff

Cishet whites aren't responsible for crimes they weren't even alive for, that their ancestors committed. They are far more often ignorant because the education system is shit and has a lot racism/ableism/etc baked into foundation ontop of not really being how to do own research, then they are intentionally malicious and bigoted, and the best way to prevent them from being indoctrinated into bigotry is to just, expose them queers and poc who are chill with them and are willing to educate. Insulting them and assuming they want to hurt minorities just because they're cishet whites is the best way to push them into radical hands that will instead pain queers and poc as the ones who just want to hurt others for being cishet whites, because "obviously" why else would they immediately assume you want hurt them unless they want to hurt you?

Hating anyone for things they cannot control (race, gender, sexuality, etcetera) only breeds more hate. Yeah, don't tolerating bigots, but if genuinely can't stand a certain demographic of people ignore them rather then going out of your way to hate them. Educate if you can, or shut up when talking to people who haven't don't anything to you beyond offend your sensibly for committing the crime of being born a certain way, because otherwise you're just feeding into the genuinely malicious and bigoted peoples hands and making it easier for them to take the ignorant and make them malicious too

Hatred at the end of the day is hatred, sure, it might not be the racist or homophobic flavor of hatred, but it's still hatered. And no one should hate anyone, at least not for the things they can't control (because fuck pedos/rape-philies in general and murders and genuine racists of course, they can all go get shot, don't get me wrong and twist my words like I know some of y'all are just dying to do)

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[charring58]

This piece depicts #Thunderbird, a being in many Native communities stories. The design is in a traditional Tlingit style, but the glass form is modern. Historically Europeans traded glass beads with Native people, and we quickly adopted glass for ornamentation for clothing. Now we're working with hot glass ourselves-making the glass, shaping it, forming it. I like to think of it

[deathsmallcaps]

ATLA Modern USA Battle of the Bands AU - Katara focused. I thought this up in the car so it isn’t polished. Check out comradekatara’s AMV for what inspired this.

Katara is a 18 year old Tlingit girl who is part Makah on her grandmother's side. She just graduated high school.

Due to work, she hasn't seen her Dad for a while, as he's constantly traveling from Juneau to DC and back trying to get elected to Congress so he can pass more protections against the Oil companies in the area, especially the long standing Caldera Oil Company (COC). And between that, he has a job fishing, because he isn't rich. Gram Gram, not wanting to worry her son, doesn't tell him that there's been some suspicious businessmen who've recently bought the local bank and jacked up the mortgage and rental rates in the area, so that they might lose the house.

(Katara's mom worked in city hall and was the only one to know that COC had applied to drill and then found a major oil reserve right under their town. So she was murdered)

Sokka and Katara overhear Gram Gram talking about this with the other adults who are affected and are devestated. Of course, that's when a big dog walks into their lives. He's dirty, he looks like it hasn't been taken care of in a while, but Enamored, the siblings take him in.

That's when, of course, the 16 year old Tibetan-American John Doe wakes up at the local hospital, the only survivor of a terrible car wreck.

His name is Aang, he's a musical virtuoso, and his parents died for similar reasons like Katara's mom.

Unlike Katara's mom, his parents shared the info with him. The hit men thought he died.

Gram Gram is the only certified foster parent in town, so she takes him in. Aang reunites with his dog Appa joyously. He hasn't processed his parents' deaths yet.

The kids get to see Zuko (nickname for Zachary Sozinson, disgraced spare to the COC throne) threaten Gram Gram in their home. They manage to scare him and his bullies off, though not before they see recognition of Aang and then a regretful look on his face. The next morning, they see a commercial on TV - there's a rock music contest!

Three cities across the USA (Seattle, Chicago, DC) will have 'Diversity Bands*' battle for the chance to get out on records. Each band member has to be from a visibly different race.

The contest in Seattle needs a solo or duet act, the contest in Chicago two to three people, and the one in DC three to five people. Previous contestants are allowed to recompete as long as they add to their band.

There is also cash prizes for the second and third place winners for each city/category.

*yes it sounds very tokenizing and faux-left corporate and there's a good reason why narratively. Hold on.

Katara and Aang decide to hit the road, using what little savings he inherited from his parents and her money from her job during the school year. As she's only 18 and can't get hotel rooms, and Aang is still a minor, Sokka agrees to be their driver/ roadie/hotel dude when they can afford rooms. They rescue a raccoon kit along the way and name it Momo.

Shenanigans ensue, Zuko is kind of haunting them along the way, they can't tell if he's following them or if he's just going to the same place they are, etc. Aang stops by his old house only to find that it's been taken over by a COC worker who has been using/covering up his parents' proof papers.

The gaang convinces him to be a whistleblower as they leave. They also meet John John (Jeong Jeong), who they briefly consider adding to their band if they don't make it this round, and who is currently embroiled in a case against COC and thus needs to stay on the move for safety reasons.

He teaches Aang another instrument, though for once Aang REALLY doesn't take to it. Along the way they meet Suki, who is in a all girl band and is also going to compete, though they're going to wait until the Chicago contest so they all can get into the contract, etc. Sokka learns to respect girl bands.

Jet, who is also just going to go to the DC one for his big band, reveals to them that the record label is owned by COC, who wants to appear hip with the kids and not a conservative's wet, polluting dream. He feels that since he knows this stuff and how to defeat them (supposedly) he is justified in ruining other bands instead of winning honestly. That isn't good, obviously, so they distance themselves from him.

Eventually they make it to Seattle, Sokka and Katara are invited to stay with some Makah cousins they haven't seen since they were little.

Aang comes too of course, but isn't the reason they were invited in.

Katara learns more about music composition. There Sokka meets and falls in love with Yue, daughter of the mayor. She has to compete with her

'boyfriend' who is really just using her as a beard (consensually) but is very respected by her parents.

Zuko, who realized who Aang was and wants to capture him to bring him back to his Dad, so that there's less whistleblowers for COC, and thus regain his standing in the company, ends up wrecking their performance.

So 'the Gaang' only gets third place, but enough cash to let them squeak by until they reach Chicago. Yue gets first place, breaks up with her boyfriend, and ascends to star-(moon?)-dom. She is extremely busy and does not get to hang with the Gaang much for the rest of the series.

They travel to Chicago, Aang doesn't recognize his old friend Bumi from High school and gets teased relentlessly about it. Meanwhile, they're also looking for a third band member, Aang wants to learn a new instrument and Katara and Aang end up kissing, much to their embarrassment. Zuko and Iroh are on the road too, Zuko embarrassed by the even more public failure to help his father's business take down an individual with so much power to hurt COC (Aang). Similar plot lines with Jet, Azula and Katara's relationships with Zuko occur. Iroh opens a cafe.

Eventually, they make it to Chicago, where they see this 14 year old absolutely destroy everyone in a rap battle while ALSO playing drums. It's Toph! They trick her parents into letting her compete in the Chicago contest. Chicago is where COC wants to move their headquarters, and the local government wants their business, so many higher class people are in serious denial about their effect on the environment.

This time, the get second place, because Jet, who had been tortured for information by COC, manages to escape during their performance and cause a ruckus (he gets treated and reunited with his family don't worry).

Azula and Zuko (it's complicated like in the show) manage to take out Aang via a last minute stage mishap involving a heavy light falling on his head Iroh gets pinned for some COC crimes that Jet did manage to get public, Zuko returns to the top with Azula, etc. Suki's band wins and gets signed, but due to interference from Mai and Tai Lee, their contract is shittier than Yue's and they have to work a ton initially for low pay.

Toph's parents are NOT fans of how this turned out, but Toph's underground fans manage to placate her parents, and then they're on the road again.

Along the way Zuko has his change of heart, Iroh escapes, Katara's Dad is stuck in DC, Gram Gram might lose the house soon, and Aang is growing out his hair for the first time since his parents died. Katara meets Hama, who has a story pretty similar to both hers and how her mom died. When she hands Katara an [instrument] she modified to work as a poison dart gun who would ever check that for poison!] Katara hesitates to take it. She does end up taking it, but switches out the poison for a nerve stopper poison (I can't think of the right way to say it makes you fall asleep/unable to move for a while?).

Also Hama teaches her more music composition and really rounds out her skills lol.

(The painted lady episode WILL happen of course. If I ever write this.

It will probably happen in WV)(as will the school dance episode. Probably in. A rich area just outside DC)

Sokka learns to video edit and starts making music videos for the band. He also meets back up with Suki! Her initial hard-core tour is done, and she's taking a break from her band members for a bit.

When Zuko joins, he and Aang learn how to play his instrument best, he and Sokka finally visit Hakoda and tell him what's going on at home, and he and Katara track down her mom's killer. She poisons him, even keeping Hama's dart in hand just in case, but ultimately lets him live. Even though Zuko assures her he knows how to make it look like an accident. Aang learns how to write a very powerful song from an old person.

They win the big battle of the bands of course. COC then holds a concert to celebrate its 'new, future-forward clean image. There, Katara composes the music to Aang's song, and as their big finale, they play a song - with visualizer proof in the background on huge screens cut together by Sokka and partly by Hakoda) that exposes COC and Ozai.

The series ends with Zuko shifting the company to clean energy, Katara and Sokka returning home triumphant with Aang and his animals in tow, Hakoda gets elected, Toph lives independently and everyone gets to be happy. Except 'Oz' (Ozai) and kind of Azula.

[allgremlinart]

ok since a couple people were wondering in the tags I'll explain where I referenced Sokka and Yue's outfits from here under the cut :]

for Sokka I mostly referenced Aleut/Alutiiq/Unangan clothes (think Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Northwest Coast - thereabouts)

for Yue I referenced Haida/Tlingit/Northwest Coast clothes, specifically this gorgeous apron and shawl combo from the Stonington Gallery which u should soooo check out. I chose this inspo for Yue cus A) its gorge and B) there were like clearly Northwest inspired Totem Poles at the Northern Water Tribe so I wanted to include that element in my pre-uni designs instead of just Mongolian/Siberian elements (which I do loooove seeing in Yue fanart btw iykyk)

as with like. ALL of my atla fashion art I've clearly taken extreme creative liberties with the clothes, because essentially they're fantasy setting clothes and I'm not gonna act like they're not lol. you should def research Northwest Coast clothing if you're into clothes like I am tho because there's plenty of historical resources and modern artists out there

Also while I'm here... go watch Sgaawaay K'unna >:) its good

[o-craven-canto]

Medieval Persian folklore includes mention of two outstanding conquerors who invaded Iran from opposite directions: Eskandar of Rum, and Afrāsīāb of Turan.  Eskandar is known to be Alexander the Great ("Rūm" = "Rome" i.e. Greece).  But who on earth is this Afrāsīāb person?  "Turān" is the old Persian name for the Central Asian steppe.  But we know nothing of the Achaemenids' dealings with the people on their eastern borders; almost all of our knowledge comes from Greek writers who focused on the western portion of the empire.  Some think that Afrāsīāb is a fictional character (like another villain of the Shahnameh: the demon-king Zahhāk, who derives from the mythical dragon Aži Dahāka).  But I think it's also possible that he was a real person—perhaps some Scythian warlord—who fought against Persia and was remembered for it in Persian mytho-history. A good comparison here is with Attila the Hun, another would-be conqueror from the steppe.  Like Afrāsīāb, Attila was remembered and commemorated in the folk traditions of the local people—in this case, Germanic poems like Widsith, the Nibelungenlied, and the Poetic Edda.  The difference is that in Attila's case, we also have contemporary, reliable historical accounts which historians can use to corroborate (or not) the references to Attila in poetry: no need to uselessly speculate on who this mysterious "Atli" figure was or whether he existed.  No such corroborating witness exists for Afrāsīāb.  So we can't even know if he was real or mythical.

A modern Persian wanting to learn about the earliest history of his or her civilization is much better served by reading Herodotus than Ferdowsi.  Likewise, a modern Greek is going to get much better information about earliest Greece from the records of the Egyptians and Hittites than from the poetry of Homer.  Adopting a discerning eye towards different sources of historical evidence often means that the most accurate and reliable history of a culture doesn't come from that culture at all, but from outsiders—this is a point which modern commentators of Native American history often don't want to accept.  Who knows the most about the early Alaskan Tlingit?  People who can read Russian, that's who. The flipside, however, is that when documentation for a period is sparse, people can start to confuse lack of evidence for lack of incidence: "we don't know a lot about the eastern Persian Empire, so not a lot must have happened."  But that's not going to be the perspective of someone from ancient Persia—certainly not if they're from one of the eastern satrapies after their village has been sacked.  To assume that everything of significance that happened in Persia happened with Greece is to make the same mistake as that critic ("What is this to me, the duel between Iran and Turan?").  Modern histories of Persia ignore Afrāsīāb; they can only go where the evidence takes them.  But the Shahnameh apparently puts Afrāsīāb on roughly the same level as Eskandar—that fact might (might!) be a clue that something big did happen out on the eastern Persian frontier, which could be compared to Alexander's invasion.  Maybe.  The record is silent.

Trying to reconstruct the history of the frontier-beyond-the-frontier is a tricky business.  Sometimes you get lucky, like with the Kiowas (on whom more in a future post): where written history, oral history, archaeology, linguistics, and winter counts all come together to form a coherent picture of the Kiowa past which reaches back a thousand years.  And sometimes you get unlucky, like with the Arapahoes, who are invisible to the archaeological record and whose early history is a giant mystery.  And then there are enigmas, like the Suhtai, on whom all a person can really do is guess.  All of this is of course highly relevant to any attempt at making a map of peoples who lived beyond the reach of recorded history.  Crumbs... And as for the Bloody Falls Massacre: the Wikipedia article tells me that "in 1996, Dene and Inuit representatives participated in a healing ceremony to reconcile the centuries-old grievance."  I can't really argue with that, I suppose.  Healing is good, reconciliation is good. But it is hard to hold a healing ceremony for a massacre that nobody remembers.  Did you take notice of the fact that it has a name: "the Bloody Falls Massacre"?  Why?  Who named it that?  Do you suppose it would it have a name, or be remembered at all, among the Chipewyans, still to this day, after 248 years, if no one had been there to write it down?  Perhaps... but I'm inclined to think likely not.  It was just one raid, after all.  One among thousands of sanguinary struggles that took place on the lonely tundras, of which the world knows not.

[terranautica]

welcome!

this blog loves planet earth and the people in it.

some notes:

I generally try to identify places + groups

I try to make conscious decisions about tags that respect cultural identities, consider historical context and reject imperialism. I realize this is impossible and messy and doomed to be inconsistent. choices I've made include one Korea, one Ireland, and multiple tags for separatist states, i.e. Scotland, Catalan Countries.

I am currently unsure when or if it makes sense to tag the "bigger" nation in a post about an autonomous region, ex. China and Tibet, Faroe Islands and Denmark. I want to respect widespread independence movements, but also not become bloated with regional tags. Tibet deserves to be free of China but I have to laugh at modern Texas separatism.

Israel does not get a tag. Jewish diaspora, Free Palestine, genocide, USA, or anti imperialism are used.

I am not always sure when to use the indigenous peoples tag. if I am unsure I will probably leave it out.

except the history and prehistory tag, I currently am not tagging things that no longer exist, ex. Soviet Union, Roman Empire. I may instead tag with related tags, ex. Russia, Greece

Tags like EU, UK, Africa, Asia, Latin American, Polynesian, etc. are used in posts that refer to many places/groups collectively ex. Lunar New Year in Asia

I try to tag the country/group that an artist/writer/creator belongs to, ex. a post featuring Baldwin tagged with USA, literature, black diaspora

tags are ever-evolving!

country/place tags:

Africa, Albania, Angolia, Argentina, Armenia, Asia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Catalan Countries, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Emirates, Estonia, Ethiopia, EU, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Haiti, Hawai'i, Hungary, Iberia, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, free Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, free Tibet, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Wales, West Papau, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

diaspora + ethnic group + cultural group tags:

Ainu, Apache, Bahá'í, Basque, Black diaspora, Chechen, Choctaw, Chulym, Dakota, Dharumbal, Dolgan, Galician, Gavião, Guarani-Kaiowá, Hui, Igbo, immigrants, Ingorot, Inuit, Ixil, Jewish diaspora, Karakalpak, Kashmir, Kazakh, Ket, Khakas, Lakota, Latin American, Lezgin, Mah Meri, Maka, Makonda, Mari, Mohegan, Ojibwe, Pataxo, Polynesian, Pueblo peoples, Purepecha, Q'eqchi', Rapa Nui, Rohingya, Romani, Rukai, Ryukyuan, Sakapultek, Samburu, Sámi, Selkup, Sioux, Tamil, Tatar, Tigray, Tlingit, Tokalau, Uyghur, Yazidi

culture + other tags:

agriculture, airports, animals and wildlife, architecture, art, children, clothing and textiles, dance, ecology and environmentalism, festivals and holidays, film and tv, food, geopolitics, history, infrastructure, language, literature, maps, music, myth and legend, my posts, nature, prehistory, postcards and stamps, public transportation, religions and belief systems, solidarity, sports and games, traditions and customs, true spirit of the blog, urban landscape, water and boats, women

ugly tags:

acab, anti capitalism, anti imperialism, anti misogyny, anti xenophobia, genocide

[rabbitcruiser]

Nass River, BC (No. 2)

The last 40 km (25 mi) of the river are navigable. The river is a commercially valuable salmon fishery. The basin of the Nass is the location of the first modern-day treaty settlement in British Columbia, between the government of that province and the Nisga'a Nation. The name Nisga'a is a reduced form of [naːsqaʔ], which is a loan from Tongass Tlingit, where it means "people of the Nass River".

On the term:

Archdeacon W. H. Collison, an authority on this subject, and who has resided at Kincolith, Nass bay, since 1883, states as follows: - "The term Nass is from the Tlingit tongue, and when, as was probable, the Tlingits from Tongass, at the entrance to Observatory inlet, met Captain Vancouver they gave him their name for the river, i.e., Nass, which means literally "the stomach," from the fact that their food supplies of salmon, oolachan.. a noted fishery."

Nass River Bridge carries Highway 37 over the river

About 220 years ago, as recorded by the oral history of the Nisga'a people, the Nass River was dammed by a 22.5 km (14.0 mi) long lava flow which came from the Tseax Cone and destroyed the Nisga'a villages and caused the death of at least 2000 Nisga'a people by volcanic gas and poisonous smoke. The volcano has been active on at least two occasions (220 and 650 years ago) in the last millennium. Because of our knowledge of this previous disaster, modern monitoring techniques should include studies of the gases emitted by the volcanoes and the institution of a warning system to alert people living down slope from the volcanoes.

Source: Wikipedia

[spann-stann]

Setting Blurb: The Cascadia MacroCommunity

Because @hawkin-byrd asked.

The sieges of Chicago and St. Louis were bloodbaths.

The first Emperor, Ignacio I Rotthey, lost his firstborn in the South Africa incorporation.

Cascadia, was the first region where the soon-to-be Emperor lost a close friend. And took it out on the vanquished.

Cascadia was, prior to its incorporation into the League, home to several strong protostates organized around non-Imperial ideas following the Collapse and Warlord period of the post-WWIII world. As likeminded strongmen in North America came to talks and proposed unification, the protostates in Cascadia, allied with Chicago, other parts of Canadian, and New York to counter the warlords' potential expansion. Ignacio, then simply a Texan tribal chieftain, used this alliance as a means of solidifying the warlords' coalition and pave the way for what would evolve into the modern Imperial League. The warlords' coalition, known then as "The League" declared war on the rivals.

While inspecting the frontlines in a convoy near Portland, an IED detonated, killing one of Ignacio's closest friends. Enraged at the act, Ignacio ordered League troops to show little-to-no quarter on the opposing forces in Portland, and to impose a victor's justice on the rest of Cascadia. Once the region was pacified, reconstruction began. Cascadia was one of the first "National Delimitation Zones", territory that was to be dissected by anthropologists and ethnographers to create provinces along ethnoterritorial lines. Unlike other NDZs, Ignacio applied a "personal touch" with the population transfers and border delimitation, particularly towards those that showed the most resistance.

Blood Guard Landhold: In the aftermath of the IED attack killing his best friend, Ignacio awarded all survivors a new award, the Blood Diamond. Awardees of the Blood Diamond (and their descendants) were then organized into the first bodyguard unit to defend the future Imperial Household: the Blood Guard. The Williamite Valley (including the ruins of Portland) were given as a fief to the Blood Guard and would serve as the blueprint for the many Land Force Demesnes scattered throughout Imperial territory. Unlike other LFDs, martial tribes do not muster to prove their worth as Soldiers. Only recipients of the Blood Diamond, or a descendant can join the Blood Guard.

Commonality of the Isles and North: The First Nations of Canada and Alaska were spared the more excessive portions of the delimitation of Cascadia, so long as they quickly handed over any survivors from the conquests Seattle and Vancouver. The Haida and Tlingit ended up forming the predominant leadership of the Commonality.

Cleurchies of New Baktria and Tir Na Nog: Carved out from the Columbia Mountains and Snake River valley, respectively, the two Cleurchies were created to house military veterans from the many wars of the early Imperial League. Those original inhabitants that were not relocated simply adapted to becoming specialized Attendant Laborclades. New Baktria was meant for veterans across the League, and Tir Na Nog for fighters from the Hispano-Gaelic movement (of which Ignacio was a part of).

Principality of Anderson: The capitol region of the MacroCommunity, the territory around the Columbia Plateau was named after the friend of Ignacio killed in the Cascadia campaign. Before the Human-Crystalline War and the nuclear devastation of the Earth, the member of the Imperial Family most likely to be declared heir would be given the title "Prince of Anderson".

Sino-Salish Commonality: The Commonality surrounding Seattle and Vancouver serves as the homeland for the Chinese-Canadians and the Salish-speaking First Nations native to the region. While most members of the communities keep to themselves, a small admixture has formed from the two groups.

Cordons Sanitaire Seattle and Vancouver: The two cities that put up the most resistance to the warlords' seizure of Cascadia (excepting what remained Portland) and the areas between them were used as "open air internment camps" to house the League-to-be's vanquished enemies. These cities were then "granted" independence, and serve as "Cordons Sanitate" for anti-Imperial thought. Anti-Imperials from Southwest Asia and Eurasia were relocated to the Cascadian Cordons.

[breelandwalker]

Buck Moon - July 20-21, 2024

Put on your flower crowns and your walking shoes - it’s time for the Buck Moon!

Buck Moon 🦌

The Buck Moon is the name given to the full moon in the month of July and is called this because at this time of year, the rack of antlers previously shed by male deer are beginning to regrow and harden in preparation for the fall rutting season. 

Other North American Indigenous names for this moon include Salmon Moon (Tlingit), Berry Moon (Anishinaabe), Month of the Ripe Corn Moon (Cherokee), and Raspberry Moon (Algonquin, Ojibwe). The West Abenaki also call this the Thunder Moon in reference to the often-stormy summer weather. (This one is my personal favorite and the name appears in lunar calendars just as often as the Buck Moon.)

European names for the July moon include Hay Moon and Wort Moon, and it should be noted that the name Stag Moon does appear in some European sources as well.

This year's Buck Moon will be at peak illumination at 6:17am EST on July 21st, so the moon will appear to be full on both the 20th and 21st. Also, it's a weekend, so plan your festivities accordingly!

What Does It Mean For Witches? 🦌

The July full moon continues June’s template of planning for the future, this time with a focus on your passions and ambitions. Reflect on what you’ve accomplished so far this year and plan your next step.

Dream big and plan big, but don’t give in to reckless urgency. Summer (and capitalist grind culture) gives us the urge to Go Go Go. Despite all this, it’s important to take time to rest and recharge, lest we find ourselves burning out and losing our motivation.

What Witchy Things Can We Do? 🦌

Celebrate your victories and revel in the abundance of the summer season. If you’re inclined to do so, take a page from the deer and do a bit of prancing around a bonfire or your favorite flower arbor with some festive flowery headgear.

Go exploring! Find a local park or garden and take a stroll among the greenery, or use TV and the internet to explore and learn about faraway places. This is another opportune time to go and check out pick-your-own farms and farmers markets as well. Sharpen your foraging and plant identification skills while you’re out and about!

If you’re tending a garden, harvest some herbs and investigate what you can make with them. Whether it’s seasoning for meals, homemade botanical products, or just helpful spell ingredients, many herbs and flowers have a plethora of uses. As an exercise, select three plants growing in your yard or garden, research their magical correspondences and botanical properties, and try to think of as many ways as possible to use each one for witchcraft and for practical purposes. For extra credit, pick something native to your area that doesn't appear in the western magical canon and use its' physical, folkloric, and historical associations to create something new!

(Safety Note: Always clean and prepare home-harvested herbs properly before using them for kitchen, bath, or medical preparations. Always be sure to properly identify any wildcrafted or foraged plants. Always consult a doctor before trying an herbal treatment and take all allergies, medications, and pre-existing conditions into account. Please also note that while herbal treatments can be helpful, it can have negative interactions and side effects just like any other medication, and it is not meant to be a replacement for modern medical care.)

Apart from the usual full-moon festivities, I’ve always found this is an excellent time for weather-witching. Summer weather is notoriously fickle, but it is also highly malleable - one recalls that old American Southern epithet of, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”

If you’re hoping to bring some rain to water your garden or break the back of a heat wave, this may be the time to do it. My personal favorite folk magic ritual for rain-calling involves going outside with a broom and a bucket of water, using the broom to scatter drops of water over your yard, and shouting up to the clouds, “SEE? IT’S NOT HARD!”

Make sure you take local weather patterns into account and try to draw on existing fronts and nearby precipitation to get the desired result. And keep in mind that with weather magic, less is more and one casting is enough. Asking for too much or asking too often can produce undesirable results. And if you manage to make it rain, be sure to collect some for moon water!

If you’re interested in weather-witching, I highly recommend checking out this masterpost by @stormbornwitch for a number of excellent articles and suggestions.

Happy Buck Moon, witches! 🌕🦌

Sources and Further Reading:

Bree’s Lunar Calendar Series

Bree’s Secular Celebrations Series

Witchcraft Exercise - Creating Correspondences

Buck Moon: Full Moon in July 2024, The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Buck Moon Bonanza: Embrace July’s Massive Energy!, The Peculiar Brunette.

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison.

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

[minecraft-llama]

Chess Blog Day #38 - Chess and Its Family

Although there still remains some debate on whether chess originated in India or Persia, most historians believe chess to have originated in India.

The common ancestor of chess-like games would then be Chaturanga.

"Chaturanga" literally means "four divisions". The four divisions were infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariotry. These would later become the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook.

Chaturanga was played on an 8x8 board but this board wasn't checkered like a chessboard.

Chaturanga was probably the earliest game to have two things that chess has that other board games like Go don't: Different pieces with different powers, and a single piece that the game centres around trapping (a "king").

Chaturanga was then introduced to Persia (modern Iran) and became Chatrang, which was eventually given the Arabic name Shatranj.

In Chaturanga the king could be captured. Persian players must have decided that this was no fun because at some point in the 700s the rules of Shatranj were changed so that you couldn't put yourself in check and had to move out of it.

Shatranj had the king, knight and rook equivalents move the way they do to this day; but the pawn, queen and bishop equivalents were much less powerful.

This didn't entirely solve the problem of instantly losing games via a silly mistake though, as any online blitz player will attest. Oh well.

Players also had to announce "shāh" (meaning "king", the origin of the modern "check") when they attacked their opponent's king. And of course they also had to declare "Shāh Māt!" ("the king is dead!"), the origin of the modern checkmate.

Later on they started to engrave half of the squares and the iconic checkerboard came into play.

Shatranj sets are typically more minimalist than Chaturanga sets, likely because of the Muslim ban on idolatry that we mentioned yesterday.

Here's a Chaturanga set (left) compared to a Shatranj set.

Before we continue down the descent of chess, we need to take a look at its cousins.

Chinese chess, xiangqi, is thought to be derived from Chaturanga. There are some niche historical theories that it was the other way around, but these aren't well supported. It has the two properties of a chess-like game that we mentioned before - a "king" and pieces with different moves. Xiangqi doesn't have squares though. Pieces are placed on intersections like in Go.

Shogi, or Japanese chess, is also thought to be derived from Chaturanga and may have been invented in India. Some historians even believe that it was originally played with 3D Chaturanga pieces and not the 2D set that it is today. Shogi has the interesting property of being able to use your opponent's pieces after you capture them, reflected in the western variant of bughouse chess.

One theory is that this rule was added at a time in Japanese history when there were a lot of mercenary fighters switching loyalties.

Makruk, or Thai chess, is another Chaturanga derivative. It's actually much more similar to Chaturanga than Chinese or Japanese chess, and is probably the closest thing to Chaturanga still played today aside from chess itself.

In fact Chaturanga derivatives spread so far east that they reached what is now the USA, as chess-like pieces have been found belonging to the Tlingit people of Alaska.

Back to chess.

Eventually Shatranj was introduced to Europe and became associated with violence, revelry and gambling (I know). The historical cultural impact of chess could be its own blog post.

Eventually chess became more prestigious and associated with knights and royalty, who played with ornate pieces. Christian cultures didn't have the same issues with idolatry at that point in history and began making the sort of elaborate sets we saw yesterday.

At this point the rules hadn't really changed from Shatranj.

There were a couple of early European rule changes though. Pawns were allowed to move two squares on their first move and en passant was added to balance this out. King and queens could jump on their first move (queens were still weak and king jumping eventually became castling).

People also experimented with the idea of setting up the pieces behind the pawns however they wanted, although this never caught on.

Then around 1500 AD the Spanish came along and decided that chess was just too slow. They decided that bishops and queens should have the move ability that they do today.

This was initially called "Mad Queen Chess" or "Chess with the madwoman".

This update spread like wildfire though because clearly everyone found it led to much more action.

Finally in the 1800s the modern rule around stalemate was added, castling was standardised, and all later rule changes like threefold repetition were more technical in nature.

We talked a little bit about the rule changes over history, but some of them are quite interesting so it's worth looking into them in more detail.

Tomorrow: The rules of chess's ancestors.

[xtruss]

This Legendary Polynesian Canoe Will Sail 43,000 Miles, From Alaska to Tahiti

The crew of the Hōkūleʻa is embarking on an arduous 47-month journey across the Pacific Rim.

— By Jill K. Robinson | June 7, 2023

In this 2013 photo, the Hōkūleʻa crew trains in the ancient art of Polynesian wayfinding—navigating without modern tools. The Hōkūleʻa and her sister canoe, the Hikianalia, will embark on a circumnavigation of the Pacific in 2023, connecting Polynesian cultures and highlighting ocean conservation along the way. Photograph By Paul Nicklen, National Geographic Image Collection

The feat of Polynesian wayfinding—navigating by stars, wind, and waves—had long been discounted by scholars on the grounds that ancient Polynesians didn’t have the knowledge to be master navigators. But in 1976, a traditional 62-foot, double-hull voyaging canoe called Hōkūleʻa sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti with a crew of 15, proving that the old ways were more than enough to carry people across the vast ocean.

Now, the next generation of Polynesian wayfarers is stepping up and getting onboard. Beginning June 15 in Alaska, Hōkūleʻa and her sister canoe Hikianalia will set off on a 43,000-nautical-mile, 47-month circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean. The journey will take them to 36 countries and archipelagoes, nearly a hundred Indigenous territories, and 345 ports. There’ll be about 12 crew on each canoe at a time, switching out about every four weeks, for a total of 400 crew members over four years.

Here’s what to know about this epic voyage.

Hōkūleʻa’s History

Named after Arcturus, the zenith star of the Hawaiian Islands, Hōkūleʻa (“star of gladness”) was conceived and built by the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS). This Honolulu, Hawaii-based organization was established to research the means by which Polynesian seafarers found and settled on islands within the immense Pacific Ocean. Since her first voyage, Hōkūleʻa has traveled throughout the globe. Its founders want to explore and reclaim Polynesian culture, traditions, and relationship to both home and the planet.

“Hōkūleʻa allows us to find the connection that a lot of people believed was lost,” says National Geographic explorer Lehua Kamalu, Hōkūleʻa’s first female captain and the voyaging director of PVS.

The Moananuiākea Voyage

Hōkūleʻa’s Moananuiākea (“the vast Pacific”) Voyage embarks this month from Alaska due to a partnership that began in 1990. At that time, the Polynesian Voyaging Society approached the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples of the Sealaska Corporation after searching unsuccessfully for koa logs large enough to build a Hawaiian voyaging canoe from traditional native materials. The nonprofit Alaska Native conservation group gifted the society two Sitka spruce logs.

“That’s why we’re starting in Alaska,” says Randie Fong, leader of ʻAha Moananuiākea Pacific Consortium. “It’s important when we travel that we acknowledge the global Indigenous community and our traditional systems in the pursuit of solutions to climate change and the restoration of our oceans and landscapes.”

“We wanted to bring it all home to the Pacific, because our culture is here,” says navigator and PVS president Nainoa Thompson. “We know that the great systems of the planet are connected. We don’t have a number of different oceans. They’re all one.”

The Hōkūleʻa is a 62-foot waʻa kaulua, a double-hull voyaging canoe open to the elements. “While it helps that I’ve sailed her and understand how she works, in bad conditions you’re in survival mode,” says Captain Lehua Kamalu. Photograph By Paul Nicklen, National Geographic Image Collection

How to Follow the Hōkūleʻa

As Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia journey on the Moananuiākea Voyage, their paths will be tracked on Hokulea.com so anyone can follow along. The website will also post specific port dates throughout the journey.

From Alaska, the canoes sail along the west coasts of North and South America, through Polynesia and north along the West Pacific. Hōkūleʻa will then be shipped from Japan to Los Angeles to sail home to Hawaii. From there, it will voyage to Tahiti in the spring of 2027.

“The ocean will do what it wants,” says Kamalu. “Hōkūleʻa is an open vessel, so we’re highly exposed and there’s no way to hide from heavy weather. Your skin may be soggy for days.”

While the crew will most certainly face challenges along the way, the measure of success isn’t about how much hardship they can take, but what they’re responsible for—making sure that the next generation of wayfinders can take things even farther.

To that end, the Polynesian Voyaging Society has also launched Wa’a Honua, the Canoe for the Earth. The virtual global hub is meant to inspire people to become future navigators for the planet. “This voyage and its impacts reach far beyond the crew that sails,” says Kamalu.

Hōkūleʻa will likely be at sea for the canoe’s 50th anniversary, on May 1, 2026. But there’s no rush to get to a specific destination for that day. “The beauty of voyaging is not to go fast,” says Thompson. “It’s to go slow and take your time. You can’t look up at the stars and tell where you are. In this kind of navigation, you only know where you are by memorizing where you sailed from.”

[ranger-kellyn]

Nice!

What other kinds of food do the tribes make?

haha, admittedly, i'm not well versed in any of the foods across all the tribes. frybread is just a bit of a special case in that it's something we all tend to share. the foods from east coast tribes, to west coast tribes, to the tribes in the plains, and even tribes from different parts of alaska all vary so much.

one thing i know that links most coastal tribes is fish, salmon in particular. east and west coast! (though in my opinion, pacific salmon is a million times better than atlantic salmon-- atlantic salmon tends to be way more fishy than pacific haha)

but then there's differences even within tribes depending on if you grew up on the reservation or in a village, or outside one. my family is all "city natives". my uncle who grew up in the village loves to give the family grief for being city natives, even though the city in question was sitka, alaska and like........it's not a City-city lmao

the only tribe i'm comfortable saying anything regarding food is my own, and even then, only more "modern" methods from my family specifically. if i were to ask my family to give my friend a "tlingit meal experience" it would absolutely include fresh (or only recently frozen) salmon and halibut. the salmon itself would depend on whatever is running, pinks, kings (chinook), coho (silvers), or sockeye. I personally don't have a preference, but my family insists king salmon is the best. the salmon would be grilled, and the halibut baked. if they thought i was trying to "impress" my friend, they would probably even serve halibut cheeks (the best cut off of the fish, and the most expensive cut). if the family was lucky with the crab pots, probably some king crab or snow crab depending on the season. herring eggs, which is one of my absolute favorites but ONLY when it's hot and fresh. the second they start cooling down they're disgusting lol. it's hard to describe the flavor, since the eggs are harvested by putting hemlock branches in the water for them to lay the eggs on, then boiled and like. doused in butter. it's a very mild fish and herb taste, and the texture is pretty fun. moose meat of some kind. usually my family does moose burgers, but sometimes moose sausages. reindeer sausages are usually made with breakfast, but i don't really care for them since my uncle always overcooks them and they're dry. rice with all of it. probably dried seaweed, too, but that one it always hit or miss for me. idk what it is about the different places my aunties harvest it from, but sometimes it's super fishy and strong, and other times it's nice and i enjoy it. and then berries. Salmonberries and blueberries, usually. Salmonberries are a type of wild raspberry. i love picking them in the summer, the family usually makes a whole day of it. in the summers we have them fresh in a bowl with sugar and evaporated milk, or on top of salads. most of it goes to making salmonberry jam, though. super sweet and one of my favorites. if the berries are frozen, they'll make this...jell-o salad? it's like, raspberry and cherry jell-o, and a few other things. i'm. not sure. i've only eaten it, never made it lmao. my REAL favorite is when my auntie makes a cheesecake that's topped with a salmonberry reduction. the blueberries are so interesting bc like...store-bought blueberries just do not taste the same. wild blueberries taste so much better. we usually just make them into jam, or have them fresh on salads.....or my aunties torment me by making blueberry pancakes (which is a post for a different day lmaO)

other foods that i know i've seen during different potlatchs would be fish stew, fish head stew, fish heads, (we don't waste any part of the animals we consume lol--like basically every tribe, we value being stewards of the land. we never owned the land, we belonged to the land) seal, seal oil, clams, oysters, a million different ways to prepare kelp, and just about a million different ways to prepare any of the meats i mentioned, along with plenty of other things that are maybe more family specific haha

[petercookportlandtoalaska]

Sat May 25, 2024, Whitehorse to Cowley to Carcross, Yukon to Fraser and Skagway, Alaska, and back again, 350 kms.

We're spending an extra day in Whitehorse, so most of us are doing a day trip to Skagway.

It's a luxurious 9:30 AM start in the usual low 40° weather and dry, so great riding conditions.

We take Hwy 1 south to Cowley, where we pick up Hwy 2 to Skagway. It's a beautiful ride with breathtaking valleys, rivers, mountains, and lakes. I resolve to take my time today and take lots of pictures. It's a decision I won't regret.

Just before the border into Alaska, we come to Carcross. Originally known as Naataase Heen (Tagish for ‘water running through the narrows’) the town was known as Caribou Crossing after the migration of huge numbers of caribou across the natural land bridge between Lake Bennett and Nares Lake. That caribou herd was decimated during the Klondike Gold Rush, but a recovery program raised the number of animals to about 450. The modern village began in 1896, during the Klondike Gold Rush. At the time, Caribou Crossing was a popular stopping place for prospectors going to and from the gold fields of Dawson City.

Caribou Crossing was also a station for the Royal Mail and the Dominion Telegraph Line, and it served as a communications point on the Yukon River.

In 1904, Caribou Crossing was renamed Carcross as a result of some mail mix-ups with the Cariboo Regional District in nearby British Columbia.

Just beyond Carcross lies Conrad and then the Alaska border. Passport in hand we pass through Fraser and then Skagway, famous for its role in the Klondike Gold Rush. It is decidedly more snowy and wintery this side of the border, and as we ride on the temperatures dip into the low 40°s.

In less than an hour, we are in Skagway, among other things, an important port during the Klondike Gold Rush. The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad, part of the area's mining past, is now in operation purely for the tourist trade and runs throughout the summer months. Located at the top of the Chilkoot Inlet, it is also a popular stop for cruise ships, and the tourist trade is a big part of the business of Skagway. Skagway is also part of the setting for Jack London's book The Call of the Wild, Will Hobbs's book Jason's Gold, and for Joe Haldeman's novel, Guardian. The John Wayne film North to Alaska (1960) was also filmed nearby.

The name Skagway is the English divergent of sha-ka-ԍéi, a Tlingit idiom which figuratively refers to rough seas in the Taiya Inlet, which are caused by strong north winds.

The town holds a host of historical buildings and landmarks, and we have lunch at one of them, the Red Onion saloon and bordello. It's an entertaining spot with waitresses dressed in period costumes and guided tours of the rooms upstairs.

After lunch, we head back, and I continue with my leisurely ride intentions. I stop in at the Yukon Suspension bridge and am treated to some impressive views over the white-water rapids of the Tutshi River and a swaying journey across the bridge 65 feet above the rapids below.

Soon enough, I'm back in Whitehorse for another evening of tailgate, dinner, blogging, and a shower. Big day tomorrow. Over 600 kms, some challenging roads, and our last and final entry into Alaska and our final destination, Anchorage.