“Tsu héidei shugaxhtootáan yá yaakhoosgé daakeit haa jeex’ a nakh has kawdik’éet’.
"We will again open this container of wisdom that has been left in our care."
~ George Davis, May 29, 1980 Sealaska Eldersʼ Conference: Elders Speak to the Future
Haa Ḵusteeyí: Our Way of Life
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Subject: Music
Grades: K - 5 Length: 7 Lessons, 45 min. each |
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"Our language is endangered, yes, but you will not break it. The only way to kill it off is to not speak it, and the only way to keep it alive is to speak it. As a speaker of this language, you are the most sacred thing to the Tlingit thought-world. You are the link between everything we have ever been and everything we are about to become. You are a gift. You are sacred. You will rebuild a house for our grandchildren, and teach them the stories that exist in the gáasʼ (houseposts), the x̲ʼéen (house screen). No matter what has ever happened or been said to or about you, you are just what we need." ~ X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell