For two months, staff in the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Community & Behavioral Services (CBS) Division worked on a button blanket for the Anchorage Museum’s Good Medicine exhibit.

 

The cream-colored blanket has a deep red border. The interior is lined with different shapes of seaweed. The back of the blanket has the CBS Healing Center logo designed by Miciana Hutcherson and is lined with genuine abalone buttons. The clasp is a s’áxt (Devil’s club) leaf which is a traditional healing medicine for Indigenous people in Southeast Alaska.

 

“This blanket will be used as a part of healing and ceremony as people move on their journey to wrap them and hold them up as they continue to heal, because healing is a lifelong journey,” said CBS Senior Director Dr. Tina Woods.

 

On October 25, the CBS Healing Center team held a special private ceremony to dance the robe to life. 

 

“Our culture does heal. It’s what binds us; it’s who we are. And in it is the hope we can be what our ancestors were,” said President Richard Chalyee éesh Peterson.

 

Gunalchéesh, Háw’aa to cultural regalia artist Maria Abbott who mentored the team and helped with their design and technique. Altogether, she and the CBS healers logged nearly 300 hours working on the blanket.

 

“It’s a piece of artwork that will hopefully be around for generations to come and go through a lot of healing for a lot of us,” Abbott shared.

 

The blanket will be on display at the Anchorage Museum during the month of December.