"Raven’s Tail Dancer-1"
“The rich wrap themselves up sometimes in white blankets, manufactured in the country, from the wool of the wild sheep, which is as soft and as fine as the Spanish merino.  These blankets are embroidered with square fringes, and figures with black and yellow tassels.  Some of them are so curiously worked on one side with the fur of the sea otter, that they appear as if lined by it, and are very handsome.”  -- Iurii Fredorovich Lisianskii, Sitka Sound, 1805

“The Raven’s Tail robes must not be confused with the famous robes twined by the Tlingit known as the Chilkat Dancing Blankets.  The two styles differ greatly in execution and design.  The rectangular Raven’s Tail robes are marked by strong linear black and white patterns and sport thick, long tassels which hang pendant from the central design field.  In contrast, the five-sided Chilkat Dancing Blankets are decorated entirely with black, yellow, white, and blue curvilinear designs in the totemic genre.” -- Cheryl Samuel, The Raven’s Tail, 1992

"Raven’s Tail Dancer-2"
“From the testimony of those best informed, the first woven blanket was known as ‘tan’ or ‘thloak klee’ (‘worked-together blanket’), a combination of twisted cedar bark and the wool of the mountain-goat, showing a plain white field.  Then followed the introduction of color in geometric design, in which longitudinal stripes of the herringbone pattern appeared on the white field.  This was named Yel-ku uu [Yeil’ Koowu] (‘raven’s tail’) from the resemblance it bore to the vanes of the tail-feather of that bird.” -- Emmons 1911:  332

"Dancing Raven’s Tail Robe"
“Over 200 years ago, when Europeans first visited Tlingit waters in S.E. Alaska, weavers were making robes of exquisite beauty to adorn the wealthiest of their noble class. Patterned in bold black and white designs streaked with scintillating dashes of yellow, these robes of wild sheep wool predate the better-known Chilkat blankets. The robes sports thick, long tassels that hang pendant from the central design fields.  The tail of the Raven (yeil’ Koowu), a weaving design made up of crosses, half crosses, and open arms, each enclosed, is universal on each robe.  Cedar bark is twisted into the wool, and sea otter fur is used as trim, some have the fur woven into the robe as lining.”  -- Cheryl Samuel, weaver, author, 1987