Family

The family was the most important identity in Aleut life. Like the Athabaskan and Tlingit, Aleut society was matrilineal, tracing kinship through the mother. Women owned their homes and shared them with their brothers' families.  

Also similar to Athabaskans, the brother of a boy's mother was responsible for raising him starting in mid-childhood. The uncle's role was to train a boy in the skills necessary for hunting and paddling baidarkas, while the boy's father would be supportive from a distance. Aleut boys were trained from a young age to be expert paddlers and flexible and patient enough to endure long hours at sea in a baidarka.

Aleut women were taught from early childhood the arts of sewing and weaving to ensure their husbands were outfitted for hunting. Aleut sewing and weaving are among the most skilled of any traditional society in the world.