Ravens in Native American mythology
Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nations throughout the region but are most prominent in the tales of the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit and Tahltan people.
Raven's tales are passed down through the generations of story tellers of the people and are of cultural and historical significance.
[2]: 394–395 Raven's creative nature shows itself through circumstance rather than intent, through the desire to satisfy his own needs, rather than any altruistic principles.
Tales that feature the Raven as the hero are specific to areas in the north of the continent such as northern British Columbia[3] and Alaska and their peoples,[2]: 387 such as the Tsimshian[2]: 397 and the Haida.
Similar tales about Kutkh appear in Chukchi cultures in the north-east of Asia and it is probable that they are influenced by Native American stories.
[2]: 383–384 The Haida people credits Raven with finding the first humans hiding in a clam shell; he brought them berries and salmon.
[2]: 395–397 Athabaskan is the language family of several contiguous dialects spoken by various peoples in Western Canada and the American West.
On hearing that light could be found hidden in a far-off land, Raven decides to travel there and steal it.
The daughter becomes pregnant and she gave birth to an unusual and fussy child who cries constantly and demands to touch one of the bundles which has been stored hanging from the walls.
When the child cries to have it back again he is given the second bundle to play with and lets it float away through the hole in the ceiling, thus releasing the moon.
[8]: 198 The Tahltan claim that Big-Crow was born miraculously as the youngest of many brothers in the northern Tlingit country and was raised speaking the local language.
When the uncle returned from his hunt, he saw that his wife had died and he intended to kill Raven again, but this time in rage rather than trickery.
[9] Later in life, when Raven had done all the work he could do, he travelled back out to the coastal regions guided by the setting sun until he disappeared mysteriously.
Once he realized who he was, he gathered up his strength and flew out of the darkness to a new place which he called earth, but he was still alone, so he decided to create plants.
Soon after, a woman came to be and Raven taught the both of them how to cloth themselves, build shelter, and make canoes to travel the water.
It had long black hair, a round head, brown smooth skin and two legs like Raven but no feathers.
[17] When he got bored with them, he considered returning them to their shell, but opted instead to find female counterparts of these male beings.
The raven found some female humans trapped in a chiton, freed them, and was entertained as the two sexes met and began to interact.
[13] One ancient story told on Haida Gwaii tells about how Raven helped to bring the Sun, Moon, Stars, Fresh Water, and Fire to the world:[19] Long ago, near the beginning of the world, Gray Eagle was the guardian of the Sun, Moon and Stars, of fresh water, and of fire.
When Raven saw the Sun, Moon and stars, and fresh water hanging on the sides of Eagle's lodge, he knew what he should do.
The Interior Miwok faction live primarily on the western side of the Sierra Nevada above the lower San Joaquin Valley.
[35]: 9 Quileute Indians were the southernmost group along the Pacific Coast whose mythology included several stories of the Raven.
[42] Raven continued using such trickery to bring water and stamp people, animals and other features in the world with certain characteristics.
In another version Raven puts ash on his tongue to fool the owner to believe his extreme thirst is unquenched.
[45] The two had been born in a kelp patch and adopted by a Chief's wife and a magical being from the region of Prince Rupert Harbour.
Txamsem, who could transform into anything, and often took the form of a human or bird, turned himself into a pine needle and was consumed by the daughter of the Chief who guarded daylight.
There are numerous stories, widely distributed which focus on the Raven myth and his adventures to satisfy his insatiable desire to obtain whatever he wants.
Throughout his many stories, Raven claims daylight, water, fire, the oceans waves, the olachen, salmon, the soil, and even the weather.
[53] In 2004, The Smithsonian Institution sponsored Chris Kientz to develop a series of half-hour animated television programs targeted at schoolchildren as an entertaining way of educating kids on Aboriginal folklore.
