Kwakwaka'wakw mythology

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Kwakwaka'wakw house pole represening a female Dzunukwa, 19th century

The Kwakwaka'wakw are 18 First Nations who speak the Kwakwala language that live on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. It may be customary to refer to the legends and religious beliefs of non-Judeo-Christian Europeans as "mythology," but native American people do not usually refer to their beliefs in this fashion. This being understood, the title of the article does, in fact, represent common English usage nonetheless.

The Kwakwaka'wakw or Kwakiutl tribes belong to a broad cultural region commonly designated as the "Northwest Coast Indians." Many beliefs and customs are shared by tribes ranging from Alaska to Puget Sound, including all coastal areas of British Columbia. These peoples share beliefs in many of the same spirits and deities, although they speak different languages. Some spirits are however totally unique to one or two cultures and are not universally known throughout the Northwest Coast.

It is sometimes possible to trace a common spirit to one particular region where it originated and was disseminated to other regional cultures. On the one hand, Raven stories seem to originate in the northernmost cultures of the Northwest Coast region, and to have been assimilated into Kwakiutl beliefs under northern influences. On the other hand, the Hamatsa practices of the Kwakiutl seem to have spread northward and influenced the rest of the Northwest Coast cultures.

Kwakiutl spirituality is transmitted at solemn ceremonies, mostly during the winter season. These ceremonies are often referred to as potlatches. They are mostly designed for the transference, justification, and reaffirmation of family and spiritual status inherited from primeval ancestors who contacted the spirit world and were given priviledges from beings of a supernatural nature. These beings profer honor, power, and magic through the gift of Tlugwe, which are supernatural treasures, often taking the physical form of masks and regalia, but also comprising stories, songs, recitations, dances, and other intangible performances.

Kwakiutl spirits, like those of other Northwest Coast peoples, can be divided into four separate spirit realms, including sky spirits, sea spirits, earth spirits, and otherworldly spirits. All four realms interact with one another, and human beings attempt to contact all four worlds and often chanel their spirits at sacred ceremonies wherein dancers go into trances while wearing masks and other regalia associated with the spiritworld.

Tseiqami is Thunderbird, lord of the winter dance season, a giant eagle whose wing beats cause the thunder, and the flash of whose eyes causes lightening. Tseiqami hunts whales for its dinner out at sea, and sometimes used to help heroic ancestors build houses by placing giant cedar beams into place for them. Thunderbird also has a younger brother named Kolus.

Thunderbird's adversary is Qaniqilak, spirit of the summer season, who is often identified as the sea god, Kumugwe. Kumugwe or Komokwa is the name of "Undersea Chief." Many Kwakiutl families have been blessed by riches and supernatural treasures bestowed by this god of the tides and maker of coppers.

Sisiyutl is a giant three-headed sea serpent whose glance can turn an adversary into stone. Cross beams of clan houses sometimes are carved with his appearance. Blessed ancestors have sometimes received sisiyutl's help when he transforms himself into an invincible war canoe, and sometimes into a magic belt with which to gird oneself against all dangers.

Dzunukwa (Tsonokwa) is a type of cannibal giant (called sasquatch by other Northwest Coast tribes) and comes in both male and female forms. In most legends, the female form is the most commonly told; she eats children and cries "hu-hu!" to attract them, she imitates the child's grandmother's voice. Children frequently outwit her and sometimes killing her and taking her treasures without being eaten.

Bakwas is king of the ghosts. He is a small green spirit whose face looks ematiated like a skeleton, but has a long curving nose. He haunts the forests and tries to bring the living over to the world of the dead.

U'melth is the Raven, who brought the Kwakwaka'wakw people the moon, fire, salmon, the sun and the tides.

Pugwis is a sort of aquatic creature with fish-like face and large incisors.

Of particular importance in Kwakwaka'wakw culture is the secret society called Hamatsa. During the winter, there is a four-day, complex dance that serves to initiate new members of Hamatsa. The Hamatsa dancer represents the spirit of Baxbaxwalanuksiwe ("Man-Eater at the North End of the World"; who can transform into various man-eating birds and was said to have mouths all over his body. Hamatsa initiates are possessed by Baxwbakwalanuksiwe'. On the first day of the Hamatsa ceremonies the initiate is lured out of the woods and brought into the Big House to be tamed. When the initiate returns, he enacts his cannibalistic possession symbolically. Gwaxwgwakwalanuksiwe' is the most prestigious role in the Supernatural Man-Eater Birds ceremony; he is a man-eating raven Supernatural bird. Galuxwadzuwus ("Crooked-Beak of Heaven") and Huxhukw (supernatural Crane-Like Bird who cracks skulls of men to suck out their brains) are other participants.