Haida Myths

Description

The Haida narrative tradition weaves together origin tales, trickster exploits, and house-line histories transmitted by named storytellers. Raven—often called Nang Kilsdlaas, “He-Whose-Voice-Is-Obeyed”—creates, disrupts, and redistributes fundamental goods like daylight, freshwater, and tides. Other cycles recount marriage alliances with bears, dogfish, killer whales, and sea-wolf beings (Wasgo), expressing reciprocal obligations among human and supernatural kin. Castaway and transformation stories (such as the Gagiid Wild Man) mark thresholds between culture and wilderness, while Mouse Woman appears as a liminal helper who corrects breaches of protocol. The corpus survives through many variant tellings tied to specific communities and houses, later recorded by scholars and revitalized in Haida and English performances.

Historiography

Haida narratives circulated orally in X̱aad kíl/X̱aayda kil, performed by recognized specialists. Extensive texts were collected by John R. Swanton at the turn of the 20th century and later translated and edited in various editions. In the late 20th century, poems and epics by named Haida poets such as Ghandl and Skaay were rendered into literary translations with linguistic backing, highlighting performer attribution. Contemporary revitalization includes language-based storytelling, museum interpretation, and artist retellings while acknowledging colonial recording contexts and variant house versions.

Date Notes

Narratives originate in oral tradition; many versions recorded between ca. 1880–1930 by ethnographers; later literary translations in late 20th century.

Themes

Archetypes

Symbols

Major Characters

• Raven
• Mouse Woman
• Eagle
• Bear Mother
• Sea Lion Chief

Myths

• Raven Steals the Light
• Bear Mother
• The Great Flood
• The Sea Hunter and Foam Woman
• The Origin of Salmon

Facts

• Raven (Nang Kilsdlaas) functions both as trickster and culture hero in Haida narratives.
• A famous creation episode has Raven discovering the first people emerging from a clam shell at Rose Spit.
• Mouse Woman frequently aids protagonists by correcting breaches of etiquette and ritual order.
• Marriage alliances with animal-persons (bear, dogfish, killer whale) encode social law and crest origins.
• Gagiid stories dramatize a liminal, dangerous state between culture and the wild after shipwreck or taboo breach.
• Copper shields (coppers) symbolize status and wealth and appear in narrative exchanges and contests.
• Ethnographer John R. Swanton recorded extensive Haida texts in the early 1900s from specific named storytellers.
• Later translations by scholars and poets rendered long epics attributed to Ghandl (Skidegate) and Skaay (Masset).
• Variants are tied to particular houses and lineages; names and crests often anchor a story to ownership and rights.
• Contemporary Haida artists and language programs continue to perform and adapt these narratives.

Sources

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