Tsimshian Myths
Also known as: Tsimshian Mythology, Tsimshian Texts, Adaawx of the Tsimshian, Myths and Traditions of the Tsimshian
A major corpus of Tsimshian adaawx (myths and oral histories) featuring Transformer-Trickster Txamsem, sea-power being Gonaqadet, clan origins, and cosmological episodes like the making of light, tides, and salmon. Boas’s edition preserves narratives tied to houses, crests, and ritual knowledge.
Description
This collection gathers Tsimshian adaawx transmitted through named storytellers and house lineages, recording cosmology, clan origins, and instructive trickster cycles. Central is Txamsem (often identified with Raven), whose transformations shape landforms, free celestial bodies, and establish social practices. Sea-world encounters with Gonaqadet, Sea-Lion chiefs, and Killer Whale houses articulate wealth, reciprocity, and danger on the littoral frontier. Motifs of first salmon, marriage with nonhuman beings, and the distribution of crests embed ethics of respect, exchange, and ceremonial order. Boas organized materials thematically and by narrators, preserving variants that reveal localized priorities and links to names, emblems, and prerogatives.
Historiography
Recorded primarily by Franz Boas from Tsimshian narrators (notably Henry Tate) and published in the Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Report (1916), with earlier volumes of Tsimshian texts (1902, 1909). The compilation preserves multiple variants, reflecting house-based ownership of narratives and crests. Later collectors such as Marius Barbeau added versions and commentary; scholarly debates address translation choices, the Raven/Txamsem identification, and the relation between adaawx (history-right narratives) and widespread Northwest Coast tale-motifs.
Date Notes
Collected principally in the late 19th–early 20th century (notably with Henry Tate) and published as a comprehensive corpus in 1916; earlier Tsimshian texts were issued in 1902 and 1909.
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Txamsem (Raven)
- Asdiwal
- The Salmon People
Myths
- Raven the Transformer and World Ordering
- The Origin of Copper and Prestige
- Bear Mother and Clan Beginnings
- Shamanic Descent to the Undersea World
Facts
- The corpus centers on Txamsem (Transformer), widely identified with Raven in Tsimshian cycles.
- Gonaqadet represents sea power and wealth; encounters with him often legitimize prerogatives and prosperity.
- Narratives are tied to named houses and crests, reflecting hereditary rights and history (adaawx).
- Myths articulate protocols for first salmon and potlatch obligations of giving and reciprocity.
- Boas published a 1916 synthesis in the BAE Annual Report, drawing on earlier Tsimshian text volumes.
- Henry Tate served as a principal recorder and translator for many narratives in Boas’s editions.
- Variants are preserved, indicating localized priorities across Tsimshian communities in BC and Alaska.
- Shamanic (halait) power and sea-frontier dangers structure many episodes and ritual explanations.
- Transformer episodes explain tides, daylight, river courses, and landforms along the Pacific Northwest Coast.
- Crests (coppers, animal emblems) index social status, with mythic origins narrated to validate ownership.