Ravens in Native American mythology
Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They are also found among Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. 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 and eagle are known by many different names by many different peoples and are important figures among written and verbal stories. Raven's tales are passed down through the generations of story tellers of the people and are of cultural and historical significance. From some storytellers' perspective, indigenous myths such as the Raven Tales, as opposed to tall tales and little stories for children, are not entertainment and can be the cultural property of the clan or individual that the story originates from. It is customary that others should not tell stories that are owned by another clan without their permission, and efforts should be taken to learn whether or not a particular story is owned before sharing it.
While each culture's stories of the Raven are different, there are even those that share the same title; certain attributes of Raven remain the same. The Raven is always a magical creature able to take the form of human, animal, even inanimate objects. He is a keeper of secrets, and a trickster often focused on satisfying his own gluttony for whatever he desires. His stories tell of how worldly things came to be or offer suggestion to children on how to behave. Raven's creative nature shows itself through circumstance rather than intent, through the desire to satisfy his own needs, rather than any altruistic principles. Raven is both the protagonist among the stories of some groups, and the antagonist of others; he is a hero and an amusement.
Tales that feature the Raven as the hero are specific to areas in the north of the continent such as northern British Columbia and Alaska and their peoples, such as the Tsimshian 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.
The Haida people credits Raven with finding the first humans hiding in a clam shell; he brought them berries and salmon. The Sioux tell of how a white raven used to warn buffalo of approaching hunters. Eventually an angry hunter caught the bird and threw it into a fire, turning it black.
Common features
While Raven tales tell the origins of human beings, they do not address the origins of organized society. In tales which mirror development and organization of Native American societies, the hero is often humanity itself. Raven tales do not offer a detailed picture about the social relations and realities of life.Traditional myths
Athabaskan
is the language family of several contiguous dialects spoken by various peoples in Western Canada and the American West. They can be further subdivided into the Northern, Pacific Coast, and Southern Athabaskan language sub regions.These groups lived in one of the three Athabaskan regions.
Cahto
The Cahto are an indigenous Californian group of Native Americans. The Cahto lived farthest south of all the Athapascans in California, occupying Cahto Valley and Long Valley, and in general the country south of Blue Rock and between the headwaters of the two main branches of Eel River. The Cahto language is one of four Athabaskan languages that were spoken in northwestern California. Most Cahto speakers were also bilingual in Northern Pomo.Creation story
One version of the Raven creation story is that of the Cahto in California.In one variant, Raven is taught by his father, Kit-ka'ositiyi-qa, to be a creator, but Raven is unsatisfied with the result. He creates the world but is unable to give it light or water. On hearing that light could be found hidden in a far-off land, Raven decides to travel there and steal it. In the house of light, he finds a young woman living with her father and plays the first of many tricks. He turns himself into a speck of dirt, slips into her drinking water, and is swallowed. 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. The child is given one of the bags to quiet him, but when he tires of playing with it, he lets it go, and it floats away from him and disappears through the smoke hole. Once it reaches the sky the bundle comes undone and scatters stars across the sky. 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. It all happens again with the third and last bundle, which flies away and becomes sunlight. After bringing light to the whole world, Raven too flies out through the smoke hole.
Tahltan
Locally among the Tahltan people, their customs and livelihoods varied widely as they were often widely separated and would have to endure varying conditions depending on their locality. In Tahltan culture it was believed that some of their ancestors had knowledge that others did not from times before a great flood. Some of these ancestors used that knowledge for the good of the people, while others used it for evil and to the disadvantage of others. Raven is considered to be the protagonist hero against these evil ancestors.In Tahltan stories, Raven is referred to as Big-Crow.
The Birth of Raven
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. He was separated from his father at birth and his father is never spoken of in all of their stories. Raven was born, the third child of a woman whose previous two boys were killed by her uncle. Each time the woman gave birth, her uncle would offer to teach them to hunt once they were old enough; each time he would take them out on a canoe and trick them, he would instruct the boys to sit on the edge of the canoe, at which point he would rock the canoe, forcing them to fall into the water where he would leave them to drown.But her third child was Raven who took well to carving. Just as he'd done twice before, her uncle asked if he could teach Raven how to hunt after he'd grown a few years. Several times she refused her uncle until Raven insisted that she allow him to go. So they went out to sea and the same scenario played out. Raven fell into the water but rather than drown, he took one of the toy canoes he had carved and made it grow into a full size canoe. He went straight back to his mother and told of what his uncle had done.
Twice more the uncle tried to drown Raven in the same manner but Raven outsmarted him each time until the uncle gave up and no longer took Raven hunting but would go alone.
As Raven grew into a man, he met the uncle's wife where he tried to play with her. He tickled the girl and two birds flew out from under her arms, a blue jay and a woodpecker; and the girl died. 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. But once again, Raven escaped with his canoe carvings. But when Raven escaped this time, he did not return home and his journey began; never to return to his home.
He starting off travelling by canoe along the seashore all alone but would stop whenever he came upon a village. When he met people whom he saw take advantage of others or use their power for evil, he would kill in his efforts to deprive them of power.
Raven travelled for many years along the coast of the Tlingit territory, first travelling south, having started in the north until he had gone so far south, beyond Tlingit territory until he reached the Mink people at which point he turned around and continued back the other direction. He did this north south, south north journey for several years. Not until his work along the coast was done, did he head inland along the Stikine River all the way to its source. He also travelled along the Nass, Skeena, and Taku rivers and all of their many streams, never staying in one place for very long and never travelling far off from the water ways. Through his inland journeys he met the Kaska Dene, the Haida, and other nations to the east.
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. The only suggestion is that he may have gone to live with the Kanu'gu and other ancient gods on an island far out into the ocean where they believed weather was created from.
File:The Story of Fog Woman and Raven 4.JPG|thumb|Dempsey Bob's The Story of Fog Woman and Raven, exhibited at Vancouver International Airport, tells how Raven's greed resulted in salmon run.
As the Raven stories continue after "The Birth of Raven", many stories follow:
Raven appears in other stories not directly related to him as well. In the story of the 'Warm and Cold Wind People' it is said that someone, possibly Raven, ordained that the people send out the winds.
He appears again in the story of "The Great Flood", which accounts for the killing of the evil ancestors who used their powers to take away the sun, moon, and Dipper which were lost during the flood.
Northern Athabaskan
Inuit
The Inuit are native to Alaska, Northern Canada and Greenland. In Inuit culture the owl, fish, and raven are of greatest prominence. Ravens are also common in the Inuit artwork and they have several stories that tell of Raven's birth which is often juxtaposed with the owl with whom Raven shared a deep friendship.The Inuit say that Raven was born out of the darkness. He was weak and lost. As he began travelling aimlessly experiencing the world, he realized that he was the Raven Father, Creator of All Life. 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. As he flew around exploring this new world, he came upon a man whom the legend claims was the first of the Inuit. Raven fed the man and taught the man to respect the world around him. 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. As the two bred and spawned children, Raven cared for their children and educated them as he had done before.