Thunderbird (mythology)


The thunderbird is a mythological bird-like spirit in North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a supernatural being of power and strength.
It is frequently depicted in the art, songs, and oral histories of many Pacific Northwest Coast cultures, but is also found in various forms among some peoples of the American Southwest, US East Coast, Great Lakes, and Great Plains.

Description

The thunderbird is said to create thunder by flapping its wings, and lightning by flashing its eyes. Across cultures, thunderbirds are generally depicted as birds of prey, or hybrids of humans and birds. Thunderbirds are often viewed as protectors, sometimes intervening on people's behalf, but expecting veneration, prayers, and gifts.
Archaeologically, sites containing depictions of thunderbirds have been found dating to the past 4000 years.
Petroglyphs of thunderbirds are found near Twin Bluffs, Wisconsin. They are in a shelter that was probably used c. 250 BCE to 1500.

By people

Stories about the struggle between the Thunderbird and Whale have been traditionally told by various Pacific coast tribal groups. Studies have scrutinized the possible connection with Cascadia subduction zone earthquake in the year 1700 that sent a tsunami to Japan.

Algonquian

The thunderbird myth and motif is prevalent among Algonquian peoples in the Northeast, i.e., Eastern Canada and Northeastern United States, and the Iroquois peoples. The discussion of the Northeast region has included Algonquian-speaking people in the Lakes-bordering U.S. Midwest states.
In Algonquian mythology, the thunderbird controls the upper world while the underworld is governed by the underwater panther or Great Horned Serpent. The thunderbird creates not just thunder but lightning bolts, which it casts at the underworld creatures.
Thunderbird in this tradition may be depicted as a spreadeagled bird, but also quite common with the head facing forward, thus presenting an X-shaped appearance overall.

Ojibwe

The Ojibwe version of the myth states that the thunderbirds were created by Nanabozho to fight the underwater spirits. Thunderbirds also punished humans who broke moral rules. The thunderbirds lived in the four directions and arrived with the other birds in the springtime. In the fall, they migrated south after the end of the underwater spirits' most dangerous season.

Menominee

The Menominee of Northern Wisconsin tell of a great mountain that floats in the western sky on which dwell the thunderbirds. They control the rain and hail, and delight in fighting and deeds of greatness. They are the enemies of the great horned snakes and have prevented these from overrunning the earth and devouring humankind. They are messengers of the Great Sun himself.

Siouan

The thunderbird motif is also seen in Siouan-speaking peoples, which include tribes traditionally occupying areas around the Great Lakes.

Ho-Chunk

states that a man who has a vision of a thunderbird during a solitary fast will become a war chief of the people.

Arikara

Ethnographer George Amos Dorsey transcribed a tale from the Arikaras with the title The Boy who befriended the Thunderbirds and the Serpent: a boy named Antelope-Carrier finds a nest with four young thunderbirds; their mother comes and tells the human boy that a two-headed Serpent comes out of the lake to eat the young.

Iconography

X-shapes

In Algonquian images, an X-shaped thunderbird is often used to depict the thunderbird with its wings alongside its body and the head facing forwards instead of in profile.
The depiction may be stylized and simplified. A headless X-shaped thunderbird was found on an Ojibwe midewiwin disc dating to 1250–1400 CE. In an 18th-century manuscript written by the namesake grandson of Governor Matthew Mayhew, the thunderbird pictograms varies from "recognizable birds to simply an incised X".

Scientific interpretations

American science historian and folklorist Adrienne Mayor and British historian Tom Holland have both suggested that indigenous thunderbird stories are based on discoveries of pterosaur fossils by Native Americans.

Outside North America

Similar beings appear in mythologies the world over. Examples include the Chinese thunder-god Leigong, the Hindu Garuda and the African lightning bird.

In popular culture