![]() According to French archaeologist Claude Schaeffer, who spent time among the South Peigan Blackfoot of Montana, the Blackfoot called this creature “ Omaxsapitau“. The Blackfoot were another people of the Canadian prairies with Thunderbird stories. German-American anthropologist Franz Boas included some of these stories in his collection entitled Kutenai Tales. ![]() The Kootenai Indians of the Canadian Rockies, who traditionally made annual hunting trips east onto the prairies to hunt for buffalo, had their own Thunderbird legends. There, it preyed upon caribou, and even snatched up the occasional Inuit hunter. Nelson recorded an Inuit story describing “the last of the Thunderbirds.” This avian abomination supposedly lived along the lower Yukon River. Similarly, zoologist and polar explorer Edward W. Hinrich Rink wrote that the Inuit spoke of “fabulous birds” called “ Serdlernaks.” These birds hunted seals, and were perfectly capable of killing full-grown men if they so desired. In his 1875 book Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, Danish geologist Dr. The Inuit of Northern Canada have their own version of the Thunderbird legend. The Montagnais and Naskapi Indians of Labrador, on the other hand, referred to it as “Met’co”. The Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick called this creature the “Cullona”. The Thunderbird also appears in the mythology of the natives of the Atlantic Northeast. Ojibwa legend has it that a Thunderbird once nested atop Mount McKay, a butte in the Nor’Wester Mountains located southwest of Thunder Bay. In fact, the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, situated at the head of Lake Superior, gets is name from a translation of the Ojibwa words “ Animike Wekwed“- literally “Thunder Bird Bay”. The Ojibwa, or Chippewa, whose traditional homeland includes the forests of Southern Ontario and Quebec north of the Great Lakes, have their own legend of a giant, thunder-making eagle. First Nations from all over the Great White North have similar legends of a giant bird responsible for the creation of thunderstorms. It might surprise some Canadians to learn that the legend of the Thunderbird is by no means a phenomenon unique to the Pacific Northwest. Today, we know these monsters as “Thunderbirds”. The Haida referred to them as “ Ooolala“. To the Bella Coola, they were the “ Alkuntam“. The Kwakwaka’wakw called them “ Kwunusela“. The Coastal tribes had many names for these giant birds. Every once in a while, it left its perch to hunt killer whales, which it snatched from the ocean like a bald eagle snatches salmon from the river. The Coast Salish said that, in ancient times, a Thunderbird lived atop the Black Tusk peak in the Garibaldi Range north of Squamish, British Columbia. Their nests were enormous structures composed of tree branches, supplemented by the occasional human bone. These mythical creatures made their homes among the rocky crags of the Coast Mountains. Around smoky longhouse fires, they spoke of a massive eagle endowed with the ability to create storms. Lightning shot from its eyes when it blinked, and thunder boomed when it flapped its wings. From Haida Gwaii to the Fraser Delta, the image of a great eagle with curved horns serves as testament to an ancient legend shared by the First Peoples of the Pacific Northwest.įor centuries, Bella Coola, Nootka, and Tlingit medicine men regaled their fellow tribesmen with tales of a winged monstrosity which once dominated the western skies. The Thunderbird is a common motif in the indigenous artwork of Canada’s West Coast. The Thunderbird of the Pacific Northwest A Thunder Bird totem pole in Victoria, British Columbia. Its upper half- the half relevant to this article- is dominated by an aquiline figure with outstretched wings- a mysterious character from First Nations mythology known as the Thunderbird. The lower half of the Thunderbird House Post features a grizzly bear holding a human being. It is called the ‘Thunderbird House Post.’ The Thunderbird House Post in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. ![]() One of these carvings- a striking replica of a Kwakwaka’wakw longhouse post- stands in conspicuous prominence. On the eastern shore of Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, at a place known as Brockton Point, stands a cluster of ten totem poles carved and painted by First Nations artists.
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