First Nations Legends of North America and Shamanism
The Thunderbird is a mythological creature found in the spiritual lore of many First Nations in North America. This mythical creature’s name derives from the idea that the movement of its huge wings caused thunder. The Lakota name for the Thunderbird is Wakinyan from the words kinyan meaning ‘winged’ and wakin meaning ’sacred’. The Kwakiult called it Hohoq and the Nootka named the creature Kw-Uhnx-Wa.
The Thunderbird is enormous with a two-canoe-length wingspan which can create a storm as it flies. Clouds are bundled together, causing thunderclaps, and streaks of lightning issue from its eyes as it blinks. It carries glowing snakes of lightning bolts within its beak. It is depicted in masks as many-coloured, two-horned and with teeth in its beak.
Thunderbirds are sometimes thought to be solitary creatures living on mountaintops or travelling as a group. The mountaintop Thunderbirds were servants of the Great Spirit and flew about only to carry messages from him. The Kwakiult and Cowichan tribes believed that the non-solitary Thunderbirds took on human form by tilting their beaks backwards (like a mask) and throwing off their feathers like a blanket. There are stories of these `human’ Thunderbirds marrying humans.
Is the mythical Thunderbird an angel (it does carry messages and bring light), a crypto-zoological bird or related to the roc or rukh from Persian legend The rukh was reported to be able to carry off an elephant and eat it. The Thunderbird could also be related to the phoenix of Egyptian mythology — the fabulous bird that periodically regenerates itself. It is used in literature to symbolize death and resurrection. According to legend, when it reached the end of its 500-year life span, it burned itself on a pyre of flames, and from the ashes a new phoenix arose.
Shamanism In shamanic cultures, the healer often takes the form of a bird to travel through the different worlds in search of his patient’s soul fragment. The ritual coats of present-day Siberian shamans are produced to resemble birds with feathers. And, although in all the forms of shamanism across Asia there is little interest in the production of concrete images of winged humans, the belief that the shaman can fly is universal.
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