Nuu-chah-nulth mythology

Last updated

Nuu-chah-nulth mythology is the historical oral history of the Nuu-chah-nulth, a group of indigenous peoples living on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Contents

Matlose

Matlose [1] is a famous hobgoblin of the Nootkas; he is a very Caliban of spirits; his head is like the head of something that might have been man but is not; his uncouth bulk is horrid with black bristles, his monstrous teeth and nails are like the claws of a bear. Whoever hears his terrible voice falls like one smitten, and his curved claws rend a prey into morsels with a single stroke.

Raven annoys octopus

One morning, as the tide went out, the old people came to sit and watch the ocean. As they sat there, they saw a woman walking along the beach. Her hair was long and strung into eight braids. Her name was Octopus. There was a digging stick in her hand. She was going to look for clams. She sat down on a rock at the edge of the water and began to dig. Soon, another person came along the beach. That person was tall with glossy black hair. "Look," one of the old people said, "Here comes Raven. He is going to bother Octopus." "Ah" another of the old people said. "That is not a good idea. You shouldn't bother Octopus!" Sure enough, just as the old people expected, Raven. walked right down to the rock where Octopus sat and began to bother her."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Rim National Park Reserve</span> National park reserve in British Columbia, Canada

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a 511 km2 (197 sq mi) national park located in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. Its the Pacific Coast Mountains, are characterized by rugged coasts and temperate rainforests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuu-chah-nulth</span> North American ethnic group

The Nuu-chah-nulth, also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related tribes whose traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raven Tales</span> Traditional creation stories of indigenous peoples of North America

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maquinna</span>

Maquinna was the chief of the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Nootka Sound, during the heyday of the maritime fur trade in the 1780s and 1790s on the Pacific Northwest Coast. The name means "possessor of pebbles". His people are today known as the Mowachaht and reside today with their kin, the Muchalaht, at Gold River, British Columbia, Canada.

Nuu-chah-nulth, a.k.a.Nootka, is a Wakashan language in the Pacific Northwest of North America on the west coast of Vancouver Island, from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound in British Columbia by the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. Nuu-chah-nulth is a Southern Wakashan language related to Nitinaht and Makah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuquot</span> Historic site in British Columbia, Canada

Yuquot, also known as Friendly Cove, is a small settlement of around six people—the Williams family of the Mowachaht band—plus two full-time lighthouse keepers, located on Nootka Island in Nootka Sound, just west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It was the summer home of Chief Maquinna and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht (Nuu-chah-nulth) people for generations, housing approximately 1,500 people in 20 traditional wooden longhouses. The name means "Wind comes from all directions" in Nuu-chah-nulth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahousaht First Nation</span> Indigenous Government

The Ahousaht First Nation is a First Nation government based on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It administers the community of Ahousaht, British Columbia, which encompasses much of Clayoquot Sound. The Ahousaht are a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. It is led by Chief A-in-chut Shawn Atleo and the Taayi Haw̓ił - Maquinna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Nahanee</span> Canadian activist

Harriet Nahanee also known as Tseybayotl-t was an indigenous rights activist, residential school alumna, and environmental activist. She was born in British Columbia, Canada. She comes from the Pacheedaht who are part of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Indigenous peoples from the Vancouver Island. As a child, Nahanee attended both Ahousaht Residential School and Alberni Residential School, and would later testify about the horrible treatment she received there. She married into the Squamish (Sḵwxwú7mesh).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe David</span>

Joe David is a Nuu-chah-nulth artist, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht Band of the Nuu-chah-nulth people, also formally "adopted" into the Haida people, whose work is identified with the contemporary Northwest Coast art movement; among his close associates are teacher and art historian Bill Holm, Duane Pasco, and his cousin Ron Hamilton. He is also a singer of traditional Nuu-chah-nulth songs, and has a strong interest in shamanic traditions, both those from his own culture and from others.

George Clutesi,, was a Tseshaht artist, actor and writer, as well as an expert on and ambassador for all Canadian First Nations culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opitsaht</span>

Opitsaht, spelled also as Opitsat and Opitsitah, is a Tla-o-qui-aht settlement/community in the Southwest area of the Meares Islands, Clayoquot South, British Columbia. This peninsula-like region is the home to the Tla-o-qui-aht people from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation, a tribe from the Pacific Northwest region in the lower Vancouver area, known for their lifestyle revolving around the marine life trade and culture within the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Woody Point</span> 1811 conflict between American fur traders and the indigenous Tla-o-qui-aht people

The Battle of Woody Point was an incident in western Canada in June 1811 involving the Tla-o-qui-aht natives of the Pacific Northwest and the Tonquin, an American merchant ship of the Astor Expedition. The vessel had traveled to Clayoquot Sound off Vancouver Island to trade for furs. Following an argument begun during the bartering, the Tla-o-qui-aht captured the vessel and massacred most of the crew; one remaining sailor then scuttled her by detonating the powder magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuquot Whalers' Shrine</span> Collection of carved figures previously serving as a Yuquot ritual site

The Yuquot Whalers' Shrine, previously located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, was a site of purification rituals, passed down through the family of a Yuquot chief. It contained a collection of 88 carved human figures, four carved whale figures, and sixteen human skulls. Since the early twentieth century, it has been in the possession of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, but is rarely displayed. Talks are underway regarding repatriation.

Red Raven is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shinta Fujimoto. It was serialized between April 2010 and October 2013 in the magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan and has been compiled into nine volumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benson Island, British Columbia</span>

Benson Island, known to the Tseshaht First Nation people as C'isaa (Ćišaa?atḥ) or Ts'ishaa (Ts'isha?atH), is part of the Broken Group in Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is notable because the Tseshaht First Nation recognize it as the creation site where the first man and first woman of the Tseshaht people came into this world.

Andaokut is a Native American mythological figure of the Nuu-chah-nulth people. He is a giant boy born from the tears of a woman mourning the loss of her child, which was stolen by Malahas, a cannibal. He ventures through the forest to find Malahas, slay her, and rescue the children she abducted, and brings them back to life by urinating on them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Charles Stuart Strange</span> British politician

James Charles Stuart Strange was a British officer of the East India Company, one of the first maritime fur traders, a banker, and a Member of Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Paul</span> Totem pole carver

Tim Paul is a member of the Hesquiaht tribe from the Nuu-Chah-Nulth first nation. He is a master carver from Esperanza Inlet British Columbia. He was the senior carver at the Royal British Columbia Museum until 1992 when he left to oversee an indigenous education program for the Port Alberni school board on Vancouver Island.

References

  1. "Matlose". 2006-07-12. Archived from the original on 2006-07-12. Retrieved 2023-03-04.