Piyêsiw, the Thunderbird, is the great bird whose wingbeats make the thunder and whose glance and strikes are the lightning. Among the most powerful of the spirit beings of Cree cosmology, the thunderbirds pass the summer hunting the giant serpents and other water monsters, and they were counted among the mightiest dream guardians a Cree faster could obtain, granting power in war and healing. In Plains Cree the word piyêsiw itself belongs to the ceremonial register and names the thunderers, while ordinary birds bear the diminutive piyêsîs; George Nelson's Cree informants of 1823 also described the Thunderbird appearing in visionary contexts in splendid bird form.
Domains
thunder
storms
dream guardianship
Powers
to make thunder with the beating of its wings
to strike serpents and offenders with lightning
to grant power and protection to those who obtain it in fasting dreams
Mandelbaum, David G. The Plains Cree: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Comparative Study. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 1979 [1940].
Brightman, Robert A. Ācaðōhkīwina and ācimōwina: Traditional Narratives of the Rock Cree Indians. Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury Series, Ethnology Paper 113. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1989.