Konankada

Konankada is the Haida sovereign of the undersea world, the great being who dwells in a house at the bottom of the sea as master of the seals and of the ocean's wealth. Depicted with an outsized head and hands and framed by copper and abalone, he is one of the most frequently rendered figures on Haida chests, food vessels, and house-fronts, where his 'front' image marks the threshold between the human and the submarine realms. Those who reached his house were believed to return endowed with fortune and power. He is the Haida counterpart of the pan-coastal sea-chief known to the Tlingit as Gonakadet.

Domains

• the sea
• wealth

Powers

• to grant fortune and power to those who reach his house
• to command the seals and the creatures of the sea

Sources

• Konankada is the Haida Chief of the Undersea World, master of the seals and of oceanic wealth, whose oversized head and hands are a recurring subject of Haida art.: George F. MacDonald, Haida Monumental Art: Villages of the Queen Charlotte Islands (University of British Columbia Press), 1983 (secondary); Hilary Stewart, Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast (Douglas & McIntyre), 1979 (secondary)