Classed as a deity for registry purposes though Haida understand Yáahl as a culture-hero/transformer rather than a worshipped god; the same trickster-demiurge appears among the neighbouring Tlingit (Yéil) and Kwakwaka'wakw (U'melth). The title Nankil'slas, 'voice handler', is also rendered Nang Kilsdlaas.
Domains
transformation
daylight and light
trickery and creation
Powers
release the sun and stars from their boxes
coax the first people out of a clamshell
change shape between raven and man
Steal the daylight (sun, moon and stars) and loose it on the dark world
Make Haida Gwaii and the first people from the clamshell
Epithets
Yáahl
Sources
Swanton, John R. Haida Texts and Myths: Skidegate Dialect. BAE Bulletin 29, 1905.
Bringhurst, Robert. A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World, 1999.
Bringhurst, Robert. A Story as Sharp as a Knife, 1999.