Raven

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 latin · Yaahl (Raven) · oralRaven; the trickster-transformer who released the sun, moon, stars, and fresh water into the worldJohn R. Swanton, Haida Texts and Myths (secondary)

Sources

• Raven (Yáahl) is the central transformer-trickster and culture hero of the Haida, responsible for making Haida Gwaii habitable, releasing the sun, and bringing humans into the world.: Swanton, John R. Haida Texts and Myths: Skidegate Dialect. BAE Bulletin 29, 1905. (secondary); Bringhurst, Robert. A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World, 1999. (secondary)
• Bringhurst observes that Raven creates nothing outright; he made the world by stealing, exchanging, and redistributing things.: Bringhurst, Robert. A Story as Sharp as a Knife, 1999. (secondary)