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

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.