Raven (Kutkh)
Itelmen · deity · mythic / first times (creation of Kamchatka) · deity
Culture-hero / creator-trickster tier; the Itelmen raven-creator, cognate with Koryak Big-Raven and Chukchi Raven. Classed 'deity'. Documented by the 18th-c. Kamchatka expeditions of Krasheninnikov and Steller, who both stress the Itelmens' irreverent, comic attitude toward their creator. Native name leads as 'Raven', with Kutkh in term.
Children
Domains
- creation of the land
- raven trickster and transformation
- ancestry of humankind
Powers
- make the land by dropping a feather and by defecating
- bring light, fire, fresh water and the arts of living
Epithets
- Kutkh
Relations
- spouse: Miti
Sources
- Krasheninnikov, S.P. (1755). Description of the Land of Kamchatka (Описание земли Камчатки).
- Steller, G.W. (1774). Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka — the Itelmens 'speak of him only in derision'.
- Itelmen folklore corpus (arctic-megapedia, 'Фольклор ительменов'), listing Kutkh, Miti and their children.