Undersea Chief

Kwakwaka'wakw · deity · mythic perennial · deity

Male sea-deity. Identified with Qaniqilak, spirit of the summer season; counterpart and seasonal opponent of the winter-season Thunderbird. Cognate with the wider Northwest Coast undersea-chief figure.

Domains

tides and the sea
wealth of the sea
weather and storms

Powers

govern the tides from a copper house beneath the sea
Command the seals and sea-mammals
Bestow the wealth cast up by the sea

Epithets

Qaniqilak

Relations

rival: Thunderbird

Sources

Boas, Franz. The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians, 1930.
Boas, Franz. Kwakiutl Tales, 1910.

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