Double-Headed Serpent
Kwakwaka'wakw · deity · mythic perennial · Recorded classification
Serpent spirit-being, sex unspecified in sources; classed as deity. Described variously as two-headed (a head at each end with a central human face) or, in some accounts, three-headed. Associated with the war-spirit Winalagilis.
Domains
- war and protection
- sea serpents
Powers
- turn an adversary to stone with its glance
- transform into an invincible war canoe or protective belt
Epithets
- Sisiutl The double-headed serpent; a dangerous and powerful being whose glance can turn the foe to stoneFranz Boas, on the Kwakiutl (secondary)
Sources
- Sisiutl is the double-headed sea-serpent of the Kwakwaka'wakw whose glance petrifies and who grants warriors invulnerability by becoming a war canoe or belt; it is one of the three foremost lineage crests.: Boas, Franz. The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians, 1930. (secondary); Boas, Franz. The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians, 1897. (secondary)