Asdiwal

Asdiwal, called Asi-hwil in the Nass version, is the hunter-hero of the most celebrated of the Tsimshianic sagas, preserved in four texts collected by Franz Boas between 1895 and 1916 and made famous by Claude Levi-Strauss's structural analysis. He is born to a destitute woman of the winter famine and to Hatsenas, a bird of good omen who visits her in human form; the father hastens his growth and endows him with weapons and gear that never fail and that make him invisible. Chasing a white she-bear who proves to be the daughter of the Sun, Asdiwal climbs to the sky-world, marries Evening Star, and survives the Sun's murderous trials. Returning to earth he passes through further marriages and quarrels along the Nass and Skeena, until, having boasted against the mountain and forgotten his snowshoes, he is stranded and perishes on a peak among the mountain goats. The saga maps the seasonal movements and marriage rules of the Nass and Skeena peoples onto a single restless life.

Parentage

• paternal: Hatsenas

Children

• Waux

Domains

• hunting
• mountains

Powers

• hunts with weapons that never miss
• ascends to the sky-world

Relations

• child: HatsenasLevi-Strauss, Claude (1967). 'The Story of Asdiwal', on the birth of Asdiwal to Hatsenas. (secondary)
• spouse: Evening StarBoas, Franz (1916). Tsimshian Mythology, on Asdiwal's marriage to Evening Star, daughter of the Sun. (secondary)
• parent: WauxLevi-Strauss, Claude (1967). 'The Story of Asdiwal', on Waux, son of Asdiwal. (secondary)

Sources

• Asdiwal (Nass: Asi-hwil) is the hero of a saga recorded by Boas in four versions (1895, 1902, 1912, 1916), son of a bird-being father, wielder of magic hunting gifts, who marries the Sun's daughter Evening Star, journeys between Nass and Skeena, and dies frozen on a mountain.: Boas, Franz (1916). Tsimshian Mythology. 31st Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. (secondary); Levi-Strauss, Claude (1967). 'The Story of Asdiwal', in The Structural Study of Myth and Totemism. (secondary)