Haietlik

The haietlik, or lightning serpent, is a lightning-spirit of Nuu-chah-nulth tradition, imagined as a huge snake with a head sharp as a blade and a tongue that flashes lightning. It is both the ally and the weapon of the Thunderbird: the great bird carries the serpents tucked among its feathers and hurls them like harpoons at whales, and a single strike stuns a whale enough for the Thunderbird to lift it from the water. Dwelling in the coastal lakes and inlets as well as in the Thunderbird's plumage, the lightning serpent is bound up with whaling, the central pursuit of Nuu-chah-nulth life, and its image recurs in masks, dance, and painting, sometimes flanking the Thunderbird as a paired motif.

Domains

• lightning
• whaling

Powers

• is hurled by the Thunderbird as a living harpoon

Relations

• companion: Kw-Uhnx-WaThe lightning serpents serve the Thunderbird as its harpoons in the hunting of whales.Curtis, Edward S. The North American Indian, Vol. 11. 1916. (secondary)

Sources

• The haietlik or lightning serpent is a lightning-spirit that serves the Thunderbird as a living harpoon in whale-hunting; it is described as a great serpent with a knife-sharp head whose tongue shoots lightning.: Curtis, Edward S. The North American Indian, Vol. 11: The Nootka; The Haida. 1916. (secondary); Drucker, Philip. The Northern and Central Nootkan Tribes. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1951. (secondary)