Kw-Uhnx-Wa

The Thunderbird, known to the Nuu-chah-nulth as Kw-Uhnx-Wa, is a vast sky-being who lives on a mountain top and makes thunder with the beating of its wings. It hunts whales, its chief prey, striking them with the lightning serpents it carries among its feathers and lifting them from the sea in its enormous talons; oral tradition holds that it taught the people how to whale. Its most famous story is the cosmic struggle of Thunderbird and Whale, whose violent thrashing was remembered as the shaking of the earth and the rising of the sea. As a crest and dance figure the Thunderbird is among the most prominent images of Nuu-chah-nulth carving and painting, appearing on masks, house screens, and ceremonial curtains.

Domains

• sky and storm
• whaling

Powers

• makes thunder by beating its wings
• seizes whales in its talons

Epithets

• servant of the Chief Above

Relations

• companion: Haietlik
• enemy: Whale

Sources

• Curtis, Edward S. The North American Indian, Vol. 11: The Nootka; The Haida. 1916.
• Arima, Eugene, and John Dewhirst. 'Nootkans of Vancouver Island.' Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 7: Northwest Coast. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1990.