Alhkuntam

Alhkuntam is the supreme deity of Nuxalk cosmology, the maker whose will animates the creation. Dwelling in Nusmata, the House of Myths in the upper world, he directs the four supernatural carpenters to carve the first human beings and to fashion the animals and landscape. He is the patron of the great masked dance complexes and the ultimate source of ceremonial prerogative. Sources differ on the relationship between Alhkuntam and the Sun: Boas and McIlwraith describe them as distinct residents of the House of Myths who occupy its rear, while some popular accounts identify Alhkuntam himself as a solar being, reflecting his close association with the Sun's household. His mother was the cannibal being who was ultimately transformed into the mosquito.

Parentage

• Nunusomikeeqonem

Children

• Manaakays

Domains

• creation
• sovereignty
• initiation

Powers

• commissions the making of humankind
• bestows ceremonial prerogatives

Relations

• parent: Nunusomikeeqonem
• child: Manaakays
• companion: Senx
• ally: Masmasalanix

Sources

• Boas, Franz. 1898. The Mythology of the Bella Coola Indians. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 2(2). New York: G.E. Stechert.
• American Museum of Natural History. 'Nuxalk,' Northwest Coast Hall permanent exhibition, New York.
• McIlwraith, T.F. 1948. The Bella Coola Indians, 2 vols. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.