Chief of Heaven
Tsimshian · deity · pre flood · Recorded classification
The Chief of Heaven (the Chief in the Sky) is the sky-being from whom the Raven obtains the daylight. He keeps the daylight — with the sun, moon and stars — in a box called Maa in his house above, while the earth lies in dusk. The transformer, reborn as the chief's grandson, cries for the box and, given a raven skin, flies off and breaks it open, releasing the light. He is named in the texts only by his title; he is distinct from the being 'Laxha' of the separate clamshell-emergence tradition.
Children
Domains
- sky
- light
Powers
- keeps the daylight, sun, moon and stars in the box Maa in his sky-house
Relations
- father of: Chief of Heaven's DaughterFather of the sky-chief's daughter, the mother of Raven.Boas & Tate, Tsimshian Mythology (1916) (primary)
- father of: Txä'msemGrandfather/father-figure of the Raven-child, to whom he gives the raven skin (treated here as the father of Txä'msem in the sky-origin telling).Boas & Tate, Tsimshian Mythology (1916) (primary)