Tsimshian Mythology
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Tsimshian Mythology
Tsimshian mythology is the mythology of the Tsimshian, an Aboriginal people in Canada and a Native American tribe in the United States. The majority of Tsimshian people live in British Columbia, while others live in Alaska. Tsmishian myth is known from orally-passed tales. An ''adaawx''(or true tellings) is a story concerning animal spirits in human guise and is usually linked to the origin of the Earth and the peoples on it. A ''malesk'', in contrast, is an adventure or history tale that purports to entertain rather than explain. The Raven spirit is known as ''We-gyet'' or ''Txamsem''. Txamsem is said to have a brother named ''Logobola'' who is responsible for the lack of fresh and clear water as well as the existence of the fog into which Txamsem became lost. The Raven The Raven, known as Txamsem or Giant, is a central figure in Tsimshian mythology, part of the Raven Tales mythology connecting the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The Raven is viewed as the ...
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Tsimshian Club Circa 1750
The Tsimshian (; ) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only reservation in Alaska. The Tsimshian estimate there are 45,000 Tsimshian people and approximately 10,000 members are federally registered in eight First Nations communities: Kitselas'','' Kitsumkalum'','' Gitxaala'','' Gitga'at, Kitasoo, Lax Kw'Alaams'','' and Metlakatla. The latter two communities resulted in the colonial intersections of early settlers and consist of Tsimshian people belonging to the 'nine tribes.' The Tsimshian are one of the largest First Nations peoples in northwest British Columbia. Some Tsimshian migrated to the Annette Islands in Alaska, and today approximately 1,450 Alaska Tsimshian people are enrolled in the federally recognized Metlakatla Indian Community, sometimes also called the Annette Island Reserve. The Tsimsh ...
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Tsimshian
The Tsimshian (; ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terrace and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only reservation in Alaska. The Tsimshian estimate there are 45,000 Tsimshian people and approximately 10,000 members are federally registered in eight First Nations communities: Kitselas First Nation, Kitselas'','' Kitsumkalum First Nation, Kitsumkalum'','' Gitxaala Nation, Gitxaala'','' Gitga'at First Nation, Gitga'at, Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation, Kitasoo, Lax-kw'alaams First Nation, Lax Kw'Alaams'','' and Metlakatla First Nation, Metlakatla. The latter two communities resulted in the colonial intersections of early settlers and consist of Tsimshian people belonging to the 'nine tribes.' The Tsimshian are one of the largest First Nations peop ...
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Aboriginal Peoples In Canada
Indigenous peoples in Canada (also known as Aboriginals) are the Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of Canada. They comprise the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, representing roughly 5.0% of the total Canadian population. There are over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music. Old Crow Flats and Bluefish Caves are some of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Canada. The characteristics of Indigenous cultures in Canada prior to European colonization included permanent settlements, agriculture, civic and ceremonial architecture, complex societal hierarchies, and trading networks. Métis nations of mixed ancestry originated in the mid-17th century when First Nations and Inuit people married Europeans, primarily the French colonizers. First Nations and Métis peoples played a critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada, particularly for their role in assisting Europeans during ...
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Native Americans In The United States
Native Americans (also called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the Contiguous United States, lower 48 states and Alaska. They may also include any Americans whose origins lie in any of the indigenous peoples of North or South America. The United States Census Bureau publishes data about "American Indians and Alaska Natives", whom it defines as anyone "having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America ... and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment". The census does not, however, enumerate "Native Americans" as such, noting that the latter term can encompass a broader set of groups, e.g. Native Hawaiians, which it tabulates separately. The European colonization of the Americas from 1492 resulted in a Population history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, precipitous decline in the size of the Native American ...
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United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, major island territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest land area and List of countries and dependencies by population, third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. Its three Metropolitan statistical areas by population, largest metropolitan areas are New York metropolitan area, New York, Greater Los Angeles, Los Angel ...
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British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains. British Columbia borders the province of Alberta to the east; the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north; the U.S. states of Washington (state), Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south, and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of over 5.7million as of 2025, it is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, while the province's largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver and its suburbs together make up List of census metropolitan areas and agglomerations in Canada, the third-largest metropolit ...
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Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost (the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian into the eastern hemisphere) state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait, with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically, it is a semi-exclave of the U.S., and is the largest exclave in the world. Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the following three largest states of Texas, California, and Montana combined, and is the seventh-largest subnational division i ...
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Raven (mythology)
Many references to ravens exist in world lore and literature. Most depictions allude to the appearance and behavior of the wide-ranging common raven (''Corvus corax''). Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven is often associated with loss and ill omen. Yet, its symbolism is complex. As a talking bird, the raven also represents prophecy and insight. Ravens in stories often act as psychopomps, connecting the material world with the world of spirits. French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss proposed a structuralist theory that suggests the raven (like the coyote) obtained mythic status because it was a mediator animal between life and death. As a carrion bird, ravens became associated with the dead and with lost souls. In Swedish folklore, they are the ghosts of murdered people without Christian burials and, in German stories, damned souls. Symbolism and mythology by culture The Raven has appeared in the mythologies of many ancient peoples. So ...
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Raven Tales
Raven Tales are the traditional human and animal Creation myth, creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They are also found among Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nations in Canada, First Nations throughout the region but are most prominent in the tales of the Haida people, Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit and Tahltan people. Raven and eagle are known by many different names by many different peoples and are important figures among written and oral tradition, verbal stories. Raven's tales are passed down through the generations of storytelling, story tellers of the people and are of cultural and historical significance. It's important to note that, from some storytellers' perspective, Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas#Northern America, indigenous myths such as the Raven Tales, as opposed to tall tales and little stories for children, are not entertainment an ...
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Indigenous Peoples Of The Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and practices, such as the centrality of salmon as a resource and spiritual symbol, and many cultivation and subsistence practices. The term ''Northwest Coast'' or ''North West Coast'' is used in anthropology to refer to the groups of Indigenous people residing along the coast of what is now called British Columbia, Washington (state), Washington State, parts of Alaska, Oregon, and Northern California. The term ''Pacific Northwest'' is largely used in the American context. At one point, the region had the highest population density of a region inhabited by Indigenous peoples in Canada.Aboriginal Identity (8), Sex (3) and Age Groups (12) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 ...
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Trickster
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior. Mythology Tricksters, as archetypal characters, appear in the myths of many different cultures. Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser".Hyde, Lewis. ''Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis." Often, this bending and breaking of rules takes the form of tricks and thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. The trickster openly questions, disrupts and mocks authority. Many cultures have ta ...
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Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, eds., vol 17, pp. 11885-11889. Oxford: Pergamon Press. among whom it is traditionally the primary governmental institution, legislative body, and gift economy, economic system.Aldona Jonaitis. ''Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch''. University of Washington Press 1991. . This includes the Heiltsuk Nation, Heiltsuk, Haida people, Haida, Nuxalk Nation, Nuxalk, Tlingit people, Tlingit, Makah people, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth people, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish peoples, Coast Salish cultures. Potlatches are also a common feature of the peoples of the Interior and of the Subarctic adjoining the Northwest Coast, although mostly without the elaborate ritual and gift-giv ...
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