Raven (Part 21)

Source: 
Tlingit Myths and Texts 
by John R. Swanton 
[Smithsonian Institution] 
Bureau of American Ethnology 
Bulletin 39 
Washington, 1909

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► Themes of the story

Transformation: The community’s shift from venerating Raven to focusing on spirits signifies a transformation in spiritual beliefs and practices.

Ancestral Spirits: The increased emphasis on spirits and shamans highlights the community’s deepening connection to ancestral entities influencing their present lives.

Cultural Heroes: Raven, as a central figure in Tlingit mythology, represents a cultural hero whose stories have shaped societal norms and values.

► From the same Region or People

• North America
  • Sub-Arctic Region
    • Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

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Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904

This is the last thing that happened in the Raven story. From this time on everything is about spirits (yek) over and over again. Very few people believed in Nas-ca’ki-yel. Most believed in the spirits.

From the time that these come into the story you hear little about Raven because people had so much more faith in spirits.

You notice that in every Tlingit town in Alaska there are shamans, and years ago, when a shaman died, there was always one right after him, and he was always of the same family.

It is through these that the Raven story has been getting less and less.