![]() The thunderbird creates not just thunder (with its wing-flapping) but lightning bolts, which it casts at the underworld creatures. In Algonquian mythology, the thunderbird controls the upper world while the underworld is governed by the underwater panther or Great Horned Serpent. Midwest states (e.g., Ojibwe in Minnesota ). The discussion of the Northeast region has included Algonquian-speaking people in the Lakes-bordering U.S. The thunderbird myth and motif is prevalent among Algonquian peoples in the Northeast, i.e., Eastern Canada ( Ontario, Quebec, and eastward) and Northeastern United States, and the Iroquois peoples (surrounding the Great Lakes). Tribal signatures using thunderbirds on the Great Peace of Montreal The thunderbird is said to create thunder by flapping its wings (Algonquian ), and lightning by flashing its eyes (Algonquian, Iroquois ). In modern times it has achieved notoriety as a purported cryptid, similar to creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. It is especially important and frequently depicted in the art, songs, and oral histories of many Pacific Northwest Coast cultures, but is also found in various forms among some peoples of the American Southwest, East Coast of the United States, Great Lakes, and Great Plains. ![]() It is considered a supernatural being of power and strength. ![]() The thunderbird is a legendary creature in particular North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. Pacific NW ( Haida) imagery of a double thunderbird Ruth has retired from the UW and is currently living in Seattle.A Northwest Coast styled Kwakiutl totem pole depicting a thunderbird. For further reading about dating the 1700 Cascadia earthquake and Native American stories, please go to Dating the 1700 Cascadia Earthquake and Native Lore Tells the Tale.Īcknowledgement: Former PNSN Research Scientist Ruth Ludwin spent years studying stories and artwork of Pacific Northwest Tribes and is the original author of the vast majority of materials presented in this chapter. These stories are common among the native people in the Pacific Northwest. Native traditions tell of shaking and flooding along the Cascadia coast and estimate the date of the last earthquake by using stories that count the number of generations since its occurrence. Pacific Northwest Indian tales and legends related to the 1700 megathrust earthquake and found a set of related stories that, taken together, indicate that strong shaking was felt over a wide area and accompanied by severe coastal flooding. This research renewed interest in understanding how these events may have impacted the many thousands of Native Americans living here. ![]() Over the past 3,500 years these great earthquakes (~M9) have reoccurred 7 times with a average interval of 550 years though 4 of the events reoccurred between 200 and 400 years after the previous great quake. The amazing specificity of date and time came through collaborations with Japanese scientists and historians who helped identify the Cascadia Subduction Zone as the source of a deadly “ orphan tsunami” that flooded areas on the coast of Japan the following day. Further work in the 1980s and 1990s refined our understanding of the great earthquake that occurred on Januat about 9 PM PST. In the 1990s, PNSN Research Scientist Ruth Ludwin began collecting and organizing other Native American stories and traditions that seem to be related to earthquakes and their effects on the people of Cascadia before westerners arrived.īrian Atwater, David Yamaguchi and others produced detailed evidence of abrupt land level changes and tsunami inundation along the coast of Washington state in the winter of 1699-1700. Heaton followed this paper up with a paper about PNW Native American stories that inferred their people were impacted by tsunamis in the not too distant past. Tom Heaton and Hiroo Kanamori published a paper asserting the Cascadia Subduction Zone was indeed actively deforming and is likely to produce great earthquakes. The 1980s was a decade of discovery of evidence for great earthquakes in the Cascadia Region. Although scientific recognition of the earthquake hazards presented by the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) is relatively recent, Native Americans have lived on the Cascadia coast for thousands of years, transferring knowledge from generation to generation through storytelling (Ludwin et al., 2005)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |