With the American Thanksgiving next week, I am blogging about another sort of big bird, the Thunderbird.
If you ever read Indian myths, then
you heard of the thunderbird. It is described as a large bird, capable of
creating storms and thundering while it flies. Clouds are pulled together by
its wing beats, the sound of thunder is made by its wings clapping, lightning
flashes from its eyes when it blinks, and individual lightning bolts are made
by the glowing snakes that it carries around with it. In masks, it is depicted
as many-colored, with two curling horns, and, often, teeth within its beak. The
Lakota name for the Thunderbird is Wakį́yą, a word formed from
kįyą́, meaning “winged,” and wakhą́,“sacred.” The Kwakwaka’wakw has many
names for the Thunderbird and the Nuu-chah-nulth gave it the name of Kw-Uhnx-Wa. The
Ojibwa word for a thunderbird that is closely associated with thunder is animikii,
while large thunderous birds are known as binesi.
Although associated most of the time
with the Plains Indians, the Thunderbird was also known to the
Algonquin-speaking peoples. However, like most Native American cultures
on East Coast (except maybe Iroquois), little is now known of their
beliefs.
In regards to the Thunderbird, this
much is known: This fearsome being that resembles a winged man or an immense
bird causes fear and dread. The myths tell that it is known to actually kill
and eat humans from time to time.
There once existed a
gigantic bird in North America. Called the Teratornis Merriami, it stood five
feet tall and had a wingspan of twenty-four feet and had the long narrow beak
of the predator bird, too. Bones of this bird and humans have been found in the
same areas together. Maybe the ancestors of the Native Americans today killed
these giant birds for their feathers or myths of the Thunderbird arose due to
the birds kidnapping their children and stock.
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