compiled by Ruth Ludwin, University of Washington, Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences
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First Nations and Native American stories that could be about Cascadia megathrust earthquakes
compiled by Ruth Ludwin, University of Washington, Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences |
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[p. 91] Again night came. I did not let the wolf band enter the big house. I brought them into the small house in the middle space. I gave them each a bull-roarer for sounding like an earthquake. I had all of the wolves hold them. The entire Tsishaa and Huupachas Tribes again entered the big house. Then I entered it. I stood beside my house post named Beach-Pole. I began chanting. "What the grandparents of Day were like", went the words, "it is the wolf who will step up to the bow of your canoe and pack you off". When I finished chanting, I spoke. Listen to me, you Tsishaa and Huupachas people. I am chanting as a Wanin person. I am chanting as Cupped-together-aloft, the Wanin chief. I will stop chanting as a Wanin person if the owner of this top-notch song does not hear me". Again I chanted. Again I sang the same words. I again went thru the entire verse. As soon as I stopped chanting, the earthquake sounded. "Well my grandfather was really a Wanin person. Do you hear it, O Tsishaa and Huupachas people? It is an earthquake sounding there. I am now a Wanin person, for I learned that my grandfather spoke truly." The earthquake sounded the full four times. And then I took up another chant. "Wolf Ritual", went the words, "what I have for throwing away is big copper". I went on to the other verse, "My throw-away consists of it, when I have two hundred riches"...
[p. 92]... We then began to practice a song at night, a song for trying to rescue the captives. "Yahaalaalaa yahaalaalaa, approaching the hinkiiyahtuwa we bilog to." That is the entire rescue song. "Waahwaahaanga, my path goes yonder thru the rocky pass, my path has passes through it, for I am a killer whale, I who am a wolf." That is the entire song. It belongs to the wolves who are said to turn into killer-whales. It says, killer-whale (protruding-in-middle, because its tail turns into the dorsal fin when it becomes a killer-whale. Theis song of mine is known to have belonged to Crab-on-Ground and Wealth-Woman. It was he who went to the wolves and it was she who was carried off by a wolf; they saw the wolves conduct the Wolf-Ritual.
[p. 95] Big Joe began to chant. And all those who had been given rattles started chanting together. They beat the drums. The people changed. The house thundered as tho it were lifting up from the ground. The many women chanted. It got to be just like the big mills, one could not hear even if someone spoke close by because of the any chanting loudly and the many beating drums.
All sorts of goods for ceremonial gifts were brought out into the center of the room
They use pebbles from Ma'akuu'a, which are supposed to come from hailstones at the time the Thunder Band went to play the hoop game. They use those stones because they make a sound like thunder. I used to go to Ma'akuu'a toa get stones whenever I was going to put on a thunderbird performance. They do not just drop the box when they stop, but put them into pack baskets lest they give a sound again. That is why the immediately put them in the baskets. That way they are hidden. They put the pebbles unnoticed into the boxes, trying not to make a sound while getting ready for the Thunderbird Dance.
A I own the tupaati of staying in the woods four days and trying to rescue the wolf captives on the fifth day. Then they are stiff in the house and there is imitative dancing for four days more. On the fifth day again, one gives away gifts. It makes ten days. Again, four days later, they go out to hunt food. That makes eleven days. The following year, they set up the screen again. Two days pass. It comes to thirteen days. That is how many days one takes in giving a Wolf Ritual. After that the new Wolf Ritual members would no loger have charcoal on their faces, and they no longer have tabus. They ate anything at all. Now, those are all the procedures in the Wolf Ritual. I have omitted nothing. I have kept nothing hidden.
[153] Somewhere up amid the remote snow-covered peaks lived the thunderbird ... He was a huge man, who put on birdlike dress to hunt whales. Few mortals had the fortune to encounter him; they more often met his "dogs", the Feathered Serpents who were simultaneously Lightnings. A scale from one of these creatures was an extremely potent charm. There appear to have been a variety of kinds of Feathered Serpents: in addition to the huge ones ("like alligators," say young sophisticates who have seen these reptiles pictured in books), there were some very small ones, and others with heads on both ends.
[154] There were also dwarfs, who had houses inside of mountains, where they enticed the unwary to dance with them around a great wooded drum. Sooner or later he stumbled against the drum and became afflicted with a peculiar disease called "earthquake foot" - every time he took a step the ground shook. No one with this malady lived long.
[155] Eclipses were caused by a Sky Codfish that swallowed the sun or moon.
[155] Hail and thunder were caused by the Thunderbird, who was, as remarked, far more clearly conceptualized than the other beings associated with the various phenomena. He caused thunder by flapping his wings the lightnings, of course, were his dogs, the Feathered Serpents).
[155-156] One would guess, offhand, that the Nootkans would have had some rather elaborate explanations of the tides that were so important to them all their lives. For certain kinds of fishing - trolling from spring salmon, for example, and for raking and dip-netting herring, the stage of the tide is more important than whether the sun has risen or set, and the fisherman went out according to stage of the tide. Yet no informant knew of any explanation for this other than the theory of lunar attraction which was recognized as being of European origin. Of the other hand there existed a firm belief in two tidal phenomena for which I can find no justification. It was said that in midwinter, at about the time of the winter solstice, there occurred at night an enormously high tide, the highest of the year. Sometimes it rose so high that it entered the houses, although all but a few people slept right through it. This tide was called "Turning over" .. because as it rose and fell it turned over, then righted again, everything in its path - every stone on the beach. To wake and see it at the very crest brought great good fortune. No one knew what caused it. In midsummer there occurred, it was said, the lowest low tide of the year, but this gave no particular luck, so far as I have learned.
[405] The first four day period was brought to a close by a rite usually called "The Calling" ... A series of songs were alternated with en masse drumming on planks. The drumming was supposed to increase in volume until it shook the mountains, the sea, in fact the entire universe.
[408] During a break in their first drumming (or perhaps making himself heard over the noise before the men really began to drum hard), the man on the roof shouted down, "You're not drumming hard enough! Only the grass and the little bushes around the cove can hear you!" At the end of the first drumming, there was a moment of silence. Everyone listened intently. Then the one on the roof called down, "You people are still not drumming enough. Only the trees at the edge of the woods could hear you!" The people shouted back, heaping insults on the leader of the drumming. "I knew when he was called out he couldn't do it! He's no good! My dog could do a better job of drumming!" After the second drumming, the one on the roof shouted, "You did a little better, but it was still not enough. You people must make more noise. You woke up the birds up in the mountains, and now you must drum still harder." There was more shouting and joking, but it stopped as soon as the leader rose to his feet and prepared to give the opening signal. By this time the men were keeping better time, and pounding hard - the noise must have been deafening. At the end of the third drumming, the man on the roof called down, "This is your last chance! Out on the ocean the water is boiling up, up on the mountains the rocks are trembling, up in the sky the stars are falling - if you do well now the Wolves will hear you!" .....
...A number of "rafts" were rigged by lashing planks to make a platform across two canoes...Women, who formed the majority of the people who went on the rafts, wore tall headdresses made of white feathers attached to slim limber wands secured in a cedar-bark head band... As they shoved off from the beach they began to sing, bending and straightening their knees in time to the song until their feather headdresses swayed in unison and the raft bobbed up and down in the water...
Chief Wakas held a winter ceremonial. When he gave a winter ceremonial long ago the deluge came. They just q tied their canoes together and they beat time for the winter dance and sange winter dance songs in the canoes. They went q to the top of a great mountain. They went on a flat place on a good place on the rocks. Then q they went to the top of the mountain and sang four cannibal songs and beat time for the cannibal. They did not know q that the deluge had gone down, and so q that they were still playing on the mountain. Now they just became stone. And so q the ohter men went right down to their village and they became a tribe again. Then q he made a river. Then q he made salmon in the river. Then q he blocked out a river conoe. The canoe he was making was self paddling. Then q he invited the Rivers Inlet tribe. He invited the Noxunts!idEx. All those q who were invited came together. They sang the LasEla (or LEwE'laxa) songs. The q there were four (songs). Then q they were killed by the Bella Coola. They were killed an the tribe had bad luck; and they were killed by the Bella Coola. Their crests were all taken.
Origin Story of the Ts!ets!elwalagame (p. 34-35)(sorry about the left-out accents -RSL) q means "it is said"
"....It is said he sent two supernatural ones to go out of the house to the seaside to try to listen to what was expected to be heard when they beat time. Then it is said the supernatural ones came in again and
one man spoke and said, "Let us just give up I have not hear anything." Then it is said spoke the one who went along and he said it is said, "I hear very indistinctly" and so it is said day almost came and it is said
the wise man worried, the one who took care of the Nimkish. Then he said, they should invite him even without knowing his place wherever it might be. Then he invited his tribe and they all said together, " O,
you are coming, supernatural one, all around the world. Four times they sang. Then it came and approached the sound of the Nimkish according to the wasy of calling of the wise man. Now They finished what
they were doing in the house. Four times they sang. Then came the sound of wolves. They were many it is said came and brought down the one who had gone astray a long time. Now a large wolf was seen. It
was coming up on the beach.It is said the canoes were launched. Four planks wre laid on four canoes tied together. Then they were going to take him. Now the Nimkish went aboard the four canoes which
were tied together. They were going to take what was seen by them. Now they were at sea at the place where the large wolf had first been....."
From Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 1982, The Way of the Masks, University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA., 228 pp.
[40-43] "The Kwakiutl linked the Xwéxwé masks with earthquakes. Their dance, wrote Boas, "is believed to shake the ground and to be a certain means of bringing back the hamatsa," that is, the new initiate
to the highest ranking secret society, the Cannibals. During initiation, the novice became ferocious and wild and ran in the woods: the objective was to bring him back to reintegrate him in the village
community. This association of the Xwéxwér; (or Swaihwé) with earthquakes... throws a curious light on the symbolism of the sistrums carried by the dancers... I draw attention to the way Plutarch
explained the role of sistrums among the ancient Egyptians: "The sistrum ... makes it clear that all things in existence need to be shaken, or rattled about, and never to cease from motion but, as it were, to be waked up and agitated when they grow drowsy and torpid."
...Another type of site was the war refuge, resorted to in time of danger. Small islands guarded by precipitous sides were thus utilized. Poor water supply and inconvenience for food and fuel gathering prevented permanent habitance of these places.
At these major sites - the winter and summer villages, and principal fishing stations stood the permanent house frames. Roofing and siding were movable, but ridge poles, side plates, and their supporting posts were left fixed.....
The framework of a house, which was the permanent part of the structure, consisted of the center posts supporting the ridge pole, and side posts which supported the plates. Roofs were invariably of the gables, or two-pitch type. ... All posts had a slightly concave bed cut in their upper end, to retain the beam securely.....
For the roof, rafters were laid from ridge pole to plates, and over them a number of poles were lashed horizontally. The roof boards were laid sloping, transverse to the long axis of the house in two layers. One layer was spaced well apart, and an upper layer covered the gaps between the lower planks. Enough overlap was given to prevent leakage.... The roof planks were loose. They could be moved aside to let out smoke simply by shoving them over by means of poles from inside the house. It is said that during stormy weather logs and large stones were placed on them to keep the gale winds from whipping them off. ...
The hoop-and-pole game was played by men with a small hoop wrapped with dedar bark, and long slender lances. It was said to have been a favorite spor formerly, intertribal and interconfederacy contests being stages at times. ... Four men usually comprised a team, taking turns at rolling the hoop and throwing the lances at it. The exact method fo coring was not recalled, but it was said that the lance had to transfix the hoop and stop it to score, if it passed clear through it did not count. According to one informant, after a game the winners threw the hoop into the air, and the losers had to catch it on their lances; if they let it drop to the ground they were jeered at. Another informant had it that the winners of a game had the right to chase the losers, beating them with the lances.
[312] ...going back to ?animyis who obtained it when the earth was flooded and he was riding the flod with his family and slaves in a large canoe; after four days at the mountain kaakaapiya, whose summit was too high to be covered by the water, he heard this song being sung by the cheif of the supernatural Ya-ii while Thunder danced to it. The words ... given in Nootka translation are:
[315-316] Yaatyaata song, sung by Tom, Tsishaa. Tuapaati of Tsishaa sept, going back to naasiya'atu who used it when he had five whale dorsal-fins to use in a feast. The song is sung before eating. The chief's daughter dances alone. She wears a decorated sea-otter skin blanket, a red cedar-bark head ring and eagle feather on each side of her hair. The feathers show that her father has the supernatural ya-ii as a giver of good luck. A lightning serpent painted on each side of her robe shows that her ancestor saw the lightning serpent at the time of the flood. A quarter moon painted in shiny black on her forehead and the moon on the back of her robe show that he was creator. There is a thunderbird (without a whale in his talons) painted above the moon on the back of her robe. ....
[316] Tsiikaa song, sung by Tom, Tsishaa. Sung before thunderbird dance in the wolf ritual and also in other potlatches.
I have found who owns the day when it begins to thunder.
I have found who owns the day when it is thundering.
I have found who owns the day when it is lightning.
The reference is, of course, to Thunderbird.
[317] Tsiikaa song, sung by Tom, Tsishaa. ... It is used in connection with a potlatch dance, at the end of which several people outside of the house make a loud noise with bull-roarers; these are supposed to represent the sound of an earthquake, this being one of the tupaati of Tom's family. The song is used only when it is already night.
[318-319] Say! say! my wolves go through the holes of the killer whales among the rocks {Perhaps: my killer-whales, my wolves go through the rocks where there are holds all about.} The killer whales are wolves. Wolves sometimes run through caves into the water and turn into killer whales. The tail turns into the big fin on the back.
[319] Marriage-offering song, sung by Tom, Tsishaa. The person singing this has a thunderbird mask on his head. Only one thunderbird dancer and one lightning-serpent dancer perform.
My lighting serpent coils onto the ground.
My thunderbird lights on the ground.
After eating, they got ready; the Thunderbirds got ready to start the hoop game and their men gathered together. Black Bear, who was their hoop-thrower, was their first man to play. And Crane too was of those first on the level ground, he who was the best marksman in spearing. And also Woodpecker had his man who was best of all in marksmanship. And he had Kingfisher (for spearing), and his hoop-thrower was Kwatyat. They were finished taking their places and got ready for the hoop game.
The Thunder people were the first to throw the hoop; it was Black Bear, the strong one, who threw the hoop. And at the same time that he threw the hoop, the Thunderbirds made hail and made lightning, (so that) the hoop was lost to sight. The only one who could see it was Kingfisher, the sharp-eyed one. He speared, and his spear-point came off and stuck in the hoop. Then it was the turn of Woodpecker's hoop-thrower; Kwatyat, the one of many tricks, set the hoop going. And then he said, blowing into his hoop to give it power, 'Get small, get small!' and the hoop became small at once. Crane, the marksman, missed his aim.
Black Bear in his turn set the hoop going again, and Kwatyat again blew magic into it. 'Grow big, grow big', said he, and the hoop got big. Again Kingfisher's spear remained stuck in it. Four times they rolled the hoop on each side. Kingfisher's spear never missed. The Thunderbird people were beaten. They finished.
And then Tototsh was angry and he made a great hail and lightning. Woodpecker did not know that his wife was being take away; (Thunder) took her along with him as he flew back to his home. Woodpecker could not find his wife. He took his slave, Kwatyat, and they deliberated. 'Now! You will look for my wife, whom I have lost.' He went to the ones who had come to play the hoop game, Kwatyat went to them. 'I want you to be green salmonberry shoots', said (Woodpecker) to him, so Kwatyat turned into green salmonberry shoots. The former wife of Woodpecker went out to gather young salmonberry bushes. The shoots were discovered, they were recognized to be Kwatyat, the one to do all kinds of tricks. She was afraid of him. Kwatyat returned to the place that he had come from. 'She was afraid of me', he said.
'Go back!' he was told again. 'You shall turn into a salmonberry. Be small!' again he went where he was sent. The woman who had been run away with went out again to look for salmonberries. The salmonberry too was noticed, it was very big. Again it was recognized, that it was Kwatyat, and again she was afraid of him. Once more he returned home and told his chief. 'She is afraid of me', said he. Kwatyat was made to stop (going).
It became the time for the run of salmon, and he himself went off to where there was the salmon trap of him who had deprived him of his wife. He was a nice little young spring salmon in the trap. Thunderbird went to see his trap. He had his wife along in his canoe. He got there, and the little spring salmon was discovered. He threw it, giving it to his wife, and she took it. The little young spring salmons spoke. 'It is I, your husband Woodpecker. Eat me all alone, won't you? And then you shall throw my left over bones into the water', said he.
(Thunderbird), who had come to see about his trap, turned back home and they arrived at their home. She roasted the little spring salmon on a spit. Her (salmon) was roasted and she ate it all by herself. She finished eating and threw (the bones) into the water just as she had been told to throw them. She kept walking farther and farther into the water. 'Say! Stop going and putting them so far out into the water', said those who were sitting on the beach and watching. She had got far out in the water and she went right in. Woodpecker took her along with him. He had got her and returned home.
'Now!' said he, 'go and borrow Whale's diver' (this) was told to Kwatyat. He borrowed it. 'I shall have my revenge', said Woodpecker, 'on the one by whom I was deprived of my wife.' He went out to sea and got into the diver. He took along his slave, and off they went to where lived the Thunderbird people. It was early in the morning when they arrived. The whale came up out of the water. The people who were sitting and looking saw him. 'Go, some of you, and wake up Catching-such-wales-as-come-out-once-in-a-while, so he may seize the whale in his claws.' He approached to get hold of the whale but he was unable to lift him. Goes-out-once-to-sea came near to help his older brother, but they could not lift him up. There was in (the canoe-whale) the one who knew many tricks, Kwatyat. 'Get heavy, get heavy!' said Kwatyat, and the whale grew heavy. The two of them could not lift him up. Between their talons they were all cut up into slits by Woodpecker.
Next came to help the next to youngest Thunderbird too. He took hold of (the whale) but like them, he could not do much with his claws. Also, (Thundering-now-and-then) went to help his younger brothers, but one spoke, 'Do not you go (and help)! You alone shall remain alive. There is something wring with us, it appears; we are as though our limbs were dying.' 'Get heavy, get heavy! Get big, get big!' and the whale grew heavy. All the brothers together sank into the water, all died. The oldest, Thundering-now-and-then, was the only one to remain alive. Woodpecker had his revenge on them, (who had) wronged him in taking away his wife. Woodpecker returned home, bringing home whale's diver. This is how he had his revenge, and it is for this reason that only one Thunderbird is left alive.