Ravens: Have Significance Here

Two  major roads, Tudor and Lake Otis, intersect a mile from our apartment.  Artwork on the embankment is of Raven  releasing the stars.  I pass through this intersection 3 or 4 times each week and each time wonder about the story the art depicts. 

The art at Tudor and Lake Otis...Hard to get a car  or sign free picture:

Here are the results of my research along with some other observations.

Raven plays an important role in the culture and beliefs of the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest.  I researched  Raven's role in the Tlingit and Haida  cultural groups.   

This map from the Alaska Native Heritage Center shows the traditional territories of the major Alaska Native Cultural Groups.  Tlingit and Haida are in Southeast Alaska:

Both Tlingit and Haida have two moieties, tribal subdivisions or descent groups.  Moieties are further divided into clans or family groups.  Both have Raven as a moiety:

Tlingit moieties are Raven and Eagle/Wolf

Haida moieties are Raven and Eagle

Raven seems to have two roles or characteristics in the Tlingit and Haida Cultural Groups.  Here is my understanding of the two roles attributed to Raven:

Raven is seen as the Creator of the world.  Creator Raven is responsible for bringing the world into being and for bringing light to the darkness.

Raven is seen as a trickster.  Trickster Raven is selfish, sly and conniving.  It is Trickster Raven that managed to obtain light and give it to the world.

Research led me to several narratives of how Raven brought light to the world.  The common theme is that light (sun, moon, stars) was originally given to a guardian. The guardian  was to release the light in the world.  However, the guardian coveted the light and did not release it.  Raven is able to obtain the light and release it in the world.  Three versions of the narrative are at the end of the post.

Raven or Crow?   Both crows and ravens are common in Alaska. We see them all the time.   I have problems telling them apart.  I  know the differences. Ravens, usually 24 inches long, are larger than the crows, usually 17 inches long.  A raven's beak curves; a crows beak is straight.  The shapes of the tails are different.  A raven's tail is diamond shaped while a crow's tail is rounded.  My problem?   The birds don't stay still long enough for me to examine them!

From the Bald Eagle Foundation Museum in Haines:

My raven story.  This fall I walked a section of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail that paralleled the railroad tracks.  A raven carrying a small yellow ball flew by and landed on the tracks.  He placed the ball on the gravel and then started moving rocks from beside the tracks to on top of the rail ties.  I thought he was looking for a rock to use to crack the ball open.  No! Once enough rocks were moved he placed the ball in the hole and covered it back up with rocks.  It was interesting to watch.

The yellow ball is in the gravel between his beak and the railroad tie, close to his breast.

Putting the rocks back and covering the hole:

Three versions of the Raven story:

This is from the World Heritage Encyclopedia: 

When the Great Spirit created all things, he kept them separate and stored them in cedar boxes. The Great Spirit gifted these boxes to the animals who existed before humans. When the animals opened the boxes all the things that comprise the world came into being. The boxes held such things as mountains, fire, water, wind, and seeds for all the plants. One such box, which was given to Seagull, contained all the light of the world. Seagull coveted his box and refused to open it, clutching it under his wing. All the people asked Raven to persuade Seagull to open it and release the light. Despite begging, demanding, flattering, and trying to trick him into opening the box, Seagull still refused. Finally, Raven became angry and frustrated, and stuck a thorn in Seagull's foot. Raven pushed the thorn in deeper until the pain caused Seagull to drop the box. Then out of the box came the sun, moon, and stars that brought light to the world and allowed the first day to begin.

This is from the Stonington Gallery website, a narrative along side artist Preston Singletary's "Raven and the Box of Daylight".

Raven and the Box of Daylight – Retold by Preston Singletary (Tlingit) The most well-recognized Tlingit story of is that of the Theft of Daylight, in which Raven steals the stars, the moon, and the sun from Naas-sháki Yéil or Naas-sháki Shaan, the Old Man at the Head of the Nass River. The Old Man is very rich and owns three legendary boxes that contain the stars, the moon, and the sun; Raven wants these for himself. Various reasons are given as to why Raven wants the light; such as wanting to admire himself in the light, wanting all living creatures to admire his works, and wanting light to find food easily. Raven transforms himself into a hemlock needle and drops into the water cup of the Old Man’s daughter while she is out picking berries. She becomes pregnant with him and gives birth to him as a baby boy. The Old Man dotes over his grandson, as is the wont of most Tlingit grandparents. Raven cries incessantly until the Old Man gives him the Box of Stars to pacify him. Raven plays with it for a while, then opens the lid and lets the stars escape through the chimney into the sky. Later Raven begins to cry for the Box of the Moon, and after much fuss the Old Man gives it to him but not before stopping up the chimney. Raven plays with it for a while and then rolls it out the door, where it escapes into the sky. Finally Raven begins crying for the Box of the Sun, and after much fuss finally the Old Man breaks down and gives it to him. Raven knows well that he cannot roll it out the door or toss it up the chimney because he is carefully watched. So he finally waits until everyone is asleep and then changes into his bird form, grasps the sun in his beak and flies up and out the chimney. He takes it to show others who do not believe that he has the sun, so he opens the box to show them and then it flies up into the sky where it has been ever since.

This is from Wikipedia, Ravens Tales from the Pacific Northwest - Haida:

Long ago, near the beginning of the world, Gray Eagle was the guardian of the Sun, Moon and Stars, of fresh water, and of fire. Gray Eagle hated people so much that he kept these things hidden. People lived in darkness, without fire and without fresh water.

Gray Eagle had a beautiful daughter, and Raven fell in love with her. In the beginning, Raven was a snow-white bird, and as a such, he pleased Gray Eagle's daughter. She invited him to her father's longhouse.

When Raven saw the Sun, Moon and stars, and fresh water hanging on the sides of Eagle's lodge, he knew what he should do. He watched for his chance to seize them when no one was looking. He stole all of them, and a brand of fire also, and flew out of the longhouse through the smoke hole. As soon as Raven got outside he hung the Sun up in the sky. It made so much light that he was able to fly far out to an island in the middle of the ocean. When the Sun set, he fastened the Moon up in the sky and hung the stars around in different places. By this new light he kept on flying, carrying with him the fresh water and the brand of fire he had stolen.

He flew back over the land. When he had reached the right place, he dropped all the water he had stolen. It fell to the ground and there became the source of all the fresh-water streams and lakes in the world. Then Raven flew on, holding the brand of fire in his bill. The smoke from the fire blew back over his white feathers and made them black. When his bill began to burn, he had to drop the firebrand. It struck rocks and hid itself within them. That is why, if you strike two stones together, sparks of fire will drop out.

Raven's feathers never became white again after they were blackened by the smoke from the firebrand. That is why Raven is now a black bird.

Sal