The Raven - Native American - Pacific Northwest
The Raven ~ Native American Legend ~ Pacific Northwest
The Raven is one of those special animals that you see in all sorts of mythology. Ravens have made their way into Greek, Celtic & Norse mythologies. Somehow these wise and mysterious creatures are featured in famous stories, all over the world. Despite the mythology, the Raven will always be a critical character to folklore of our past cultures and our future generations. In this particular story, the mythical version of the Raven will steal light, and alter the world forever.
In many Native American legends, the Raven has a major influence on animals, people, and the Earth in general. This story that originated in the Pacific Northwestern Americas shows us how the moon, sun and stars were formed. There was once a Sky Father, who was living in a realm of darkness. There was no light in the sky, no sun, no moon and there were no stars. Without light, the darkness devoured the world and it was impossible for the creatures of the Earth to see. The Raven grew tired of not being able to see in this pitch black darkness and decided to take action. The Sky Father had a small box which contained all of the light in the world. Raven knew of this matter simply because he had overheard a conversation that the Sky Father had with his Earth Daughter. Earth Daughter too was upset about there being no light in the world. She begged her Sky Father to release the light, so she could find her way and find a husband. Without light, she would never be able to find a husband, and she would not be able to have a son.
Sky Father refused to share the box of the light with the world; and the trickster Raven took action. The legend says that once the Earth Daughter came outside to fetch water, the Raven transformed himself into a pine needle, and swam into the bucket of water the Earth Daughter was gathering to drink. She drank this sip of water, and swallowed the pine needle which was The Raven. The Raven then grew inside of her; she was pregnant. She gave birth to a son, who was the Raven but this was no ordinary child. He had bird-like features, a crow shaped nose, feathers upon his arms - you can imagine the sight.
As the baby grew older he would sing and cry for attention with his bird like wails. The Sky Father asked the Earth Daughter what his grandson cried for; he was crying to play with the box of light. Sky Father refused to let the child play with this powerful box of light because he feared that if the light got into the wrong hands - his daughter would surely find a husband and leave him forever to be old and alone.
Earth Daughter went over her Sky Father, took the box and gave it to her son. At that instant, the child shapeshifted back into the Raven and flew off immediately into the sky with the box of light. Sky Father turned into an angry eagle and flew after the Raven. During the chase, the box accidentally opened after falling down the side of a mountain as they flew through valleys, over rivers and into the sky. Once the box opened, the light was released. The sun, the moon and the stars were formed. This is the story of how the Raven changed the world forever and released light into the world.