World Lore · MYW·20

Raven the Trickster: Northwest Coast Indigenous Traditions

[lore] In Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Northwest Coast Indigenous traditions, Raven (Yéil / Yáahl) is the supreme Trickster-Creator. He steals the sun, moon, and stars from a powerful chief and releases them for humanity. He frees the first people from a giant clamshell. He transforms the landscape. The Raven moiety is one of two fundamental social divisions in Tlingit society — roughly half of all Tlingit people are Ravens. This tradition represents one of the world's richest and most complex raven mythologies.

Who Is Raven?

[lore] In Northwest Coast tradition, Raven is not simply a clever bird. He is:¹

A transformer: before Raven's actions, the world was dark, formless, or incomplete. Raven transforms it — bringing light, creating rivers and mountains, releasing animals and people — through his actions.
A trickster: Raven acts from desire (usually hunger or curiosity) rather than benevolent intent. His great gifts to humanity (light, fresh water, fire) are often accidentally or reluctantly given — byproducts of his schemes for personal gain. This moral ambiguity is fundamental to the tradition.
A shape-shifter: Raven can transform into human form or other animals at will. Many stories involve him adopting disguises to get what he wants.
An ancestor: in some Northwest Coast traditions, Raven is a clan ancestor — the first being of the Raven moiety — not just a mythological figure.

Raven Steals the Sun

[lore] The most widely told story in the Raven cycle describes how Raven brought light to the world:¹

At the beginning of time, the world is dark. A powerful man (sometimes identified as the grandfather of all beings) keeps the sun, moon, and stars locked in nested boxes in his house. No one can get near them.
Raven, greedy and determined, transforms himself into a spruce needle floating in a stream. The man's daughter drinks from the stream and swallows the needle. She becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child — Raven in disguise.
The "child" (Raven) cries for the boxes. The grandfather eventually relents, letting the child play with the boxes one by one. Raven opens the box containing the stars, then the moon, then the sun — releasing them into the sky — and flies away through the smoke-hole.
As Raven escapes through the smoke, the soot blackens his feathers permanently — explaining why the raven is black.

Raven and the First Humans

[lore] In a Haida version of Raven mythology, Raven walks along the beach after the great flood. He hears tiny voices and discovers the first humans trapped inside a giant clamshell, afraid to come out into the world. Raven coaxes, teases, and eventually tricks them into emerging — and from this moment, humanity begins.²

This version is familiar to many people through Bill Reid's monumental sculpture The Raven and the First Men (1980), displayed at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia — perhaps the most celebrated artwork of the Northwest Coast tradition.

The Raven Moiety in Tlingit Society

[lore] Among the Tlingit, the raven is not just a mythological figure but a living social institution:¹

Tlingit society is divided into two halves (moieties) — Raven (Yéil) and Eagle (Ch'áak'). Every Tlingit person belongs to one moiety, inherited matrilineally.
Moiety membership regulates marriage (you must marry someone from the opposite moiety), ceremony (the opposite moiety performs funerary and potlatch work for you), and social obligation.
Roughly half the Tlingit people are Ravens — meaning the raven moiety encompasses approximately 15,000–20,000 people today.
Within each moiety, there are many clans (sib groups), each with their own crests and histories.

Raven in Northwest Coast Art

[lore] Raven is ubiquitous in Northwest Coast art — on totem poles, house screens, bentwood boxes, button blankets, and contemporary works. The raven is typically depicted with its characteristic hooked bill, often shown in its transforming state (part raven, part human) or carrying the sun in its beak. The formal conventions of Northwest Coast two-dimensional art (formline design, ovoid shapes, U-forms) encode Raven's stories in visual languages with their own grammar, as analysed by Bill Holm (1965).³

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Raven Trickster?

Raven the Trickster is a central figure in the oral traditions of the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America — including the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Heiltsuk, and others. Raven (Yéil in Tlingit; Yáahl in Haida) is both a creator and a trickster: he creates or transforms the world through cunning, deception, and desire, but his motives are often selfish or absurd. He is a morally ambiguous figure who does both great good (bringing light to the world) and great harm, often inadvertently.

What is the story of Raven stealing the sun?

In the most widespread version of the Raven creation cycle, Raven discovers that a powerful chief or old man keeps the sun, moon, and stars locked in boxes in his house. Raven, unable to reach them directly, transforms himself into a spruce needle (or salmon egg) that the chief's daughter swallows, is born as her child, and gradually wins the boxes as toys. He then escapes through the smoke-hole, releasing the sun, moon, and stars into the sky for all humanity. The story explains both the origin of celestial light and Raven's characteristic black colour — he was scorched in the escape.

Who are the Northwest Coast Indigenous peoples?

The Northwest Coast culture area stretches from southeastern Alaska through British Columbia (Canada) to northern California (USA), along the Pacific coast. Major peoples include the Tlingit (southeastern Alaska and northern BC), Haida (Haida Gwaii / Queen Charlotte Islands), Tsimshian, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Coast Salish. While each has distinct languages, histories, and traditions, they share broad cultural features including potlatch ceremony, totem poles, and — across most of the area — the Raven as a culturally central figure.

Sources

Dauenhauer, N.M. & Dauenhauer, R. (eds., 1987). Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors: Tlingit Oral Narratives. University of Washington Press / Sealaska Heritage Foundation. — Raven creation cycle; moiety system; Yéil stories in original Tlingit with English translation.
Swanton, J.R. (1905). Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida. American Museum of Natural History. — Haida Raven cycle, Raven and the first men, Yáahl stories.
Holm, B. (1965). Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form. University of Washington Press. — visual grammar of Northwest Coast two-dimensional art; raven as crest figure.

[lore] named cultural/historical source