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The thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a supernatural bird of power and strength. It is especially important, and frequently depicted, in the art, songs and oral histories of many Pacific Northwest Coast cultures, and is found in various forms among the peoples of the American Southwest, Great Lakes, and Great Plains. Thunderbirds were components of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of American prehistory.^[1]^[2]

Naming

The thunderbird's name comes from the common belief that the beating of its enormous wings causes thunder and stirs the wind. The Lakota name for the thunderbird is Wakį́yą, from wakhą 'sacred' and kįyą 'winged'. The Kwakwaka'wakw have many names for the thunderbird, and the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) called it 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.

Common depictions

Across many North American indigenous cultures, the thunderbird carries many of the same characteristics. It is described as a large bird larger than both the eagle and the condor, capable of creating storms and thundering while it flies. Clouds are pulled together by its wingbeats, the sound of thunder made by its wings clapping, sheet lightning the light flashing from its eyes when it blinks, and the thunderbird could shoot individual lightning bolts, Native Americans believed. In masks, it is depicted as multi-colored, with two curling horns, and, often, teeth within its beak.

In oral history

Depending on the people telling the story, the thunderbird is either a singular entity or a species. In both cases, it is intelligent, powerful, and wrathful.

The singular thunderbird (as the Nuu-chah-nulth thought of it) was said to reside on the top of a mountain, and was the servant of the Great Spirit. It was also told that the thunderbird controlled rainfall.

The plural thunderbirds (as the Kwakwaka'wakw and Cowichan tribes believed) could shapeshift into human form by tilting back their beaks like a mask, and by removing their feathers as if it were a feather-covered blanket. There are stories of thunderbirds in human form marrying into human families; some families may trace their lineage to such an event. Families of thunderbirds who kept to themselves but wore human form were said to have lived along the northern tip of Vancouver Island. The story goes that other tribes soon forgot the nature of one of these thunderbird families, and when one tribe tried to take them as slaves the thunderbirds put on their feather blankets and transformed to take vengeance upon their foolish captors.

Sioux people believed that in "old times" the thunderbirds destroyed dangerous reptilian monsters called the Unktehila.

The Anishinaabe, who speak Ojibwa, one of the Three Fires Society, have many stories about thunderbirds. During the sundance ceremony a thunderbird nest is put near the top of the tree of life. The dancers often face the nest while dancing, and their hands and arms reach up towards the nest at times. A thunderbird pipe is used during the ceremony, and thunderbird medicine is prepared as well. The area of Thunder Bay, Ontario, is related in some ways to the Anishinaabe stories of thunderbirds.

A famous story of the thunderbird is "Thunderbird and Whale". The thunderbird mythology parallels tales of the Roc from around the Indian Ocean; as the roc, it is generally assumed to be based on real (though mythically exaggerated) species of birds, specifically the Bald Eagle, which is very common on the Northwest Coast. It is said that when the Eagle and the Condor fly together wing-tip to wing-tip, the world will know balance, and amazing things will be able to happen. The Condor is said to carry the spirit of the mighty thunderbird. "It is going to be a wonderful thing, when the Thunderbirds come home," says Grandmother Agnes of Grants Pass, Oregon.

Notes

^ Townsend, Richard F. (2004). Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10601-7.
^ Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms. University of Texas Press. 2004. pp. 29–34. ISBN 978-0-292-71347-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)

External links

[1] Townsend, Richard F. (2004). Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10601-7.

[2] Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms. University of Texas Press. 2004. pp. 29–34. ISBN 978-0-292-71347-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)

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 == Common depictions ==
-Across many [[North American]] indigenous cultures, the thunderbird carries many of the same characteristics. It is described as a large bird larger than both the eagle and the condor, capable of creating storms and thundering while it flies. [[Cloud]]s are pulled together by its wingbeats, the sound of thunder made by its wings clapping, [[lightning|sheet lightning]] the light flashing from its eyes when it blinks, and individual [[Thunderbolt|lightning bolts]] made by the glowing snakes that it carries around with it. In masks, it is depicted as multi-colored, with two curling horns, and, often, [[teeth]] within its [[beak]]. The Native Americans believed that the giant thunderbird could shoot lightning from its eyes.
+Across many [[North American]] indigenous cultures, the thunderbird carries many of the same characteristics. It is described as a large bird larger than both the eagle and the condor, capable of creating storms and thundering while it flies. [[Cloud]]s are pulled together by its wingbeats, the sound of thunder made by its wings clapping, [[lightning|sheet lightning]] the light flashing from its eyes when it blinks, and the thunderbird could shoot individual [[Thunderbolt|lightning bolts]], Native Americans believed. In masks, it is depicted as multi-colored, with two curling horns, and, often, [[teeth]] within its [[beak]].
 == In oral history ==

v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Anishinaabe Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rassawek Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era