FW: Copper Canoes and White She Camels

[Scott E. Tyler]

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Scott E. Tyler
> Sent:	Monday, January 03, 2000 8:37 AM
> To:	'Mike Cleven'
> Subject:	Copper Canoes and White She Camels
>
> I am getting in a little late on this story.
> I do find these fascinating.
> The copper canoe could be a shining canoe.
> Is there a reference on this story or ethnographic source?
> There are a number of NW stories about the sky,
>
> The boy who was able to shoot arrows one after another into the previous
> arrow and made an chain of arrows up into the sky and then climbed the
> rope.
>
> The Thunderbird in Makah/Nuchanulth legends comes from the sky, he is the
> Great Chief Above who puts on his robe of feathers with a belt of two sea
> serpents and decends to our level to do mundane things like kill whales,
> cause lightening and thunder.
>
> The Great Chief Above = hita?c'ihl?atX chaabat'  (Above-from Chief) is
> akin to what some tribes call the Great Spirit, or the Christian = God,
> which some Makahs have translated as the Father from Above =  duwiqs
> hita?ac'ilh?atX..
> I some traditional Makah prayers the Great Chief Above's name is Daylight
> =  tl'isiiq'ak
> and the word for prayer means talking to the daylight =
> tl'itl'isq'akwiduk
> This Above Chief concept exist is Wawa too,  as the SaXali  or Sahalee
> Tyee (Above Chief)
> Prayer in Wa Wa has been described as talking to the Chief Above too.
>
> The copper, shining canoe is a beautiful description of some reality.
> Perhaps a spiritual reality from that time and that place when the land
> was filled with spirits and the seas with sea bears and sea eagles.
>
> If we come from the stand point of wondering what life forms are  in
> space, as a human searching for a shining reality, a time when people
> commit suicide in order to rendezvous with a comet and a space ship, then
> we tend to give this the extraterrestrial being sort of interpretation.
>
> I tend to look at these as stories of humans who taught other humans a
> higher reality.  Generally givings others spiritual, social and physical
> truths about the world they live in.  Some what like an Indian  Moses,
> Muhammed, Buddha or Christ.  We ended up calling this 'culture hero' a
> name such as Mink, Coyote or Raven.
>
> Another neat legend is the White this or that.
> For us in the Northern Eurpeon region we had the great dream of catching
> and subduing the Great White Whale.
> Moby to be exact.
> Whereas  in India the return of the White Elephant is a great sign for
> some Buddhists, the Koran also describes the
> White She Camel and in some places decribes the mistreatment of the She
> Camel.
> In the Plains Indian legends there is a description of the Return of White
> Buffalo Calf Maiden.  She was the source of the Sacred Pipe and many
> teachings.
> Are these the description of a similar reality--I think so.  I only threw
> in the Moby Dick thing because we in the west tend to look at the big
> white this or that as something to be conquered or subdued, rended to make
> a profit.  (i.e. something material because we are truly materialists).
>
> copper in wawa is cikamin maybe pil cikamin for gold.
> though in Makah gold is kul (I believe a borrowed term) and copper is
> kukulak'uk (looks like gold).
> kul is pidjin and may well be a good wawa term.
> Scott
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Mike Cleven [SMTP:ironmtn at BIGFOOT.COM]
> Sent:	Wednesday, December 29, 1999 12:57 PM
> To:	CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject:	[Fwd: Re: copper canoe legends]
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: copper canoe legends
> Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 11:58:23 -0800
> From: Mike Cleven <ironmtn at bigfoot.com>
> Organization: Iron Mountain Creative Systems
> To: Linda Fink <linda at FINK.COM>, CHINOOK at listserv.linguistlist.o
> References: <CHINOOK%1999123111295089 at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
>
>
>
> Linda Fink wrote:
>
> > Well, these are fascinating! I've never heard either of the legends
> > mentioned so far. The one I heard is a Nootka legend. Long ago, from the
> > waters of Whulge, a man came to the Nootkas in a copper canoe, bright as
> the
> > sun. His paddles were also copper. Men said he came from the sky to
> teach
> > them not to fight. At first the Nootkas listened, then they became angry
> and
> > killed him. They were sorry after they killed him. Therefore they carve
> > images of him for their houses, even to this day. Anyone know anything
> about
> > these images or this story?
> >
> > Please keep the stories coming! Hyash mahsie.
>
> Now, one kind of ethnographer would start extrapolating on these various
> copper-canoe stories, going so far (as Levi-Strauss) might that they
> were
> actually all originally the same tale.  However, in this region it's
> worth
> considering that each legend might very well represent a different
> landing and a
> different encounter experience...........