Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center

The Kwa-kiulth people tell different origin stories in the various villages. According to the people of the village of ‘Namgis, the world began with a great flood. As the flood waters receded, Sea Monster emerged—he came onto the land and became the first man.

Sea Monster began to build a house. He put up the posts without any trouble, but the beams were too heavy for him to raise by himself. He saw a bird perched on a nearby rock, and wished that the bird were a man who could help him. The bird was Thunderbird, another supernatural being. Thunderbird understood the wish of Sea Monster, and lifted his bird face, revealing a human face beneath. Thunderbird picked up the heavy beams in his talons, assisting Sea Monster in finishing the house. When the work was done, Thunderbird took off the rest of his bird clothes and flung them into the air. As they flew away he proclaimed that thunder would occur only when someone died in the village.

Calvin Hunt, Kwa-kiulth

According to the people of Kwaqu’t, the world in the beginning was unfinished—for one thing, it was dark. Raven, the cunning bird who is represented in this mask and regalia, gave the world light according to the following story.

The sun, the moon, and the stars were boxed up in the house of a magician. Raven devised a way to get into the house—he transformed himself into a hemlock needle and dropped into the water that the magician’s daughter drank. In time, Raven was reborn in the magician’s house, in human form, as his grandson. When the infant Raven cried, his grandfather, anxious to please him, took down a box for him that was hanging from the ceiling. Left alone for a moment, Raven opened the box. Inside were the stars, which he tossed out through the smoke hole and into the sky. But the stars were not bright enough to light up the night, and Raven cried some more. His magician grandfather presented him with another box—this one contained the moon. As before, Raven waited until he was alone to open it, and he tossed out the moon to join the stars. By now, he realized that his grandfather’s largest box held the sun. Raven wailed again, and his grandfather, fearing that the child would die, gave him his proudest possession. As soon as it was safe, Raven changed himself back to bird form and flew out through the smoke hole with the box containing the sun. Opening the box, he brought light to the world.