Tlingit and Haida TraditionRiver
Nass River
The river of northern British Columbia at whose head, in the Tlingit Raven cycle, the wealthy old man kept the stars, moon, and sun in boxes; it is also one of the rivers Raven made from Petrel's stolen water.
About Nass River
At the head of the Nass
In the Tlingit Raven cycle, the wealthy old man who owns the stars, the moon, and daylight lives at the head of the Nass River, and his title, Naas Shaak Aankáawu, means 'Nobleman at the Head of the Nass'. The river was the centre of the eulachon (candlefish) fishery that drew Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Nisga'a traders every spring, a fitting place for the richest man in the world to live.
Made by Raven
In the same Sitka cycle, the Nass is the first of the rivers Raven makes when he spits out the water stolen from Petrel. The river itself is the homeland of the Nisga'a Nation, whose own traditions of the Nass and of Raven (Txeemsim) are separate from the Tlingit stories told about it.
On the map
Nass River among other places of the Tlingit and Haida Tradition.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- John R. Swanton, Tlingit Myths and Texts (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 39), "Raven" (Sitka, recorded in English)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.