Solstice Traditions
By Michael Kemp
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In the first times the world was in darkness. There was
no sun. There was no Moon. There were no stars. The darkness was endless. The people
lived in this darkness. The only lights were from the fires in the longhouses of
the people. It was very hard to hunt, to fish, to gather berries and roots.
Raven flew in this darkness for a long time. It was hard for Raven to see anything.
This made Raven angry. What really made Raven angry was that he could not see the
beauty of his shiny black feathers. So when Raven heard that a fisherman kept light
locked in a cedar chest, Raven decided to get this light.
The fisherman lived alone with his daughter on an island in the North. One day Raven
found the fisherman's daughter picking and eating salal berries. Raven made himself
into the most beautiful salal leaf. Raven put himself among the salal berries. Soon
daughter had swallowed Raven-leaf along with some berries.
Raven-leaf became Raven-child within her and soon came out in the normal way of children.
Raven grew astonishingly quickly. He became a mischievous little boy - always into
everything. His fisherman grandfather was upset at first by this unexpected child,
but soon came to dote upon him as grandfathers
do.
One day Raven-boy made such a fuss about getting the light out of the cedar chest
that grandfather let mother get the light. Mother opened the chest. Within it was
a box. Within that was another box. It went on this way for ten boxes until mother
brought out the light wrapped in a net made of nettle thread. The longhouse had never
been so bright. The light was amazing! Mother tossed light to Raven-boy. Raven-boy
caught the light before it could touch the floor of the longhouse.
Then Raven-boy made such a fuss about opening the smoke hole that grandfather told
his daughter "Enough! Take the boards off of the smoke hole for my grandson!"
As soon as mother moved the boards from the smoke hole Raven-boy scooped up the light
and flew through the smoke hole. Raven took back his beautiful black shape as he
flew scattering the sun, moon, and stars into the heavens.
This is why we do not live in darkness anymore. Now we can admire the beauty of Raven's
shiny black feathers. But Raven is never satisfied. Raven still makes quite a fuss.
Even to this day.
Haida story retold by Michael. This is a very short retelling and does not do
justice to the original oral tradition. In some versions Eagle attacks Raven as he
is making his escape, causing him to drop Sun, which breaks, creating the moon and
stars.