Thunder Bird Myth

The natural world is divine to native Americans; the Thunderbird is a symbol that links many tribes to the nature. The Thunderbird has different meaning to different tribes, and there are various stories about it. This research essay will work on the myth of Thunderbird of Indian tribes, both common stories and some different myth of different tribes. The Thunderbird is used as an explanation for the things they don’t understand. For Native Americans, the Thunderbird is the answer to many nature’s puzzle, and it controls their lives.
The appearance of Thunderbird varies from one Indian tribe story to another but most described the Thunderbird looks as a gigantic eagle: its eyes can shoot lightning, produce thunder by beating its wings, and

These people worship the Thunderbird because they think it will save them from crisis, protect them in wars. Indian tribes such as Kwakwaka’wakw believed that their ancestors made a deal with the Thunderbird that the bird will help them when there is a food crisis, and in return, their tribe will worship and admire the Thunderbird as a god. They put the Thunderbird on the top of their totem, put it into their artworks, and have ceremonies for it. All the purpose of doing these are because of this deal they made in the

There are many others that are worshiped by Indians. Thunderbird is one of the most powerful animal, and it had battles with some other creatures. In the myth of Lakota tribe, there isn’t only one Thunderbird, but four of them. There is a scarlet one; one is black with a long beak; one of yellow colored with no beak, and a blue one with no ears or eyes. These four Thunderbirds travel with West Wind and protect people from North Wind.
In the story of Arapaho tribe, the Thunderbird is the symbol of summer, a holy bird that can produce black clouds with rain. It had a battle with the bird of winter, the White Owl Woman. The White Owl Woman can create the white cloud and it defeated the black cloud of the Thunderbird. For Indian people, this is the explanation of white clouds and blue sky are above their heads for longer time.
The native Americans believed in the Thunderbird for ages. They not only see the Thunderbird as a spiritual god, but also something that physically exists, with holy power. Even though there is no evidence of the existence of the Thunderbird, and some scholars think that it is some species of giant predatory bird which had already died out, it is a symbol of Indian belief that goes through the entire native American