Kutkh (also
Kutkha,
Kootkha,
Kutq and variants, ), is a
Raven spiritRavens are common characters in the traditional narratives and mythology around the world, notably a part of North American, Siberian, and Norse mythology...
traditionally revered in various forms by various indigenous peoples of the
Russian Far EastRussian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
. Kutkh appears in many legends: as a key figure in creation, as a fertile
ancestorAn ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
of mankind, as a mighty shaman and as a
tricksterIn mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this...
. He is a popular subject of the animist stories of the
Chukchi peopleChukchi, or Chukchee are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
and plays a central role in the mythology of the
KoryakKoryak may refer to:*Koryak Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject of Russia*Koryaks, a people of northeastern Siberia*Koryak language, language of the Koryaks*Koryak, the illegitimate son of Aquaman, a fictional character in DC Comics...
and Itelmen of Kamchatka.
Kutkh (also
Kutkha,
Kootkha,
Kutq and variants, ), is a
Raven spiritRavens are common characters in the traditional narratives and mythology around the world, notably a part of North American, Siberian, and Norse mythology...
traditionally revered in various forms by various indigenous peoples of the
Russian Far EastRussian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
. Kutkh appears in many legends: as a key figure in creation, as a fertile
ancestorAn ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
of mankind, as a mighty shaman and as a
tricksterIn mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this...
. He is a popular subject of the animist stories of the
Chukchi peopleChukchi, or Chukchee are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
and plays a central role in the mythology of the
KoryakKoryak may refer to:*Koryak Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject of Russia*Koryaks, a people of northeastern Siberia*Koryak language, language of the Koryaks*Koryak, the illegitimate son of Aquaman, a fictional character in DC Comics...
and Itelmen of Kamchatka. Many of the stories regarding Kutkh are similar to those of the Raven among the
indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest CoastThe Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
, indicating a long history of indirect cultural contact between Asian and North American peoples.
Names
Kutkh is known among a wide group of people that share a common
Chukotko-KamchatkanThe Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages are a language family of northeastern Siberia. The family is also known as Chukchi-Kamchatkan.Less commonly encountered names for this family are Chukchian, Chukotian, Chukotan, Kamchukchee and Kamchukotic...
language family. He is known as
Kutq among the Itelmen,
KútqI,
KútqIy,
KúsqIy in the southeastern Koryak language;
KúykIy or
QúykIy in northwestern Koryak; and
Kúrkil in the
Chukchi languageThe Chukchi language also known as Luoravetlan, Chukot and Chukcha is a Palaeosiberian language spoken by Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug...
. In Koryak it is employed commonly in its augmentative form, (
KutqÍnnaku,
KusqÍnnaku,
KuyÍnnaku) all meaning "Big Kutkh" and often translated simply as "God".
Myths
The tales of Kutkh come in many, often contradictory versions. In some tales he is explicitly created by a Creator and lets the dawn onto the earth by chipping away at the stones surrounding her. In others he creates himself (sometimes out of an old fur coat) and takes pride in his independence from the Creator. In some, Kamchatka is created as he drops a feather while flying over the earth. In others, islands and continents are created by his defecation, rivers and lakes out of his waters. The difficult volcanic terrain and swift rivers of Kamchatka are thought to reflect Kutkh's capricious and willful nature.
The bringing of light in the form of the sun and the moon is a common theme. Sometimes, he tricks an evil spirit which has captured the celestial bodies much in the style of analogous legends about the
TlingitThe Tlingit are an Indigenous people of northwestern America. Their name for themselves is Lingít "people"...
and
HaidaThe Haida are an indigenous nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The Haida territories comprise the archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Islands, known in the Haida language as Haida Gwaii , and the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, which...
in the Pacific northwest. In others, it is he who must be tricked into releasing the sun and the moon from his bill.
Kutkh's virility is emphasized in many legends. Many myths concern his children copulating with other animal spirits and creating the peoples that populate the world.
In the animistic tradition of north-Eurasian peoples, Kutkh has a variety of interactions and altercations with Wolf,
FoxFox is a common name for many species of carnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail ....
,
BearBears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
,
WolverineThe wolverine , also referred to as a glutton and occasionally as a carcajou, skunk bear, quickhatch, or gulon, is the largest land-dwelling species of the Mustelidae family in the genus Gulo . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...
,
MouseA mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. The American white-footed mouse and the deer mouse also sometimes live in houses. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common...
,
OwlThe Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 birds of prey, species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except...
,
DogThe dog is a domesticated form of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history...
,
SealPinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae...
,
WalrusThe walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
and a host of other spirits. Many of these interactions involve some sort of trickery in which Kutkh comes out on top about as often as he is made a fool of.
An example of these contradictions is given to the Chukchi legend of Kutkh and the Mice. The great and mighty raven Kutkh was flying through the cosmos. Tired from constant flight, he regurgitated the Earth from his gut, transformed into an old man, and alighted on the empty land to rest. Out of his first footsteps emerged the first Mice. Curious, playful and fearless, they entered the sleeping Kutkh's nose. The fury of the subsequent sneeze buckled the earth and created the mountains and the valleys. Attempts to stamp them out led to the formation of the ocean. Further harassments led to a great battle between the forces of snow and fire which created the seasons. Thus, the variable world recognizable to people emerged out of the dynamic interaction between the mighty Kutkh and the small but numerous Mice.
Attitudes
Although Kutkh is supposed to have given mankind variously light, fire, language, fresh water and skills such as net-weaving and copulation, he is also often portrayed as a laughing-stock, hungry, thieving and selfish. In its contradictions, his character is similar that of other trickster gods, such as
CoyoteCoyote is a mythological character common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, tail and claws...
.
The early Russian explorer and ethnographer of Kamchatka
Stepan KrasheninnikovStepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov was a Russian explorer and geographer who gave the first full description of Kamchatka in the early eighteenth century. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1750...
(1711 - 1755) summarizes the Itelmen's relationship to Kutkh as follows:
The image of Kutkh remains popular and iconic in Kamchatka, used often in advertising and promotional materials. Stylized carvings of Kutkh by Koryak artisans, often adorned with beads and lined with fur, are sold widely as souvenirs.
External links
Sources
- D. Koester (2002) "When the fat raven sings: mimesis and environmental alterity in Kamchatka's environmental age." in People and the Land, Pathways to Reform in Post-Soviet Siberia, ed. E. Kasten. Berlin: Dietrich Reiner Verlag. http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/plkoester.pdf
- W. Jochelson (1908). The Koryak. Leiden, E.J. Brill.
- D.S. Worth (1961). Kamchadal Texts Collected by W. Jochelson 's Gravenhage: Mouton.