The First Humans


Haida stories tell of how the first people emerged from a gigantic clam shell on the beach at Rose Spit. They got out with the help of Raven, who is the most powerful creature from myth time.

The Raven and the First Men.
Raven was wandering on the beach, when he heard some noise coming from a clam shell.He looked more closely and saw that it was full of little human creatures.
The Raven and the First Men;
(Detail of Raven's head).
They were terrified by the Raven and the big world outside the shell.
(Detail of humans)
  "So, the Raven leaned his great head close to the shell, and with the smooth trickster's tongue, that had got him into and out of so many misadventures, in his troubled and troublesome existence, he coaxed and cajoled and coerced the little creatures to come out and play in his wonderful, shiny, new world."
-Bill Reid, Haida artist
 

Click to see animation (Java)


The Raven and the First Men;
sculpture in yellow cedar by Bill Reid.