Corvids Mythology: From Ancient Greece to Today’s Salish Sea

Hosted by the North Cascades Institute

Instructor Kaeli Swift

Class Tuition $15

Whether you are keen on them or not, crows, ravens and other corvids are often daily parts of our lives. They live and nest throughout the human world from cities to rural communities, exploiting our resources and watching us perhaps even more closely than we watch them.

But our relationship to these intelligent and sociable birds extends far beyond our contemporary experiences with them, reaching as far back as humans have been telling and recording stories.

Ravens are associated with Apollo in Greek mythology. In the Book of Genesis, Noah releases a raven from the ark after the great flood to test whether the waters have receded. In Norse mythology, Odin is accompanied by two ravens – Huginn and Muninn – that serve as his eyes and ears: huginn meaning “thought” and muninn meaning “memory.” The depiction of a three-legged crow is prevalent in various mythologies and arts of East Asia, while in China magpies are associated with children and marriage.The Kingdom of England will fall, according to legend, if the ravens that live at the Tower of London are removed. And, closer to home, ravens play a prominent role in the stories of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Tsimishians, Haidas, Heiltsuks, Tlingits, Kwakwaka’wakw and Coast Salish.

Join us online as Dr. Kaeli Swift walks us through the various mythology that surrounds corvids from their symbolism in ancient Greece to the creation stories of the Coast Salish people, and how we can use best practices to celebrate the role of corvids in the cultures of others.

For more information click here.