This remarkable First Nations Thunderbird and Orca Dance Rattle features the removable rattle on a gorgeous base platform.

Priced at $1390, it measures 16h x 13w x 9d.

The artist is an outstanding native carver of West Coast and Salish descent of the Stayout Tribe. Born in 1948, he was raised in the Stayout Reserve in Sidney, B.C.

Currently living in Vancouver, B.C, he is a full time carver who works in a wide variety of mediums, from wood and stone to bone and antler.

He is a Vietnam veteran, serving in the Marine Corps and the Marine Recon-Battalion for four years.

The Thunderbird is a widespread figure in Native American mythology, particularly among Midwestern, Plains, and Northwest Coast tribes. Thunderbird is described as an enormous bird (according to many Northwestern tribes, large enough to carry a killer whale in its talons as an eagle carries a fish) who is responsible for the sound of thunder (and in some cases lightning as well.)

Different Native American communities had different traditions regarding the Thunderbird. In some tribes, Thunderbirds are considered extremely sacred forces of nature, while in others, they are treated like powerful but otherwise ordinary members of the animal kingdom. In Gros Ventre tradition, it was Thunderbird (Bha’a) who gave the sacred pipe to the people. Some Plains tribes associated thunderbirds with the summer season (in Arapaho mythology, Thunderbird was the opposing force to White Owl, who represented winter.) Thank you native-languages.org

Thunderbirds are also used as clan animals in some Native American cultures. Tribes with Thunderbird Clans include the Kwakiutl and Ho-Chunk tribes. On the Northwest Coast, the thunderbird symbol is often used as a totem pole crest.