Woodland Indians Forum

Suckachsinheet wrote:

Is there a NU word for the thunderbird?

Yes.  It's pethackuweu  (But, usually thought of in the plural, pethackuwewak.)  [Roth, J., A Northern-Unami Canon, Vol. 2, p.20

I know the Lenape recognized "the thunderers", but did they recognize the thunderbird?

Yes.  They're basically the same thing.  The Unami call them "man-like beings with wings."  Some Munsee described them as "giant partridges, although really persons."  [Harrington, M.R., Religion and Ceremonies of the Lenape, pp.29 & 30.]

In 1859, William Adams (father of Richard Calmet Adams) told Lewis Henry Morgan that "Pate-hoc-hoo-weh, the Spirit of Thunder... is represented as having the form of a bird, an Eagle, called Grand Father."  [Morgan, L.H., The Indian Journals, 1859-62, p.63.]

Is it generally associated with the west grandfather?

Not that I recall, though there might be some such reference.  Zeisberger said he was told that they dwelt in the mountains.  I believe the Southern Unami thought they lived in the mountains above the Earth.

What a great article! And to think I might have once had a shot at having that Bulletin... But I have the .pdf now...