Thunderbolt Mask

Snowy Owl returned to the hutch and for the rest of the winter worked on his carvings and chipped new arrowhead and tools. He proudly made four axes from the stones gathered in the warm cave. We have one of these axes to this day. He also finished the bear effigy as well as a model of a two sided totem pole – one side he carved a sesquec holding a spear and on the other he fashioned the image of an island princess holding a codfish with chipmunks adoring their hair. This totem will bring the people amusement some day. He kept Tillicum’s spear always near because he knew that it would protect him from any other sesquec who may appear to threaten him.

During this time, he remembered what the old whalers taught him about ritual purification and he went about constructing a sweat lodge from willow branches, fir boughs and mud. The structure covered a large fire pit on the grassy field above the beach. When the fire died down, he covered the smoke hole and climbed in to enjoy the intense heat of the glowing coals, which he splashed with small portions of water from a basket to release puffs of invigorating steam that turned his skin red and drove away the cold of the season.

He placed sage leaves on the coals that filled the space with a sweet and pungent smell. When he could no longer tolerate the heat, he leapt outside and ran into the cold pool of the stream to sit up to his neck long enough to sing a Kaw-Seth elder’s chant, then he ran back to be warmed again in the steam. He spent much of the day in the sweat lodge.

On one clear day he decided to go hunting to kill the other sesquec on the small island. This time he paddled his newly pitched skin boat to a hidden bay out of sight from the first beach that he had visited. But, when he crept to the location of the old woman’s lodge, he found nothing. There was no sign of house foundations or of any fire pit. The frozen grass seemed untouched. He was sure that he found the right spot and concluded that the lodge and his conversation with the old woman was a trick of the spirits. 

Victory over the sisters and his escape from the underworld must have driven the sesquec away. Tillicum’s power was too great for them. He felt a surge of pride that filled his chest with warmth like the warmth of the sacred fire. These islands were his now and they would be devoted to the Kaw-Seth for all generations – out of reach from enemies and free from the influence of rebellious spirits, haunted only be the Great Spirit himself.

Snowy Owl lifted up his hands into the sky with palms turned out and sang a song of thanks: “You Creator grant me victory over deceiving spirits and drive away every evil supernatural beast from these islands. In your power your children are freed from slavery and reborn to live a in a pure land.  When you move to rescue us, you provide one good thing after another.” 

He then danced the dance of Sesquec Island, swinging Tillicum’s spear and shouting like a sesquec: “Uooo ha ahoo. Uooo ha ahoo!”
Continued