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Heart and Soul: Raven

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Raven

18/01/2019 GMT

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Raven

Joe Shute tracks the spiritual flight of the Raven to the Haida Nation in Canada.

The raven has featured in human culture for millennia, taking its place in a wide range of belief systems as a wily trickster and revealer of truths.
 
Two ravens perched on the Norse God Odin's shoulders representing thought and memory. In the Bible the raven is released by Noah from the Ark. And the large black bird has held totemic status for numerous faiths as a savage soothsayer. 
However, in the last few centuries, in the West, the raven came to be viewed as nothing more than a symbol of death.  Following the Plague it was persecuted to the extent where it was almost wiped out across much of the British Isles.

But on the islands of Haida Gwaii off Canada’s Pacific NW coast, the raven has always enjoyed an exalted status. The Haida Nation is divided into the Raven and the Eagle Clan. Both birds live among this indigenous people, who have inhabited the islands since the Ice Age.

Writer Joe Shute explores the Haida relationship with the Raven and finds a deep spiritual connection which has waned in Western culture. He hears creation stories in which Raven discovers the first men and steals the light from the gods for the benefit of mankind. He witnesses ceremonies honoring the raven and speaks to the Chief of the Raven Clan to understand how this mischievous, raucous, intelligent bird - whose “kronk” call can be heard all around the islands - acts as both as a vehicle between the human and supernatural worlds, and also as a mirror through which the Haida see themselves.

Image: Raven on Haida Gwaii (British Columbia, Canada) by Jags Brown

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