Monsters, Mosquitoes and Ashes
Insects are present in mythology, rituals and the art of the Northwest Coast societies, however, unlike other animals that are at the center of their cosmology, little is known about them in the ethnographic literature. Mainly based on the mythology of the main ethnic groups in this region, we can show that mosquitoes born from the ashes of charred monsters share with them the same qualities: they are, at their level, the necessary links to the perpetuation of life, which is inseparably tied to death, because one must die to be reborn. Mosquito spirits are helping spirits of Tlingit shamans, and wasp spirits are supposed to make warriors invulnerable and aggressive.