The sisiutl is a legendary creature found in many of the cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. It is typically depicted as a double-headed serpent with fish qualities, sometimes with an additional central face of a supernatural being. The sisuitl features prominently in Pacific Northwest art, dances and songs. The sisuitl is closely associated with shamans because both are seen as mediators between the natural and supernatural worlds. The word for "sisiutl" in Tsimshian is Laqaqua'sa, which literally means "both sides head".
Form
The Sisiutl is typically depicted as a double-headed serpent, although it is sometimes shown with just one head. Kwakwaka'wakw depictions usually show a central, humanoid face between the double heads. All three heads are usually horned, and the serpent heads typically have protruding tongues and spiral or upturned noses, with crescents along the body. Other depictions, by the Kwakwaka'wakw or other Pacific Northwest peoples, omit or modify some of these features. The Tlingit "grubworm" or "woodworm" is a "peculiarly northern" variation that lacks the central head, and has an insatiable appetite. Among Pacific Northwest cultures, horns or plumes indicate a supernatural being. The spiral nose motif is used on Hamatsa masks depicting Baxbaxwalanuksiwe, where it indicates hunger. The protruding tongue is associated with lightning, supernatural power, and the transfer of power from an animal source to a novice. Crescents may represent stylised scales or the segments of a caterpillar. Where a central humanoid head is depicted, it most often is taken to represent Baxbaxwalanuksiwe, although it has also been associated with Qomoqua. In the northern grubworm variant, the central head is believed to be the princess who suckled the grubworm. The sisiutl also sometimes takes the form of a canoe, as in a myth where it returns a woman from Qomoqua's spiritual realm to her home village, or a squirrel.
Powers
The sisiutl is attributed with bringing both death and property; Paterson speculates that this may be "the basis for its double-headedness". The Kwakwaka'wakw myth "Squirrel and Thunderbird" describes the mortal Yayagextsa taking a scale from the sisiutl. The sisiutl describes the scale's powers: In the northern woodworm variation, a Tsimshian "princess" who lived in a village called Khrain breastfed a "grubworm", which grew to a large size and had a head on its tail. After the villagers killed the grubworm, a strange "big man" called out to the villagers from his canoe. Upon looking at him, the villagers died: "They were killed by the great supernatural power of the chief, who was the spirit of the great Grubworm". As a transformative creature of vast shamanic power, the Sisiutl could travel in and across all boundaries : land, water, & air. There is a belief among the Coast Salish that Sisiutl employ orca for transportation. So powerful are Sisiutl, that contact, stepping on one's slime trail, or even seeing one, was believed to cause sickness or death. According to legend, looking at the sisiutl can turn a person into stone. However, if one kills a Sisiutl, it has healing powers.
Usage
Artifacts commonly adorned with Sisiutl include masks, “flying" props, power boards, totem poles, clubs, knives, whistles, house beams, button blankets, setee, drums, wooden belts, pectoral ornaments, headdresses, frontlets, feast bowls, and canoe decorations. Images or sculptures of Sisiutl were employed to guard canoes and cedar plank longhouses. Warriors traditionally wear the sisiutl's emblem for protection in battle. Many soulcatchers depict sisuitl, although other soulcatchers are undecorated or depict other animals. " power boards, summoned by Tuxw'id dancers. Dantsikw boards are abstract Sisiutl.
Enemies
Thunderbirds are one of the few predators of Sisiutl. Holly, and spat blood were some of the few implements able to harm a Sisiutl.
Dancers donning the mask of Sisiutl adorn themselves with western hemlock boughs, signifying wildness. Sisiutl masks were often hinged, allowing the serpent ends to simulate lifelike serpentine writhing movements. Sisiutl masks were decorated with flecks of mica, which were believed to be scales shed by Sisiutl. These mica chips provided an enchanting glittery effect when danced in fire-light. Tuxw'id dancers often incorporate Sisiutl in their performance, invoking Sisiutl to grant them the power of Winalagalis : invincibility and immunity from pain. They may be seemingly pulled underground by a Sisiutl, or demonstrate their power by summoning dantsikw power boards to rise from the earth commemorating the supernatural canoe of Winalagalis. Supernatural powers bestowed by Sisiutl might be theatrically demonstrated by 'miraculously' surviving burning alive, or being decapitated. In the Hawinalal, to demonstrate invincibility & immunity from pain, dancers don sisiutl girdles, and are suspended from the rafters of the plank house by skewers pierced through their backs and thighs. Hawinalal dancers also cut themselves with a sisiutl knife.. The Ha'mshamtses employs sisiutl transformation masks. The ME'ila dancer carries a sisiutl club.
