Raven Spirit Mask

The Raven

As the story was first told by my father, (Eric Jackson Tepton Sr.) a shaman who lived in the village of Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island, (circa 1930’s) told a group of men who had gathered in the village’s kuzgi, (the men’s work house) that he was going out, and would immediately transform himself into a Raven and land on top of the house where a hole to allow smoke to escape was located. My father said he was about ten-years-old at the time (he is now in his mid-80’s). As soon as the shaman closed the door behind him, a Raven appeared on top of the kuzgi, looked down through the hole and began to squawk at the men below. After a couple of minutes, the raven flew off and the shaman returned and sat down to finish his work. That was the first time my father had witnessed a shaman transform himself into a Raven. This piece is designed to depict that transformation.