There are dim Aleutian traditions of certain religious night dances held in the month of December. Wooden idols, or figures of some kind, were made for the occasion and carried from island to island with many esoteric ceremonies. Then was to be seen a marvelous sight. The men and women were put far apart; in the middle of each party a wooden figure was set up; certain great wooden masks or blinders were put on each person, so contrived that the wearer could see nothing outside a little circle round his feet. Then every one stripped, and there upon the snow, under the moonlight, in the bitter Arctic night, danced naked before the image--say rather before the god, for as they danced a kugan descended and entered into the wooden figure. Woe to him or to her whose drift-wood mask fell, or was lifted, in the whirl of that awful dance; the stare of the Gorgon was not more fatal than a glance of the demon that possessed the idol; and for any one to look on one of the opposite sex, however it came about, he might be even counted as one dead. When the dance was over, the idols and the masks were broken and cast away. It may be added that such masks as this were needed, even by prophets in their interviews with the great spirits that know all mortal consequences; and that when a man died such a mask was put over his eyes--O naked and shivering soul, face to face with the darkest kugan of all we will shelter thee what we can.[V-4]
The Thlinkeets are said not to believe in any supreme being. They have that Yehl, the Raven, and that Khanukh, the Wolf, whom we are already to some extent acquainted with; but neither the exact rank and character of these in the supernatural world, nor even their comparative rank, can be established above contradiction. Thus Yehl is said to be the creator of all beings and things, yet we have not forgotten how Khanukh wrung from the unwilling lips of him the confession: Thou art older that I. It is again said of Yehl that his power is unlimited; but alas, we have seen him helpless in the magic darkness raised by Khanukh, and howling as a frightened child might do in a gloomy corridor. The nature of Yehl is kind and he loves men, while the reverse is generally considered true of Khanukh; but Yehl, too, when his anger is stirred up sends sickness and evil fortune. Yehl existed before his birth upon earth; he cannot die nor even become older. Where the sources of the Nass are, whence the east-wind comes, is Nass-Shakieyehl, the home of Yehl; the east-wind brings news of him. By an unknown mother a son was born to him, who loves mankind even more than his father, and provides their food in due season. To conclude the matter, Yehl is, if not the central figure, at least the most prominent in the Thlinkeet pantheon, and the alpha and the omega of Thlinkeet philosophy and theology is summed up in their favorite aphorism: As Yehl acted and lived, so also will we live and do. After Yehl and Khanukh, the Thlinkeets believe in the brother and sister, Chethl and Ahgishanakhou, the Thunder or Thunder-bird, and the Under-ground Woman. Chethl is a kind of great northern rukh that snatches up and swallows a whale without difficulty, while his wings and eyes produce thunder and lightning as already described; his sister Ahgishanakhou sits alone below and guards the Irminsul that supports the world of the North-west.[V-5]