Cougar Nature-Spirit of Haida
Among the Haida people of Haida Gwaii the cougar nature-spirit occupies a distinctive place in the pantheon of supernatural beings known as Sgaana qedas. The Pacific Northwest coastal forests and mountainous islands provide the backdrop for this powerful spirit, which the Haida associate with remote peaks and dense cedar groves of their archipelago. In Haida cosmology all animals possess spirit counterparts in the invisible world, and the cougar spirit is particularly respected for its solitary nature and connection to the mysteries of the deep forest. It appears in oral histories as one of th