Thunderbird Club
The thunderbird club is a heavy carved club whose grip and head take the form of a great bird, most often the thunderbird, so that each blow falls with the power of the being whose wingbeats make thunder and whose flashing eyes cast lightning. Carried by chiefs and warriors of the Northwest Coast and some Plains nations, the club is both a weapon and an emblem, its carved beak, wings and tail binding the bearer to the great sky bird of the origin stories. Because the bird's image was itself charged with power, such a club was a personal and often hereditary treasure. The thunderbird appears ac