As a child I heard from my grandparents, my parents, and many Southern Tutchone elders the stories of Crow. Although the basic premise is the same, slight variations in the telling gave clues to the where and by whom the stories were being told. Crow brought light to the world; Crow helped establish the social order of the world; Crow is one of the two major Clans of the Southern Tutchone. My elders called ravens, crows and called crows, crows. It may be as a result of translation but I also like to believe that we did live among the crows during the times these ancient stories were developing as stories to be passed down. Certainly crows can be found from time to time here in the Yukon now. In the Southern Tutchone language I have been unable to find words that distinguish the raven from the crow. What I can say though is that the Southern Tutchone have different words for crow/raven the bird or the Clan. How the words are used in Southern Tutchone depend on the fluency of the speaker.
Crows in Skagway, Alaska, 2011
Ravens in the Yukon, 2011.
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In Southern Tutchone crows and ravens, the bird, are called ts'ürk'i
the Clan is called
Kaj`ät
I've heard the words used interchangeably when referring to the Clan.
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A flock of crows is called "a murder of crows",
a flock of ravens are called either
"an unkindness of ravens",
"a conspiracy of ravens",
or
"a constable of ravens".
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