In the Tlingit & Haida cultures, there are many stories involving the kushtaka (also spelled kooshdakhaa, kushtahkah, and kooshdaa kaa, and stressed on the final syllable), a being associated with the land otter. The name shows up in several place names in Alaska, including Kushtaka Lake, Kushtaka Mountain, Kushtaka Ridge, Kushtaka Glacier. For more about traditions involving the kushtaka, see these works edited by Sergei Kan: Symbolic Immortality: The Tlingit Potlatch of the Nineteenth Century (Bookshop|Amazon) and Sharing Our Knowledge: The Tlingit and Their Coastal Neighbors (Bookshop|Amazon). This is part of a complete episode.
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