The reason is to be found in the fact that the Thunderbirds have an esoteric identity with clouds. Superficially, it is a puzzle why the Thunders, who contain within themselves the luminous lightning, would marry the Nightspirits, who are responsible for darkness. 10 Although they live in the west, the Thunders intermarry with the Nightspirits who live where the sun rises. 7 (see Thunderbird Genealogy) Snow is caused to fall by the one called "White Thunder." 8 The whole Thunder tribe is ruled over by Great Black Hawk, 9 whose daughter Yųgiwi ("Princess") owns a blanket of many shades of red which she loans to Sun when he sets near the Thunderbird spirit village.
5 The baldheadedness may derive from a curious assonance between the word capara, "baldheaded," and cąpara, jąpara, "lightning." Foster was informed that "The Thunders are people like us, but with wings on their shoulders, and they have each a club, and are always ready for war." 6 The Thunders are of two sorts, the Good Thunderbirds (led by Wakąja?), and the Bad Thunderbirds who, under the command of Wonáǧire Wąkšik, cause the rain to fall. 4 Nevertheless, when they appear before humans, they usually assume the form of bald men crowned with wreaths of cedar, either juiniper or arbor vitae (Thuja occidentalis), and carrying the Thunderbird Warclub.
Thunderbirds have created such eggs by merely rubbing a Thunderbird feather between their palms, and in one case even turned a human into a Thunderbird egg by the same process. Thus they once blessed Kerexų́saka with a flute, but this sacred object was so powerful that he declined to accept it. Their voices are like the sounds of flutes, recalling both the whistle of wind and the voices of raptors. However, they are far stronger in build and have polychrome plumage that gives them a magnificent appearance unrivaled by the birds of earth. Their basic somatic form runs the gamut of several species of birds, the hawk and the eagle being the most common. 2 Their name, Wakąja, means, "Divine Ones." On the model of other tribes, they are conventionally called "Thunder(bird)s," since they alone possess lightning. 1 Together with the Waterspirits, they were the first spirits that Earthmaker created. Thunderbirds are powerful and warlike avian spirits who animate the gray clouds with thunder and lightning. Thunderbirds or Thunders ( Wakąja, "The Divine Ones")
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