The belief that whales have agency and can communicate their needs to people isn’t unique to the Arctic. Farther south, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth whalers observed eight months of rituals meant to communicate respect in the mysterious language of whales. They bathed in special pools, prayed, spoke quietly, and avoided startling movements that might offend whales. Right before the hunt, the whalers sang a song asking the whale to give itself.
This passage relates to Cemetery Crows in that it points toward a relationship between humans and animals other than superiority and inferiority. It shows that communication between animals is much like the communication between humans themselves. That a relationship of respect is possible.
