Editing Orca (section)

===Indigenous cultures===
{{see also|Animal worship}}
[[File:Haida Jade.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Haida people|Haida]] sculpture by [[Bill Reid]]|alt=Jade carving of a killer whale with exaggerated fins and bared teeth. Its body and fins are engraved with nested ovals and other patterns.]]

The [[indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]] feature orcas throughout [[Northwest Coast art|their art]], history, spirituality and religion. The [[Haida people|Haida]] regarded orcas as the most powerful animals in the ocean, and their mythology tells of orcas living in houses and towns under the sea. According to these stories, they took on human form when submerged, and humans who drowned went to live with them.{{sfn|Francis|Hewlett|2007|pp=115–120}} For the [[Kwakwaka'wakw]], the orca was regarded as the ruler of the undersea world, with [[sea lion]]s for slaves and dolphins for warriors.{{sfn|Francis|Hewlett|2007|pp=115–120}} In [[Nuu-chah-nulth people|Nuu-chah-nulth]] and [[Kwakwaka'wakw mythology]], orcas may embody the souls of deceased chiefs.{{sfn|Francis|Hewlett|2007|pp=115–120}} The [[Tlingit people|Tlingit]] of southeastern Alaska regarded the orca as custodian of the sea and a benefactor of humans.{{sfn|Ford|Ellis|Balcomb|2000|p=11}}
The [[Lummi people|Lummi]] consider orca to be people, referring to them as "qwe'lhol'mechen" which means "our relations under the waves".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gibson |first1=Caitlin |title=The call of Tokitae |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/interactive/2023/tokitae-lolita-orca/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=December 10, 2023 |date=December 5, 2023 |archive-date=December 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205234228/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/interactive/2023/tokitae-lolita-orca/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Maritime Archaic]] people of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] also had great respect for orcas, as evidenced by stone carvings found in a 4,000-year-old burial at the [[Port au Choix Archaeological Site]].<ref>Rollmann, Hans (1999). [http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/religion.html Religion in Newfoundland and Labrador] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504120020/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/religion.html |date=May 4, 2009 }}, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Retrieved January 26, 2010</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/277719|author=Tuck|first1= James A.|year=1971 |title=An Archaic Cemetery at Port Au Choix, Newfoundland|journal=American Antiquity|volume=36|issue=3|pages=343–358|jstor=277719|s2cid=163391715 }}</ref>

In the tales and beliefs of the [[Siberian Yupik]] people, orcas are said to appear as [[Wolf|wolves]] in winter, and wolves as orcas in summer.<ref name=rubow>''The orphan boy with his sister'', p. 156 in Rubcova, E. S. (1954). ''Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect''. Leningrad: [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences of the USSR]]. Original data: Е.С. Рубцова: Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Академия Наук СССР. Москва-Ленинград, 1954</ref><ref name=menow>Menovshchikov, G. A. (1962). ''Grammar of the language of Asian Eskimos''. Vol. I., pp. 439, 441. Moscow and Leningrad: [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences of the USSR]]. Original data: Г. А. Меновщиков: Грамматиκа языка азиатских эскимосов. Часть первая. Академия Наук СССР. Москва-Ленинград, 1962</ref><ref name=ssipr>{{cite web|url=http://www.nsu.ru/ip/eskimos.php#3|title=Поддержка прав коренных народов Cибири - Spiritual culture subsection of the Eskimos page in the Support for Siberian Indigenous Peoples Rights|work=nsu.ru|language=ru|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830162420/http://www.nsu.ru/ip/eskimos.php#3|archive-date=August 30, 2007}}</ref><ref name=submit>{{cite web |last=Vajda |first=Edward J |title=Siberian Yupik (Eskimo) |work=East Asian Studies |url=http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/aleut.htm |access-date=August 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028052901/http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/aleut.htm |archive-date=October 28, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Orcas are believed to assist their hunters in driving walrus.<ref name=radio>{{cite serial |credits=Ковалева, Ирина & Богословская, Людмила |script-title=ru:Животные и отражение их прихода к человеку в самых разных текстах |network=Эхо Москвы |station=Арсенал |airdate=December 3, 2002 |url=http://echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/20523/ |language=ru |access-date=April 29, 2008 |archive-date=May 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505005651/http://echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/20523/ |url-status=live }} A radio interview with Russian scientists about man and animal, examples taken especially from Asian Eskimos</ref> Reverence is expressed in several forms: the boat represents the animal, and a wooden carving hung from the hunter's belt.<ref name=ssipr/> Small [[sacrifice]]s such as tobacco or meat are strewn into the sea for them.<ref name=radio/><ref name=submit/>

The [[Ainu people]] of [[Hokkaido]], the [[Kuril Islands]], and southern [[Sakhalin]] often referred to orcas in their folklore and myth as ''[[Repun Kamuy]]'' (God of Sea/Offshore) to bring fortunes (whales) to the coasts, and there had been traditional funerals for stranded or deceased orcas akin to funerals for other animals such as [[brown bear]]s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Miyanaga |first=T. |year=2014 |script-title=ja:（北海道）「シャチ送り」の遺構か 礼文島の遺跡で出土 |newspaper=[[Asahi Shimbun]] |language=ja}}</ref>