I7A. The lightning snake. .13.38.42.44.49.50.52.55.
Lightning is associated with a snake.
Sudan-East Africa. The Kango Pygmies [the rainbow serpent is identified with the creator of Mungu; during a thunderstorm, lightning is its tail]: Abrahamsson 1951:116.
Japan. Aina [the goddess of fire was sent to earth; a serpent fell in love with her; she allowed him to go with her if he could withstand the fire; he came down in lightning; snakes are still coming down from the sky in lightning]: Batchelor 1927:142.
The Big Pool. Northern Payutes (?" western numas") [lightning is a red snake with a human head; thunder is its roar]: Powell 1971:243.
NW Coast. Nootka: Barbeau 1953 [John Boit 1791: They believe that the Eagle produces Thunder when it carries a whale, and lightning is the hiss of a huge snake]: 202; Webber 1936 [Hee-e-tlik doesn't eat what it gives his mother feeds on the smell of pine trees; becomes a friend of the thunder bird Tutuch, turns into a lightning snake, flies with T. wrapped around her body; when T. hunts whales, H. kills them, and T. takes them home]: 29; poppies [rainbow is an evil creature somehow connected to Thunder; anyone who gets caught has jaws at both ends of the body; Thunder is a huge man, lives on a mountain, feeds on whales; It takes off wearing a bird's mask and wings, covering its body with feathers and surrounded by Lightning Fish; its head is like a knife and a red fiery tongue; when Thunder flies to the sea, its wings overshadow the sky and make a rumble; at the sight of a whale, it throws Lightning Fish at it, brings the hunted whale to the mountain and eats there; sometimes Lightning Fish hits a tree or a person, cutting everything into pieces; in these cases, people try to find a piece of Lightnfish because it has power; a red piece of its bone provides a lucky person in whale hunting and other work]: James G. Swan 1869-1870 in Clark 1953:161.
The Midwest. The Algonquins [lightning is a snake spewed by a manito, that is, the creator; there is a serpentine trail on the trunk of the tree it struck]: Spence 1985 [1914]: 112.
The Great Southwest. Navajo [snakes are associated with lightning and are depicted as horned]: Bahti 2000:46
Mesoamerica Jacaltecs, Tojolabal, Classical Mayans [quoting Lenkesdorf 1979 and Montejo 1984, Joanne Spero (1987:172) argues that modern Jacaltecs and Tojolabal consider lightning a fire snake; similarly, snakes often have a pair of curls of smoke or fire coming out of their mouths in images of the Classical Period; Esther Pasztory (1974:7) mentions that Classical Teotihuacan took place Tlaloc identification with snake zippers]: Taube 1992:19-20.
The Northern Andes. Paez [pihao killed people; Llivan was fasting, in the mountains he saw a big red man throwing stones into the stream; this is Thunder, he gives his spear metal, it produces thunder, lightning, wind, rain; At home, L. hid the spear metal in a pot; told his mother to give it to him, but she was not a shaman; she saw a green snake in the pot; L. took it himself, told his mother and sister to hide under the pot, but they did not have time lightning killed them along with pihao, L. revived them; Pihao hid their treasures in an underground cache; became Thunder]: Nachtigall 1955, No. 3:294-297.