Dohkwibuhch is the

creator deity A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatr ...

of the

Snohomish people The Snohomish are a Lushootseed Native American tribe who reside around the Puget Sound area of Washington, north of Seattle. They speak the Lushootseed language. The tribal spelling of their name is ''Sdoh-doh-hohbsh,'' which means "lowland peo ...

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. According to the myth, Dohkwibuhch began the creation of the world in the east, giving a new language to each group that he created. When he reached the Puget Sound, he liked the area so much that he decided to stop there. He then took the remaining languages and spread them around, explaining why the tribes of the area have so many different languages. Since they were unable to talk to each other, the people were displeased with Dohkwibuhch. Dohkwibuhch had also made a mistake when making the sky. It was too low, and tall people would strike their heads on it. People could also enter the sky world by climbing trees. A group of wise men gathered to devise a plan to lift the sky. They decided that it could be done if everyone in the world lifted at the same time, which the wise men called "Yah-hoh", which meant "lift together" in all of their languages. However, when the time came, a group of three hunters were unaware of the plan. They had followed a herd of four elk into the sky world. When the sky was lifted, they and their quarry became trapped in the sky forever, with the hunters becoming the handle of the

Big Dipper The Big Dipper ( US, Canada) or the Plough ( UK, Ireland) is a large asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them are of second magnitude and one, Megrez (δ), of third magnitude. Four define a "bowl" ...

and the elk becoming its bowl.

References

Creator gods Gods of the indigenous peoples of North America Creation myths {{NorthAm-myth-stub