Shaman Storytellers

Pre Columbian People OF CALIFORNIA SHAMAN STORYTELLERS WHERE TO HOUSES PUT A WEIR THAT SWEAT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Pre_Columbian_Cover.indd 1 2/3/17 3:54 PM 2 Meet the California Indians Redwood forests and ocean coasts. River valleys, towering mountains, and dusty deserts. California has all of these land- scapes – and more. Today, people might choose to live in such places because they like mountain views or the sound of waves. But in the past, the places where people lived played a role in how they lived: what types of homes they built, the food they ate, even what they did for fun. In turn, how people lived had an effect on their environment. Before the Spanish came to California in 1769, about 300,000 native Californians lived there. Different groups were spread out all over. Sometimes they came together to trade, or exchange, goods or food. But land and water often served as walls that kept people apart. That’s why the many different groups of California Indians spoke at least 90 different languages! But these groups still had things in common. For example, almost all of them could easily find food. So, most groups were hunter-gatherers. Since they had to work hard to get food, most groups stayed in one place. They had more time to make goods and build the collections of stories that taught young people their ways of life. How did the California Indians live with the land? How did they change it to meet their needs? Read on to find out how geography played a role in the culture, or ways of life, of California’s native people. pre_columbian_sp1_v2.indd 16 2/3/17 3:58 PM 3 REDWOOD FORESTS coast, by rivers, or were a big part near streams. For of the Northern meat, they hunted Coastal Region. deer and elk or These trees provid- fished for salmon. ed wood to make This wet, green homes, canoes, environment also and tools. People overflowed with like the Wiyot wild plants. The and Yurok settled people gathered along the Pacific them for food. IN THE CENTRAL homes covered Valley and Mountains, with earth, where people of the same many families group might have stayed. Higher in lived very different the mountains, lives, depending on the ground was where they settled. harder, and there For example, some were more trees. Maidu people lived The Maidu there in valley areas. The built more basic ground there was shelters of bark soft and open. These or brush. Maidu built large IN THE SOUTHERN used less wood roof were added Coastal Region, when building by covering the the climate was their homes. They frame with mate- warmer and drier. put wooden poles rials that were With less rain, together to make easy to find, not as many huge a frame. The like dried grass trees grew. So frame gave the or reeds. California Indians house its shape. like the Gabrielino Then walls and a WOOD WAS harder houses were basic to find in the hot, shelters to keep dry desert plains people cool. They and canyons. But had tree branch- there was a lot es for roofs, and of sand and clay. no walls. Small So desert people groups stuck close like the Cahuilla to water sources, sometimes built where most plants homes of adobe, or grew and small mud bricks. Other animals lived. pre_columbian_sp1_v2.indd 17 2/7/17 10:49 AM 4 Barbara coast. Some settlements there had up to 1,000 people. In the deserts and My California Home mountains, people lived in smaller groups Ever seen a home made of tree bark? If you and moved around more. Sometimes were an early Californian living high in the groups would come together for a while. mountains, your home might have had walls They might gather for an antelope hunt or of bark. On the northern coast, you would to harvest pine nuts. have lived in a house made of wood planks. Although most California tribes were In the desert, your home may have been an hunters and gatherers, a few also farmed. open-sided shelter topped with brush or One of those groups was the Yuma reeds. That’s because people built homes (Quechan) people of the Colorado River with whatever was easy to find and plenti- valley. They grew corn, beans, melons, and ful. For example, huge redwood trees grow other crops. along the foggy, rainy northern coast. That made timber easy to find. In the hot, dry desert, few trees grow. d MOST CALIFORNIA Every evening, for a hunt. Men Food was also easier to find on the Indian villages men got together and boys often coast or near rivers, where people could had temescals, in a sweathouse. slept in the fish, hunt, and gather plants. Many tribes or sweathouses. During these temescals, except These buildings meetings they when the weather stayed in the same place because life was were centers of might perform was very warm. good. One good place to live was the Santa tribal social life. rituals or prepare pre_columbian_sp2.indd 16 2/3/17 4:01 PM 5 Wiyot Maidu u THE NORTHWEST using planks they u DIFFERENT MAIDU scape and climate itive than Wiyot part of California cut from those groups lived in made life harder homes. These was full of huge trees. They used three separate for tribes in the Maidu tribes used redwood trees. So wedges to chop environments: foothills and high brush and slabs of groups like the the planks from valleys, foothills, in the mountains. bark to build basic Wiyot built houses bigger logs. and mountains. So their houses shelters called The rocky land- were more prim- lean-tos. Yuma (Quechan) Nisenan u THE YUMA Colorado River. with brush, sand, u NEAR WHAT IS homes by making reeds. Then they (Quechan) So, they cut logs to or woven twigs now Sacramento, a frame of wooden covered the whole people lived in a build basic frame- stuck together some Nisenan poles. On top of thing with a layer desert climate. works for their with clay or mud. people lived in the frame, they of earth. Some trees grew homes. Then they valleys. They built added grass or along the nearby covered the frame Serrano l SERRANO FAMILIES in the middle of the made round, house, but cooking dome-shaped was usually done houses out of outside. People willow branches. mostly used their They covered the homes for sleeping branches with and storing their bundles of reeds. things. There was a fire pit pre_columbian_sp2.indd 17 2/3/17 4:01 PM 6 For example, they thought magic made Religion in Daily Life crops grow. They also believed magic What if you lived at a time when people made people sick – and that magic could didn’t read or write? How would adults cure them. Almost all California Indians teach you and other kids about your way had some form of shamanism, or spiritual of life? Early Californians spoke dozens of healing. Shamans were important leaders languages, but none of them wrote things in the tribe. (The word shaman means down. They didn’t even have written “one who knows.”) Both men and women language. Instead of putting things in could be shamans. They healed people and books, the people told stories. Some tales helped them with problems. Sometimes helped young people learn about their they dressed up like snakes or bears to tap culture by explaining how a tribe’s tradi- into the power of those animals. Shamans tions started. Others told legends of great also made up or learned spoken poems to deeds. These legends were often passed on tell people stories about their culture. They from one generation to the next over time. served as messengers between the real Magic was a big part of tribal religion. world and the spirit world. Even today, People believed in supernatural forces. shamans play a role in tribal life. d TRIBES ON THE the land and the Colorado River people. When he believed spirits died, his son made talked to them in the rivers and their dreams. They plants. The Great told long stories to Spirit’s son also explain their beliefs told the people or remember how tribes should things great ances- be set up. He gave tors had done. The certain people the Mojave creation power to do certain myth said the jobs, like shaman Great Spirit created or warrior. u THE CALIFORNIA l IN THE SOUTH, THE Indians had two Toloache religion main religions. The was most common. Kuksu faith was Tribes like the big in northern and Luiseño believed central California. visions told people People performed the future. In some rituals and dances ceremonies, a to ward off bad shaman put boys weather or bring into a trance, and game to hunters. they had visions. Some played the These visions told role of a spirit such them what their as the coyote or lives would be cougar. Dancers like or what jobs in tribes like the they would do. Pomo wore colorful feathers and body paint for rituals. pre_columbian_sp3_2.indd 16 2/3/17 4:04 PM u NORTHWEST TRIBES r TODAY, MANY like the Hupa had California Indians rituals to keep the want to keep the world working as old traditions alive. it should. Some So they learn rituals, such as the rituals and the white-deerskin ceremonies of dance, lasted for their ancestors, days. During this or early family dance, people members. In showed off valu- the past, native able things like groups used such white deerskins rituals to mark or stone daggers.

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