“You don't have anything
if you don't have the stories.” – Leslie Marmon Silko, “Ceremony”
“But as long as you remember what you have seen, then nothing is gone. As long as you remember, it is part of this story we have together.” – Leslie Marmon Silko, “Ceremony”
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The story of California is still unfolding.
Historians, anthropologists and archaeologists are still “reading” the past, whether discoveries are unearthed in excavations, in the archives or via oral histories.
Many, many Indian tribes were annihilated, enslaved by Spanish missionaries, hunted down or decimated by disease brought over by the Europeans.
For thousands of years before the explorer Drake set foot on what is now California, there were more than 100 distinct tribes, or groups of Indians, with a population of about 750,000 people in California. By the 1900s only 15,000 Indians remained in California.
Luckily, those remaining are striving to keep their cultures alive – their beliefs, dances, food preparations and their unique stories.
For the most part Indians in California utilized an oral tradition, that is, stories were told, rather than written, to preserve them.
Children in these groups were told stories of creation, and also stories which gave explanations for the sacred lives of plants and animals all around them. The children passed the stories down to their children.
According to S.A. Barrett, in his book, “Pomo Myths,” “The six cardinal directions were inhabited by special supernatural beings. Toward the south lived Gu'ksu. Toward the east lived Ca'lnis. Toward the North lived Suu'padax (Whirl-wind). Toward the west lived Xa'matutsi ('water-occupation'). Above lived Kali'matutsi (”sky-occupation”). Below lived Ka'i matutsi ('earth-occupation').”
As detailed in the Pomo myth, “Coyote Creates the Sun, Moon and Stars and Peoples the Earth” detailed in Barrett's book, Coyote, who is a prominent character in many myths, used peeled pine sticks called “ciya'kale” and attached feathers of buzzard and eagle using a cord made of milkweed.
Next, Coyote sat in four special poses and tossed a small container of water to the skies above. This water began to form clouds and congregated in the vicinity of the east.
Then, Coyote, using his obsidian knife, cut an oak gall to form five edges. When he flung it up to the skies it became Sun.
After that, there was a conversation whereby Sun told the Moon that she would become the mother of Sun.
The story continued with the Sun and Moon conversing, and realizing that Coyote needed to take glowing coals from a burning fire and “... throw them up into the sky so that they will stick there. Those will be stars ...”
The story resumed with Moon explaining just how night would occur. It was to happen after a big fire was prepared and, using a willow club, strike at the fire to put it out.
This myth extends further into how earthquakes and other natural phenomena came about. This, and many other stories kept the rapt attention of the tribe.
Since most California Indians were of the oral tradition, then it serves to follow that not only is the true meaning obscured by writing it down, but it loses much in the language translation as well.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
Lake County Time Capsule: Moon myth
- Kathleen Scavone
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