{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35745/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35745","id":"gutenberg_35745","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35745","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Indians of North America -- California -- Religion"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS\nAMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY\n\nVol. 4        No. 6\n\nTHE RELIGION OF THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA\n\n\n\nBY\n\nA. L. KROEBER\n\n\n\nBERKELEY\nTHE UNIVERSITY PRESS\nSEPTEMBER, 1907\n\n\nFacsimile Reprint by\n\nCoyote Press\nP.O. Box 3377\nSalinas, CA 93912\nhttp://www.CoyotePress.com\n\n\n\n\nUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS\nIN\nAMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY\n\nVOL. 4        NO. 6\n\n\n\n\nTHE RELIGION OF THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA[1]\n\nBY\n\nA. L. KROEBER.\n\n\nFundamentally the religion of the Indians of California was very\nsimilar to that of savage and uncivilized races the world over. Like\nall such peoples, the California Indians were in an animistic state of\nmind, in which they attributed life, intelligence, and especially\nsupernatural power, to virtually all living and lifeless things. They\nlacked no less the ideas and practices of shamanism, the universal\naccompaniment of animism: namely, the belief that certain men, through\ncommunication with the animate supernatural world, had the power to\naccomplish what was contrary to, or rather above, the events of daily\nordinary experience, which latter in so far as they were distinguished\nfrom the happenings caused by supernatural agencies, were of natural,\nmeaningless, and, as it were, accidental origin. As in most parts of\nthe world, belief in shamanistic power was centered most strongly about\ndisease and death, which among most tribes were not only believed to be\ndispellable but to be entirely caused by shamans. In common with the\nother American Indians, those of California made dancing, and with it\nalways singing, a conspicuous part of nearly all their ceremonies that\nwere of a public or tribal nature. They differed from almost all other\ntribes of North America in showing a much weaker development of the\nritualism, and symbolism shading into pictography, that constitute\nperhaps the most distinctive feature of the religion of the Americans\nas a whole. Practically all the approaches to a system of writing\ndevised in North America, whether in Mexico, Yucatan, or among the\ntribes of the United States and Canada, are the direct outcome of a\ndesire of religious expression. The California Indians however were\nremarkably free from even traces of this tendency, equally in their\nreligion and in the more practical aspects of their life. In many parts\nof North America, and more often where the culture was considerably\ndeveloped than where it was rude, there was a considerable amount of\nfetishism, not of the crass and so to speak superstitious type of\nAfrica, but rather as an accompaniment and result of over-symbolism.\nThis fetishistic tendency was very slightly developed in California,\nand this in spite of--or as an Americanist could more properly say on\naccount of--the generally rude and primitive condition of culture. By\ncontrast, as the action and the visible symbol were a less important\nmeans of religious expression, the word, both spoken and sung, was of\ngreater significance in California. The weakness of the ritualistic\ntendency is however again marked in the circumstance that the exact\nform of religious speech was frequently less regarded than its\nsubstance. In this aspect the Indians of California differed widely\nfrom such nations as the Egyptians and the peoples of Asia, where the\nefficacy of the word and speech used for a religious purpose was\nusually directly dependent upon the accuracy of their external and\naudible rendering, even to their pronunciation and intonation.\n\n      [1] This paper may be cited as Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch.\n      Ethn., Vol. 4, No. 6.\n\nAs an ethnographic province the greater part of California plainly\nforms a unit. There are, however, two portions of the present political\nstate that showed much cultural distinctness in times of native life\nand that must usually be kept apart in all matters of ethnological and\nreligious consideration. One of these divergent culture areas comprised\nthe extreme northwestern corner of the state, in the drainage of the\nlower Klamath and about Humboldt Bay. The other consisted of what is\nnow usually known as Southern California, extending from the Tehachapi\npass and mountains in the interior, and from Point Conception on the\ncoast, southward to the Mexican boundary. The religion of the Indians\nof the peninsula of Lower California is very little known from\nliterature, and the people themselves are almost extinct. It is\nprobable that it was more or less different from the forms of religion\noccurring in Southern California, that is to say, the southern part of\nthe American state of California. Ethnographically Southern California\nwas considerably diversified. The tribes of the plains and mountains\nnear the sea must be distinguished on the one hand from those of the\ndesert interior and of the valley of the Colorado river, and on the\nother from those of the Santa Barbara archipelago and the adjacent\ncoast of the mainland to the north. The latter island group of tribes\nhas become entirely extinct without leaving more than the merest trace\nof records of its religion. The two other groups, the sea-ward and the\ninterior, apparently presented a much greater uniformity in religion\nthan in their material and social life, so much so that in the present\nconnection all the tribes of Southern California of whom anything is\nknown may be regarded as constituting a single ethnographic province.\nThe culture of the small Northwestern area was in every way, and that\nof the larger Southern province at least in some respects, more highly\norganized and complex than that of the still larger and principal\nCentral region, which comprised at least two-thirds of the state and\nwhich, if such a selection is to be made, must be considered as the\nmost typically Californian.\n\nThe religious practices of the Indians of California fall into three\nwell marked divisions: (1) such observances as are followed and\nexecuted by individuals, although their perpetuation is traditionary\nand tribal; that is to say, customary observances; (2) individual\npractices resting upon a direct personal communication of an individual\nwith the supernatural world; in other words, shamanism; (3) observances\nand practices which are not only the common property of the tribe by\ntradition, but in which the entire tribe or community directly or\nindirectly participates; in other words, ceremonies.\n\n\nCUSTOMARY OBSERVANCES BY INDIVIDUALS.\n\nCustomary observances are as strongly developed as farther north along\nthe Pacific slope. This entire western coast region thus forms a unit\nthat differs from the interior and eastern parts of the continent, in\nwhich such observances are usually a less conspicuous feature than\npublic and tribal ceremonies. By far the most important of the\ncustomary observances in California are those relating to death. Next\ncome those connected with birth and sexual functions. Beliefs and\npractices centering about the individual's name are of importance\nparticularly in so far as they are connected with the customs relating\nto death. There are restrictions and superstitions as to food, but\nthese are not more numerous than seems generally to have been the case\namong the North American Indians, and certainly of much less importance\nthan in the Pacific island world and Australia.\n\nDeath was considered to cause defilement and almost everywhere brought\nafter it purification ceremonies. In the Northwestern region these were\nparticularly important, and among such tribes as the Hupa and Yurok the\nobservance of religious purification from contact with the dead, the\nmost essential part of which was the recitation of a certain formula,\nwas the most stringently exacted religious custom. The method of\ndisposing of the dead varied locally between burial and cremation,\ncremation being practiced over at least half of the state. Air burial\nand sea burial were nowhere found. Mourning, which consisted primarily\nof singing and wailing, began immediately upon death and continued for\nabout a day, sometimes longer by the immediate relatives of the\ndeceased. Among some tribes this mourning commenced with full vigor\nsome time before impending death, often during the full consciousness\nof the patient and with his approval. Mutilations on the part of the\nmourners were not practiced to any great degree, except that the hair\nwas almost universally cut more or less, especially by the women. Among\nmany tribes the widow, but she only, cut or burned off all her hair.\nMourning observances were almost always carried further by the women\nthan men. Among some tribes of the Sierra Nevada the widow did not\nspeak from the time of her husband's death until the following annual\ntribal mourning ceremony, except to one attendant, or, in cases of\nactual necessity, to women only. In the Sierra Nevada was found also\nthe custom of the widow smearing her face and breast with pitch, which\nwas not washed or removed until this annual ceremony. Except in the\ncase of the Northwestern tribes, who possessed more elaborately\nconstructed houses of wood, the house in which a death had occurred was\nnot used again, but was burned. Objects that had been in personal\ncontact or associated with the deceased were similarly shunned and\ndestroyed. The name of the dead was not spoken. Even the word which\nconstituted his name was not used in ordinary discourse, a\ncircumlocution or newly coined word being employed. It is certain that\nthis stringently observed custom has been a factor in the marked\ndialectic differentiation of the languages of California. The mention\nof the name of the dead, whether intentionally or accidentally, in some\ncases aroused feelings of fear connected with his spirit, but more\ngenerally was objected to as causing grief, which appears to have been\nactually and often intensely felt on such occasions. In Northwestern\nCalifornia the naming of the dead could be compensated for only by the\npayment of a considerable sum. Practically the only form of curse or\nmalediction known, other than an occasional indirect allusion to the\nobject of the malediction as being in the condition of a corpse, was a\nreference to his dead relatives. Some property, but more rarely food,\nwas buried with the dead. The idea that such articles were for his use\nin the world of the dead was not so strong a motive for such acts as,\non the one hand, the feeling that the objects had been defiled by\nassociation with him, and on the other, the desire to give expression\nto the sincerity of the mourning by the destruction of valuables. On\nthe whole, however, the immediate observances of death paled in\nimportance before the annual communal mourning ceremony, which was\neverywhere, except in the Northwestern region, one of the most deeply\nrooted and spectacular acts of worship.\n\nObservances connected with sexual functions, including birth, are next\nin importance after those relating to death. The menstruating woman was\neverywhere regarded as unclean, and excluded especially from acts of\nworship. Not infrequent was the conception that she contaminated food,\nespecially meat; in other words those varieties of food which were at\nonce more highly prized and at the same time, through being obtained\nwith less regularity and only through special and skilled exertions,\nregarded as most directly under the control and influence of\nsupernatural powers. Among many tribes, as elsewhere in America and\nother continents, she was excluded from the living-house as well as\nfrom the ceremonial chamber, and confined to the menstrual hut. As\nelsewhere in North America, the custom in this regard however varied\nfrom tribe to tribe, the menstrual hut not having been used in some\nlocalities even in purely aboriginal times. Not only was seclusion, as\na means of preventing contact and association, frequently required of\nthe woman for the protection of others, but her refraining from all but\nthe most necessary activity was sometimes deemed essential for her own\ngood.\n\nAll these observances were greatly intensified at the time of a girl's\nfirst menstruation, a condition for which most of the languages of\nCalifornia possess a distinctive and often unanalyzed word. The girl at\nthis period was thought to be possessed of a particular degree of\nsupernatural power, and this was not always regarded as entirely\ndefiling or malevolent. Often, however, there was a strong feeling of\nthe power of evil inherent in her condition. Not only was she secluded\nfrom her family and the community, but an attempt was made to seclude\nthe world from her. One of the injunctions most strongly laid upon her\nwas not to look about her. She kept her head bowed and was forbidden to\nsee the world and the sun. Some tribes covered her with a blanket. Many\nof the customs in this connection resembled those of the North Pacific\nCoast most strongly, such as the prohibition to the girl to touch or\nscratch her head with her hand, a special implement being furnished her\nfor the purpose. Sometimes she could eat only when fed and in other\ncases fasted altogether. Some form of public ceremony, often\naccompanied by a dance and sometimes by a form of ordeal for the girl,\nwas practiced nearly everywhere. Such ceremonies were well developed in\nSouthern California, where a number of actions symbolical of the girl's\nmaturity and subsequent life were performed. Certain tribes, however,\nincluding at least one in the Northwestern area and certain of those in\nthe Sierra region, did not practice public ceremonies of this type.\n\nReligious customs connected with birth consisted in part of observances\nbefore the birth of the child, in part of observances relating to it\nafter birth, and especially of restrictions imposed on one or both of\nits parents after birth. Practices affecting the child itself, or the\nmother before its birth, related in great part to food. In the\nNorthwest the newly born child was fed for a number of days only on a\nsoup of vegetable substance resembling milk. The newly born child was\nwashed, often repeatedly, among many tribes. The mother after a birth\nwas regarded as more or less defiled, though this feeling usually did\nnot approach in intensity those connected with either death or the\nwoman's periodical functions. Either the mother or both father and\nmother were usually enjoined from activity for some time after a birth,\nthe motive being not only protection of the child but of themselves.\nThis idea is especially developed among the Yokuts of the southern San\nJoaquin valley. The couvade in its strict form, with restrictions and\nobservances which are imposed entirely upon the father to the exclusion\nof the mother, does not seem to be found.\n\nObservances regulating or restricting the use of food were in the main\nconnected with the customs relating to death, sexual functions, and\nbirth. That is to say it was primarily the persons affected by these\noccurrences, and next to these such as were engaged in acts of intense\nworship or shamanistic practices, who were prohibited from using\ncertain or all foods. As already stated, animal food rather than\nvegetable, and meat rather than fish, and among meat that of the deer\nand elk, the largest of the game animals, were particularly subjected\nto restriction. In Northwestern California the idea was very deeply\nrooted that the deer when killed and eaten are not destroyed, but come\nto life again and report to their fellows their treatment in the hands\nof the hunter. Any violation of the numerous stringent observances\nregarding deer meat are therefore known to all the deer, who, as their\ncapture is always a voluntary act on their part, are in position to\nutterly destroy his luck in the chase if not placated by certain spoken\nformulae. In Southern California young people, or in some cases the\nhunter himself, must not eat his game. Fasting is less frequently and\nless rigorously practiced by the California tribes than by those of\nmost other parts of North America. This is in keeping with the\ngenerally lower pitch of intensity of their religious feeling. Many\npublic ceremonies are not accompanied by any requirement of abstention\nfrom food. In the Northwestern region it is only the principal priest,\nin whom the most sacred part of the ceremony is vested, who fasts. On\nthe other hand there is a general feeling in this region that not only\nacts of a religious nature but ordinary work cannot be well performed\nafter eating. Among the men of Northwestern California breakfast was\ntherefore habitually slight or entirely omitted. Perhaps the greatest\ndevelopment of the practice of fasting in North America occurs in\nconnection with the acquisition of shamanistic power. Shamanism is\nfully as important among the California Indians as elsewhere, but\ndiffers in that it is more frequently regarded as an obsession,\nsomething that of its own accord comes upon a man rather than something\nthat it is sought to acquire by actions. Much of the incentive for\nfasting among other Indians is therefore lacking, and when the practice\nis observed it is usually less rigorous. In Northwestern California,\nfor instance, a person engaged in almost any supernatural or religious\npractice abstains from drinking water; but as to practical effect this\nprovision is done away with through his being allowed to drink thin\nacorn soup at will.\n\nIn Northwestern California there is a special development of spoken\nformulae, whose content is little else than a myth and which constitute\nnot only the basis and essential element of public ceremonies but are\nconnected with almost all customary observances. To such an extent have\nthese formulae, locally called \"medicines,\" grown into the mind of\nthese Indians as being what is most sacred and most efficacious in all\naspects of religion, that they partly supplant shamanism, which is a\nless important feature of religious life here than elsewhere in the\nstate, where the characteristic features of this peculiar ritual by\nformula are almost absent. Not only purification from death and other\ndefilement, but luck in hunting and fishing, in gambling, escape from\ndanger, success in felling trees and making baskets, in the acquisition\nof wealth, in short the proper achievement of every human wish, were\nthought to be accompanied by the proper knowledge and recitation of\nthese traditional myth-formulae, usually accompanied by only the\nsmallest amount of ritualistic action.\n\n\nSHAMANISM.\n\nShamanism, the supposed individual control of the supernatural through\na personally acquired power of communication with the spirit world,\nrests upon much the same basis in California as elsewhere in North\nAmerica. In general among uncivilized tribes the simpler the stage of\nculture the more important the shaman. It is as if he constituted an\nelement that remained nearly constant in quantity of effect, as it is\nfundamentally unvarying in form, through all successive periods of\ncivilization to the highest; but that as increase in degree of\ncivilization brought with it ever more and more new elements, religious\nand otherwise, and these unfolded in ever expanding complexity, he\nbecame, relatively to the total mass of thought and action of a people,\nless and less important. Certainly the difference is marked between the\nEskimo, whose religion consists of little else than shamanism, and the\nmuch more highly organized Indians of the North Pacific Coast, where\nshamanism is but one of several and by no means the most important\nreligious factor, even though it may be the most deep seated. The same\ncontrast is found between the rude simple-minded Indians of California\nas compared with those of the Plains and of the Southwest, where the\nsupremacy of the shaman is rather obscured by that of the priest\nconversant with a ceremony. Even within California the difference holds\ngood. In the Northwest, where the native civilization reached on the\nwhole its greatest complexity, the shaman is less prominent than\nanywhere else in the state. In the south, where the culture is also\nmore developed than in the Central part of the state, the shaman is\ncertainly as much dreaded as there; but that his province is more\nrestricted is shown by the fact that in Southern California the shamans\nin their capacity as such do not seem to form associations, perform\npublic ceremonies, or directly participate in the tribal dances.\n\nThe power of the shaman being directly dependent upon his personal\nacquisition of a connection with the supernatural world, an\nunderstanding of the method by which this acquisition takes place\ngenerally furnishes also a pretty accurate idea of the nature of his\nfunctions and influence. The most common way of acquiring shamanistic\npower in California, as in so many other parts of the world, is by\ndreaming. A spirit, be it that of an animal, a place, the sun or\nanother natural object, a deceased relative, or an entirely unimbodied\nspirit, visits the future medicine-man in his dreams, and the\nconnection thus established between them is the source and basis of the\nlatter's power. This spirit becomes his guardian spirit or \"personal.\"\nFrom it he receives the song or rite or knowledge of the charm and the\nunderstanding which enable him to cause or remove disease and to do and\nendure what other men cannot. In California, with a few special\nexceptions, the idea does not seem so prevalent as elsewhere that this\nguardian spirit is an animal. Occasionally it is the ghost of a person\nwho has once lived, usually a relative. Perhaps most frequently it is\nmerely a spirit as such, not connected with any tangible embodiment or\nform, either human, animate, or inanimate. The belief that the shaman\nacquires the spirits most frequently in dreaming is prevalent through\nthe whole Sierra Nevada region and in many other parts of the state.\n\nIn certain regions another important method, that of the waking vision\nand trance, is recognized. The person is in a wild desolate place,\nperhaps hunting. Suddenly there is an appearance before him. He becomes\nunconscious and while in this state receives his supernatural power. On\nhis return to his people he is for a time demented or physically\naffected. After he again becomes normal he has control of his\nsupernatural influences. Such beliefs prevail in part among the Yuki\nand Athabascans of the Coast Range and the Maidu of the Sacramento\nvalley, and no doubt occur more or less sporadically in other regions.\n\nFinally, the shaman sometimes acquires his powers through seeking for\nthem rather than by having them thrust upon him during a dream or\nvision. This of course is a common procedure in the Plains and in part\non the North Pacific Coast. Among the Yurok of the lower Klamath, for\ninstance, the person whom the spirits have visited in dreams, ascends\nhigh peaks where he spends one or more nights until he has acquired his\npowers. Among the Wiyot of Humboldt Bay there are similar beliefs. In\nthe same Northwestern region a man who wishes to be fierce, strong, and\ninvulnerable swims at night in lakes inhabited by monsters or thunders.\nFrom these, if his courage is sufficient to await and endure their\npresence, he receives the desired powers. This practice of bathing in\nlonely lakes closely recalls the custom prevalent along the Pacific\nslope for some distance northward, and within California it is probably\nnot strictly confined to the Northwestern culture area. On the whole,\nhowever, this deliberate method of acquiring shamanistic power is not\ncommon, nor, as has already been stated, would it be in accord with the\ngenerally lower intensity of religious feeling among the California\nIndians as compared with those of most other parts of the continent.\n\nThe Northwestern area is not only exceptional in being the principal\none within the state where this deliberate seeking of shamanistic power\nis prevalent. The conception of a guardian spirit is much less clearly\ndefined among the Northwestern tribes, with whom the possession of\n\"pains,\" the small material objects which cause disease, rather than of\ntrue spirits, seems to be what is generally associated with shamanistic\npower. As already stated, shamanism forms a much less important part of\nreligion as a whole in the Northwestern area than elsewhere, and it is\nin accord with this fact that the majority of the shamans, and those\nsupposed to be most powerful, are women.\n\nIn parts of Southern California also the idea of the guardian spirit\ndoes not seem to be well developed. Here the method of acquiring\nshamanistic power is almost exclusively by dreams; but among the Mohave\nand probably other Colorado river tribes, myths, and not a personal\nmeeting or communion with an individual spirit, constitute the subject\nof the dreams. The Mohave shamans believe that they were present at the\nbeginning of the world, before mankind had separated into tribes. They\nwere with the great leader and almost creator, Mastamho. They saw him\nsinging, blowing, and rubbing over the body of a sick man, if their own\npower be that of curing disease, and from Mastamho they thus learned\nthe actions and speeches which constitute their power. Before him they\nshowed what they had learned from him, and by him were designated those\nwho had seen and learned most and those of less power. Each man saw\nonly the shamanistic actions relating to his particular power, whether\nthese had reference to the curing of disease, to love, to war, or to\nsome other activity. The Mohave universally speak of having dreamed\nthese scenes, just as each narrator affirms his knowledge of\nnon-shamanistic myths and of ceremonies to have been individually\nderived from dreaming them. It is probable that to a certain extent\nthis is true. That it is not entirely true becomes evident when the\nMohave with equal unanimity state that these dreams were dreamed by\nthem before birth. In other words, their statement that they have\ndreamed such experiences is to be interpreted mainly as a belief that\nthey as individuals were present in spirit form at the beginning of the\nworld, at the time when it took shape and everything was ordained, and\nwhen all power, shamanistic and otherwise, was established and\nallotted. It is obvious that with this conception as the basis of their\nwhole religion, there is but little room for any beliefs as to guardian\nspirits of the usual form.\n\nOf course there is nothing that limits the shaman to one spirit, and\namong many or most tribes, such as the Maidu, a powerful medicine-man\nmay possess a great number.\n\nFrequently in Central and Northwestern California there is some more or\nless public ceremony at which a new shaman is, so to speak, initiated\nbefore he practices his powers. The body of initiated shamans do not\nform a definite society or association. The ceremony is rather an\noccasion that marks the first public appearance of the novice, in which\nhe receives for his own good, and presumably for that of the community\nalso, the assistance of the more experienced persons of his profession.\nCommonly it is thought that the novice cannot receive and exercise the\nfull use of his powers without this assistance. The ceremony is usually\nheld in the ceremonial chamber and is accompanied by dancing. The\nefforts of the older shamans are directed toward giving the initiate a\nfirm and permanent control of the spirits which have only half attached\nthemselves to him and which are thought to be still more or less\nrebellious. Of course exhibitions of magic and of the physical effects\nof the presence of the spirits are a prominent feature of these\nceremonies. This initiation of doctors is found among the Northwestern\ntribes and in the Central region among the Maidu and Wintun and\nprobably other groups.\n\nA special class of shamans found to a greater or less extent among\nprobably all the Central tribes, though they are wanting both in the\nNorthwest and the South, are the so-called bear doctors, shamans who\nhave received power from grizzly bears, often by being taken into the\nabode of these animals--which appear there in human form,--and who\nafter their return to mankind possess many of the qualities of the\ngrizzly bear, especially his apparent invulnerability to fatal attack.\nThe bear shamans can not only assume the form of bears, as they do in\norder to inflict vengeance on their enemies, but it is believed that\nthey can be killed an indefinite number of times when in this form and\neach time return to life. In some regions, as among the Pomo and Yuki,\nthe bear shaman was not thought as elsewhere to actually become a bear,\nbut to remain a man who clothed himself in the skin of a bear to his\ncomplete disguisement, and by his malevolence, rapidity, fierceness,\nand resistance to wounds to be capable of inflicting greater injury\nthan a true bear. Whether any bear shamans actually attempted to\ndisguise themselves in this way to accomplish their ends is doubtful.\nIt is certain that all the members of some tribes believed it to be in\ntheir power.\n\nThe rattlesnake doctor, who cured or prevented the bite of the\nrattlesnake, was usually distinct from other medicine-men. Among the\nYuki his power, as that of the rattlesnake, was associated with the\nsun; among the Maidu with the thunder. Among the Yokuts the rattlesnake\nshamans annually held a public ceremony designed to prevent rattlesnake\nbites among the tribe. On this occasion they displayed their power over\nthe snakes by handling them in a manner analogous to that of the Hopi,\nand by even allowing themselves to be bitten.\n\nAs everywhere else, the practice of shamanism in California centers\nabout disease and death. It is probably more narrowly limited to this\nphase than in most other portions of North America. Being an\nessentially unwarlike even though a revengeful people, it is natural\nthat the supernatural power personally acquired by the California\nIndian should not often be directed toward success in battle. Success\nin love is also less often the result of such personal power than for\ninstance on the Plains, perhaps because in the latter region the custom\nwhich made virtually every young man seek shamanistic power, resulted\nin a condition where those whose proclivities were not toward medicine\nor war, desired and received their powers in this direction. Influence\nover game and over nature's yield of vegetable products was sometimes\nattributed to shamans in California, but on the whole their powers in\nthis respect were not very much insisted upon except in Southern\nCalifornia, favorable or adverse conditions of this kind being\nattributed rather to the tribal ceremonies, and in the Northwest\nconnected with the all-important formulae. The causing and prevention\nof disease and death were therefore even more largely the predominant\nfunctions of the person who had acquired personal supernatural power in\nCalifornia than elsewhere in America.\n\nThat the medicine-men who could cure diseases were also the ones who\nmust cause it, unless it were the direct consequence of an infraction\nof some religious observance or prohibition, was the almost universal\nbelief, which was probably adhered to with greater definiteness than in\nmost portions of North America. The killing of medicine-men was\ntherefore of frequent occurrence. Among some tribes, as the Yokuts, the\nmedicine-man who had lost several patients was held responsible for\ntheir death by their relatives. Among the Mohave also murder seems to\nhave been the normal end of the medicine-man. In the Northwestern\nregion the shaman who failed to cure was forced to return the fee\nreceived in advance. If he refused to attend a patient when summoned,\nhe was compelled to pay, in the event of the latter's death, an amount\nof property equal that proffered him for his services. So completely\nwas the shaman regarded as the cause of disease and death, as well as\nof their prevention, that one hears very little among the California\nIndians of witchcraft, that is to say, of malevolent practices\nperformed by persons, often very old or very young people, who are not\nbelieved to be endowed with the shaman's power of curing.\n\nDisease, as among most primitive peoples the world over, was usually\nheld to be caused by small material objects which had in a supernatural\nway been caused to enter the body. The determination and extraction of\nthese was the principal office of the medicine-man and, also as\nelsewhere, was most frequently accomplished by sucking. In certain\nregions, especially the South, the tubular pipe was brought into\nrequisition for this purpose, the disease-object being supposed to be\nsucked into the doctor's mouth through it. Among such tribes the pipe\nwas also smoked by the medicine-man as part of his ritual. In other\ncases the sucking was performed directly with the mouth, but, just as\nthe disease-causing object had by supernatural means entered the body\nwithout causing or leaving an opening, so it was extracted by the\nmedicine-man without an incision or a trace of its passage. This object\nmight be a bit of hair, a stick, an insect or small reptile, a piece of\nbone, deer sinew, or almost any other material. In the greater part of\nnorthern California, including the Northwestern region, it was not an\nordinary physical object working mischief by its mere presence in the\nbody or by the supernatural properties with which the shaman or his\nspirits had endowed it, but an object itself supernatural and called a\n\"pain.\" These pains are variously described, frequently as being sharp\nat both ends and clear as ice. They possessed the power of moving even\nafter extracted, and were able to fly through the air to the intended\nvictim at the command of the person who had sent them. The medicine-man\nafter extracting the disease-object or pain almost always exhibited it.\nIt was then either destroyed by him or kept by him for his own use. In\nNorthwestern California he sometimes swallowed it, the degree of his\npower being thought to be dependent upon the number of pains he kept in\nhis body, both those which he received upon his becoming a shaman, when\nthey were \"cooked\" before a great fire in the doctor-initiation dance,\nand those which he subsequently secured in doctoring his patients. The\nrattlesnake's bite was regarded as being dangerous on account of its\ninjection into the victim's body of a material animate object, which\nthe rattlesnake shaman must extract if death was not to ensue. Among\nthe Yuki this object was a small snake; among the Yokuts a rodent's\ntooth or other object supposed to have formed part of the animals upon\nwhich the snake subsisted. In some cases two classes of medicine-men\nwere distinguished, one diagnosing, the other treating the patient.\nAmong the Wiyot or Wishosk the former by dancing before the patient saw\nin a vision the nature and location of the disease-object and\ndetermined what had caused it to enter the body. Somewhat similar\nthough varying distinctions between shamans whose power consists of\nknowledge, and those who have practical capacity as well, occurred\namong other tribes. Sucking is not always resorted to. The Mohave\nprincipally blow or spit over their patients and stroke or rub or knead\ntheir bodies, which actions are supposed by them to drive out the\ndisease. Medicines and drugs are but little used, or if so, in a manner\nthat gives no opportunity for their physiological efficacy. Four or\nfive drops--the number varying according to the ceremonial number of\nthe tribe--of a weak decoction may be given to the patient or even only\napplied to him externally. It is natural that where the magic effect of\nthe drug as used in a certain ritual is believed in, the quantity so\nused is not an essential consideration. It is the supernatural\nqualities connected with the plant that bring about the desired result,\nand these are as inherent in a drop placed upon the forehead as in a\nbasketful taken internally. Perhaps the most-used medicinal plant\nthroughout the state is the angelica root, probably principally on\naccount of its fragrance. Tobacco is considerably employed by shamans,\nbut is of equal importance in other aspects of religion.\n\n\nPUBLIC CEREMONIES.\n\nAfter the exclusion of such public observances as the shaman\ninitiation, menstrual dance, and victory celebration, which, while\ngenerally participated in, are performed primarily for the benefit of\nindividuals, the ceremonies of the California Indians which are of a\nreally public or communal purpose and character fall into three\nclasses: (1) mourning ceremonies; (2) initiation ceremonies connected\nwith a secret society; and (3) a more varied group of dances and other\nobservances which all, however, have in common the benefit either of\nthe community or of the world at large, in that they cause a good crop\nof acorns and natural products, make the avoidance of rattlesnake bites\npossible, or prevent the occurrence of disease, earthquake, flood, and\nother calamities.\n\nOf these three classes of ceremonies the mourning ceremonies are at\nleast as important as the others and by far the most distinctive of the\nstate as an ethnographic province, although neither they nor the secret\nsociety are found in the specialized Northwestern area. The mourning\nceremonies further do not occur among the Athabascan, Yuki, and Pomo\ntribes to the south of the Northwestern tribes as far as the bay of San\nFrancisco; but outside of this strip in the northern coast region they\nare universal in the state. Among the Maidu they are usually known as\n\"burning,\" among the Miwok as \"cry.\" Among the Yokuts they have been\ncalled \"dance of the dead,\" and among the Mohave and Yuma \"annual.\"\nThese ceremonies are usually participated in by a number of visiting\ncommunities or villages. They last for one or more nights, during which\ncrying and wailing, sometimes accompanied by singing and exhortation,\nare indulged in, and find their climax in a great destruction of\nproperty. While those who have recently lost relatives naturally take a\nprominent part, the ceremony as a whole is not a personal but a tribal\none. Among the Yokuts and probably other groups it is immediately\nfollowed by a dance of a festive nature, and usually there is a\ndefinitely expressed idea that this general ceremony puts an end to all\nindividual mourning among the participants. A typical form of the\nmourning ceremony is found among the Maidu, who call it oestu. Each\nvillage or political unit possesses its burning ground. Participation\nin the ceremony is effected by receipt of a membership-string or\nnecklace, both the receipt and return of which are marked by payments\nor presents. The ceremony is held in autumn in a circular brush\nenclosure. Property to be destroyed is tied to poles which are erected\non the ground. After an opening exhortation by the chief or shaman in\ncharge of the ceremony, the wailing begins, to continue throughout the\nnight, many exclamations to the dead being uttered. Toward morning the\nnumerous articles displayed on the poles are taken down and burned.\nWhen everything has been destroyed the assembly breaks up for gambling\nand feasting. The purpose of the ceremony is to supply the ghosts of\nthe dead with clothing, property, and food. Although its general tenor\nis communal, each family offers only to its own relatives. In some\ncases elaborate images of stuffed skins ornamented with dancing apparel\nare made to represent important people who have died. These are burned\nwith the property offered to the dead.\n\nInitiation ceremonies which result in something analogous to a secret\nsociety are found in the whole state except in the Northwestern region\nand among the agricultural tribes at the extreme southeast in the\nColorado valley. They are apparently as well developed among the Yuki\nand Pomo, who do not practice tribal mourning ceremonies, as among\ntheir neighbors who do. In a strict sense there is no secret society,\neven though the precepts taught boys at initiation are not made public.\nThere are usually no paraphernalia or insignia of a society, no degrees\nor ranks, no membership or other organization, nor is there a definite\npurpose for the society. The great majority of the males of the tribes\nare made to undergo the initiation, and in many cases there is a\ndistinct desire to force it upon every man, whether he be willing or\nunwilling. In so far as a society may therefore be said to exist at\nall, its principal purpose and public function are the initiation of\nnew members. There is however often a special name for those who have\nbeen initiated, such as yeponi among the Maidu and pumal among the\nLuiseno, and to a certain extent the initiates are regarded as a class\nor council having a more or less indefinite decision over religious\nmatters affecting the community. The precepts imparted to the\ninitiates, other than the ritualistic knowledge relating to the\ninitiation ceremony itself, seems to be of the most general kind and\npertains principally to daily life and the most obvious maxims of\nnative morality. In some ways this initiation is a puberty ceremony for\nboys corresponding to the first-menstruation-ceremony of girls. The\ninitiates are however not limited as to age, men being sometimes\nincluded. Among at least the Yokuts in Central California and the\nMission Indians of Southern California the initiation was accompanied\nby the drinking of toloache or jimson-weed, datura meteloides, the\nstupor and visions produced by which were regarded as supernatural. In\nSouthern California the idea of an ordeal and instruction was specially\ndeveloped. Boys were made to undergo severe tests of pain and endurance\nand were given numerous injunctions regarding their adult life. Among\nthe Maidu of the Sacramento valley instruction both in the myths of the\ntribe and in the more important ceremonies was imparted. Among certain\nof the Maidu the secret society, in so far as it comprises the more\nadult men, is difficult to distinguish from an association of shamans.\n\nThe public ceremonies other than mourning and initiation observances,\nin other words the tribal dances of California, differ thoroughly in\nthe three culture regions, which must therefore be considered\nseparately.\n\nIn Central California these dances, like the initiation ceremonies,\nhave disappeared to a much greater extent than the mourning ceremonies,\nand where they survive have often been more or less influenced by\nmodern ideas. As a rule they were held in the large assembly or\nceremonial chamber, more often at night than during the day, and either\nlasted for a number of nights or consisted of a series of successive\ndances extending over a considerable period. Some of the dances, though\na minority, were named after animals, and in such there was usually\nsome imitation of the actions of animals. Sometimes rude paraphernalia\nwere used to represent the animal itself, but this was not very common\nand masks were never employed. At least in the Sacramento valley and\nnorthern Coast Range region there was some impersonation of mythical\ncharacters, as of Taikomol, creator among the Yuki, and of the mythical\nbeing Kuksu among the Pomo and Maidu. Such impersonators usually wore\neither the \"big head,\" an enormous head-dress of feathers attached to\nradiating sticks, or a large cape of feathers fastened to a network,\nwhich concealed both body and face, or both pieces of apparel. There\nseems to have been nothing corresponding to an altar. The dancers were\npainted but crudely, and such symbolism as was denoted by the painting\nwas of the simplest. One or more of the posts that supported the roof\nof the assembly chamber were usually of ceremonial importance. The\ndancers frequently entered and left the house by a hole above instead\nof the door at the ground. A rude drum consisting of a hollow slab\nplaced on the ground and stamped with the feet was often used. An\nimportant character in most ceremonies was the clown or buffoon, part\nof whose duties was to caricature the more serious performance. In some\ncases shamanistic exhibitions of magic were included in the ceremony.\nAt times an exchange or compulsory giving of property formed part of\nthe ceremony. The participants were rarely if ever called upon to\nundergo severe trials of endurance, pain, or courage, as among so many\nother Indians. The whole ritual was comparatively simple.\n\nThe exact nature and relation of the various dances are very little\nknown among most of the tribes of the Central region. Probably a\ntypical example of these dances is furnished by the Maidu of the\nSacramento valley, who declare that their ceremonies were obtained from\ntheir neighbors, the Wintun. This statement is borne out by indirect\nevidence. Among the Maidu the ceremonies were performed in winter and\nconstituted a series of fifteen or more distinct dances, coming for the\nmost part in a definite order. So far as known they were the following:\nHesi, Luyi, Loli, Salalu-ngkasi, Duck, Bear, Coyote, Creeper, Turtle,\nAloli-ngkasi, Yokola-ngkasi, Moloko-ngkasi, Deer, Aki, Hesi. The\nmajority of these dances were performed by men, but some by women only.\nThere is no evidence that participation in these dances was dependent\nupon anything like membership in an association. Each had its\ncharacteristic paraphernalia or combinations of paraphernalia. In\nseveral there are participants with special apparel and with a\ndistinctive name. At least some of these seem to represent mythical\ncharacters. In several instances these performers enact ceremonial\noperations, largely in the nature of complex approaches and departures\nwhich take place outside the assembly chamber. The names of several of\nthese ceremonies occur also among neighboring Indians speaking entirely\ndifferent languages, and thus give proof of the transmission of the\nceremonies from one locality to another. The Hesi, the most important\nof the Maidu series, is danced also by the Wintun. The Loli is an\nimportant ceremony among the Maidu, Miwok, and Pomo. The performer\ncalled Kuksu, who refers to important myths, is found among the Maidu,\nWintun, Pomo, and either the Miwok or Costanoan Indians formerly at\nMission San Jose. There is every reason to believe that a fuller\nacquaintance with the tribes whose ceremonies are as yet least known\nwill reveal other instances of ceremonies held in common and known\nunder the same name. Farther to the south, among the Yokuts of the\nTulare basin, these ceremonies do not seem to have penetrated. Here the\nmajority of the public ceremonies, like the rattlesnake ceremony that\nhas been mentioned, were of the nature of shamanistic performances.\nThroughout the Central region the dances, while they might be held only\nin structures of certain kinds, were never rigorously attached to a\nspecific locality.\n\nIn Northwestern California the more important ceremonies can always be\nheld only at certain spots, and the performance of ceremonies of the\nsame name always varies somewhat at different places. The performers do\nnot represent mythological or other characters and do not imitate\nanimals. The more important dances last at least a number of days, not\ninfrequently as many as ten. The dances are held either out-doors or in\ncertain sacred houses, which are however not different from the\nordinary living-house of the region except through their traditionary\nand ceremonial associations. The essential religious portion of the\nceremony consists of the actions gone through by a priest, with\nsometimes one or two assistants. The more important part of his\nprocedure is the recital of one of the sacred formulae so\ncharacteristic of the region. This formula relates specifically to the\nexact locality at which the dance is held, and therefore often varies\nconsiderably from spot to spot. The formula is regarded as it were as\nprivate property, and its knowledge is sufficient to institute the\npriest in his capacity. The public portions of the ceremony, such as\nthe dancing, are practically dissociated from this purely religious\nelement. The dancers are mostly young men without any knowledge of the\nceremony other than of the simple dance-step and songs. The\nparaphernalia which they wear belong neither to them nor to the\npriests, but to wealthy men of the tribe, for whom the occasion is an\nall-important opportunity for the display of their wealth, which\nconsists in large part of the dancing regalia, and the possession of\nwhich is the chief factor toward their social prominence. The dancers\nappear in from two to five parties, representing neighboring villages,\neach of which is aided by the wealthy men of other villages; and these\nparties vie with each other primarily in the display of their regalia.\nThe most important ceremonies are the Deerskin dance and the Jumping\ndance, which are held either annually or biennially, the former always\nout-doors, the latter at some places out-doors, sometimes in boats, at\nothers in-doors. The purpose of both dances, which where both are\npracticed are usually given in close succession, is the good of the\nworld. Earthquake and disease are prevented and a food supply insured.\nVery little of the sacred formulae and accompanying ritual, and nothing\nin the remainder of the dance, has however any specific reference to\nthis purpose. A third, minor ceremony, the Brush dance, completes the\nseries of public ceremonies in this region, the remaining dances being\nheld only on occasion of war, a girl's puberty, or the initiation of a\nshaman. Even the Brush dance is not fully of a tribal character,\ninasmuch as it is performed for the benefit of a single individual, a\nsick child, although it is participated in by an entire village with\nthe assistance of visitors from others, and though there seems to be a\ndesire to perform the ceremony at least once a year in each of the\nlarger villages.\n\nIn Southern California mourning ceremonies are everywhere the most\nprominent. In the coast region, among the various groups of Mission\nIndians, initiation ceremonies make up most of the public rituals that\nare not connected with mourning. In the interior the Mohave possess no\ninitiation ceremonies. In both regions such ceremonies as partake\nneither of the nature of mourning nor initiation are conspicuous by the\nprominence of the myth element. They consist essentially of long series\nof songs, occupying one or more nights in the recital, which recount,\nin part directly but more often by allusion, an important myth. At\ntimes the myth is actually related in the intervals between the songs.\nIn some cases dancing by men or women accompanies the singing, but this\nis never spectacular and in many cases is entirely lacking. Being only\nceremonial recitations of myths, these ceremonies are not attached in\ntheir performance to specific localities, and when dancing regalia are\nused they are of the simplest character; nor is there opportunity for\neither altar or ritual. The predominance of the mourning element in the\nceremonies of this region is further shown by the fact that among some\ntribes, as the Mohave, these same singing ceremonies, besides being\nperformed independently, are also sung for many hours at every death.\nThe series of songs selected for each individual on this occasion is\nthat with which he is acquainted. In accord with what has been said of\nthe dream as the basis of Mohave religious life, these singing\nceremonies are almost always believed by each person to have been\ndreamed by himself.\n\n\nCEREMONIAL STRUCTURES AND PARAPHERNALIA.\n\nThe ceremonial chamber is also of distinctive character in the three\nculture areas. In the Central region it is a large, circular,\ndome-shaped structure, partly underground and with a covering of earth.\nIt serves also as place of assembly and at least at times as sudatory,\nwhence its popular name of sweat-house. In the Northwest the\nsweat-house is quite small, almost entirely underground, and its roof\nconsists of boards without a covering of earth. It is constantly used\nfor sweating and is the regular sleeping place of all adult males. It\nis not used for public ceremonies except in the case of the dance\ninitiating shamans. In the South the ceremonial structure is not a\nhouse, but either a mere enclosure of brush, as among the Mission\ntribes, or a simple shade of brush on upright posts, as among the\nMohave. This type of ceremonial structure is also found in the southern\npart of the Central region among the Yokuts.\n\nIn the matter of dancing apparel the Northwest differs fundamentally\nfrom all the remainder of the state. Some of the most important of the\nregalia, such as long obsidian knives and albino deerskins, are not\nworn on the body or used ritually but merely carried for display, being\nprimarily objects of great value. Large forehead-bands entirely covered\nwith brilliant red woodpecker feathers more nearly resemble ordinary\ndancing apparel, but are also articles of value, the unmounted\nwoodpecker feathers virtually constituting one form of currency. Other\nobjects used in dancing are dresses, cloaks, and head-bands of skin and\nfur, head-dresses of network, and carefully ornamented plumes and head\nfeathers. All these, while worn on the body, and decorative, also\npossess considerable commercial value. The drum is not used, the\nwhistle employed at times, and the rattle, which consists of deer\nhoofs, but sparingly.\n\nIn the Central region objects made of feathers greatly predominate over\nall others, and are mostly made to be worn actually on the body.\nHead-dresses are particularly conspicuous and of many forms. In the\nSacramento and San Joaquin valleys and the adjacent region cloaks of\nlarge feathers attached to a network are worn. In the Tulare basin\nthese are replaced by skirts consisting of strings of eagle-down. With\nthese down-skirts are worn large upright head-dresses of crow and\nmagpie feathers. This combination of costume was used also by the\nMission Indians in Southern California and by the Washo of Nevada, and\nat least the head-dress is found as far north as the Sacramento valley.\nNetwork caps filled with down, and forehead bands of down, are frequent\nin various parts. Perhaps the most typical single object of ceremonial\napparel is a flat band, usually worn on the forehead, and consisting of\nthe trimmed red quills of the yellow-hammer sewed side by side. This\nhead-band occurs through the whole of Central California and is used\nalso by the tribes east of the Sierra Nevada, in the state of Nevada,\nand south of Tehachapi pass in Southern California. The large foot drum\nof the Central region has already been mentioned. Whistles are also\nused and there are two forms of rattle, one consisting of silk cocoons\ncontaining gravel, the other of a split stick. The cocoon rattle is\nusually associated with the shaman, the clap-stick with dancing.\n\nIn the South, especially among the Mission Indians, the dancing\napparel, as is evident from the instances already mentioned, is of much\nthe same type as in the Central area. On the Colorado river feather\nornaments of the same general character are used, though they are of a\nsimpler type and head-dresses predominate. The whistle is but little\nused in the South, the drum occasionally, baskets and other objects\nbeing chiefly employed for this purpose. The rattle is the\nall-important musical instrument in this region. It is made most\nfrequently from a gourd or a turtle-shell.\n\n\nMYTHOLOGY AND BELIEFS.\n\nIn mythology a deep-going difference between the three culture areas\nagain appears. The Northwestern mythologies are characterized primarily\nby a very deeply impressed conception of a previous, now vanished,\nrace, who by first living the life and performing the actions of\nmankind were the producers of all human institutions and arts as well\nas of some of the phenomena of nature. Second in importance in the\nNorthwest are myths dealing with culture-heroes more or less of the\ntrickster type familiar from so many other parts of North America.\n\nIn Central California there is always a true creation of the world, of\nmankind, and of its institutions. The conception of the creator is\noften quite lofty, and tricky exploits or defeats are usually not\nconnected with him. Often there is an antithesis between this\nbeneficent and truly divine creator and a second character, usually the\nCoyote, who in part cooeperates with the creator but in part thwarts\nhim, being responsible for the death of mankind and other imperfections\nin the world-scheme. In the northern half of the Central region the\ncreator is generally anthropomorphic; if not, he is merged into one\npersonage with the more or less tricky Coyote. In the southern half of\nthe region the creators seem always to be animals with the dignified\nand wise eagle as the chief. The myths of the Central region not\ndirectly concerned with creation are mostly stories of adventure, of\nmuch the same type as European folk and fairy tales. They do not\nexplain the origin of phenomena except in a casual, isolated way, and\nbut rarely are of ceremonial import.\n\nIn Southern California there is no creation. The various animate and\ninanimate existences in the world are born from heaven and earth as the\nfirst parents. Sometimes heaven and earth are regarded as the first\nconcrete existences, who were, however, preceded by a series of psychic\nbeings grouped in pairs. The bulk of the Southern origin myth consists\nof a history of mankind, at first as a single tribe and later centered\nin the tribe which tells the story. In the successive experiences of\nthis body of people, which are accompanied by more or less journeying,\nthe world is gradually brought to its present stage, and all the\ninstitutions of mankind, particularly of the narrating tribe but also\nof others, are developed. The people are under the leadership of one or\ntwo great leaders, at least one of whom always dies or departs after\nhis beneficent directions. The thoroughly Southwestern and Pueblo\ncharacter of this long origin myth is obvious. It is usually followed\nto a greater or less extent by migration legends recounting the\nwandering and conflicts of different tribes or clans. The remaining\nmyths are in plot essentially not very different from the adventure\nstories of the Central region, but both much longer and more elaborate,\nand at the same time distinctively ritualistic in that they form the\nbasis or framework of the singing ceremonies that have been described.\nAs these ceremonies themselves are nothing but myths, there is neither\nneed nor room for traditionary accounts explaining the origin of the\nceremonies.\n\nAn identification of myth and ceremony that is in many ways similar to\nthat prevalent in Southern California is characteristic also of the\nNorthwestern region, where the formulae which constitute the essential\nreligious elements, as well as being the direct means, of most\nsupernatural accomplishment, are nothing but myths. The Northwestern\nformula is a myth, rarely a direct prayer, and practically every more\nserious myth is either in whole or in part a also a formula. In\npurpose, however, as well as in rendering, the spoken myth-formulae of\nthe Northwest and the sung myth-ceremonies of the South are different,\nthe former having always a definite practical result in view, whereas\nthe latter have no aim other than their own recital.\n\nThus the mythology of Southern California resembles that of the\nSouthwest rather than that of the remainder of the state. That of the\nNorthwestern region shows affinities to the North Pacific Coast in its\nprevalence of the culture-hero and trickster over the creator. The most\nmarked special characteristic of the Northwestern mythology, other than\nits practical use of myths for religious purposes in the shape of\nformulas, is its strong and definite, though inconsistently carried\nout, idea of the previous race which is parallel to but distinct from\nmankind, and which is the originator, not by any act of creation but by\nmerely living its life, of everything human except mankind itself, the\norigin of which is never accounted for. This idea of a previous\nsupernatural race analogous to mankind crops out to some extent in\nalmost all North American mythologies, and particularly in other parts\nof California: but it seems nowhere to be so deep-seated and so freely\nexpressed as in this region. The members of this vanished race are\nalmost always strictly human, in Northwestern California, and not\nanimals or personifications. They are nothing but men, living the life\nof the Indians, transposed into a mythic supernatural age, and by the\nfact of their mere existence regarded as the originators of the present\ncondition of the world. They therefore leave no room for a creator, and\nbut little for the culture hero, whose exploits, when not of purely\npersonal significance, consequently consist mainly of the destruction\nof evil beings.\n\nIf the mythology of Northwestern California in spite of its partial\nnorthern affinities accordingly has a dominant character all its own,\nthe same is also true of the larger, more representative Central\nregion. A true creator, and a full and consistent attempt at an account\nof the creation, are found nowhere else in North America, or at least\nonly sporadically and carried out with an apparently much less degree\nof thoroughness. The remainder of the Central Californian mythology\nhowever scarcely presents any unique qualities, even some of the\nspecific myth-episodes, such as the favorite one of the bear and deer\nchildren, being found over considerable territories outside of\nCalifornia. Even the important characteristic of the presence of\ncreation-myths is in a measure a negative one, for from a world view\nsome approach to such a myth may be expected among most peoples,\nwhether primitive or civilized, and it is primarily only in America\nthat special bents of mind and of religious thought have supplanted the\nidea of creation by the culture hero, the tribal history, and other\nconceptions. We are therefore not far from right if we regard the\nunique development of creation myths over the greater part of\nCalifornia as merely a part of a general tendency of the California\nIndians towards simplicity and lack of strongly marked peculiar and\nAmerican qualities in any one direction, a tendency which has already\nbeen emphasized in other aspects of their religion, and which must be\nsaid to characterize their whole life and culture.\n\nIdeas as to the world and the existence of the dead vary from tribe to\ntribe but present nothing specially distinctive. The world is usually\nregarded as surrounded by water, sometimes as floating upon it. It is\noften secured by four or five pillars, ropes, or other supports. Beyond\nwhere earth and sky meet there is often another land. The dead\nsometimes go below, sometimes above, sometimes across the ocean to the\nwest, and sometimes to more or less distant parts of this earth. The\nentrance to the world of the dead is pointed out by some tribes. People\nwho have temporarily died have been there and returned to describe it.\nDances constitute the principal occupation of the dead. No ideas of\nfuture rewards and punishments based on conduct in this life have yet\nbeen found. If such ideas exist they must be very scantily developed.\nAs in other parts of the world, there are occasional ideas of\ntransmigration of souls into animals, but these conceptions are nowhere\nsystematically worked out or of any religious importance.\n\n\nSPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT TRIBES.\n\nSuch are the principal characteristics of the religion of the Indians\nof California as a whole, and of the larger ethnographical areas of the\nstate. It is obvious that with so great a linguistic and political\ndiversification as existed among these Indians, there must have been\nmany local modifications of the scheme which has been outlined. The\nmost conspicuous or best known of these special modifications it is the\npurpose of the remainder of this paper to consider. In this review the\ngroups to be taken up will, for the sake of greatest convenience of\nclassification, be the linguistic families. These numerous families are\nterritorially so restricted, and usually so small in numbers, that they\nalmost form the equivalent of the tribe in other regions of North\nAmerica, that is to say, of a subdivision of the family. Strictly there\nare no tribes in the greater part of California. The families or stocks\nare the largest linguistic units, usually subdivided into several\ndialectic areas, each of which contains a number of small village\ncommunities that are the only units of political or social\norganization.\n\nIn the Northwestern region, in spite of the excessive limitation of\nthis territory, a distinction must be made between three tribes which\noccupy the heart of the region and show the culture in its most extreme\nform, and a fringe of surrounding tribes where the Northwestern culture\nis either less developed or subject to greater extraneous influences.\nThe three more characteristic groups are the Yurok and Karok, small\nindependent linguistic families, and the Hupa division of the\nAthabascan family. These alone practice the Deerskin dance and the \"New\nYear's\" or world-making ceremonies. With them also the peculiar\nmythological and shamanistic conceptions typical of the region are\nfound in the purest form. The surrounding tribes are the Wishosk or\nWiyot, perhaps the Chimariko and some of the Shasta, the Athabascan\nTolowa, and the Athabascans southwest of the Hupa.\n\nThe Yurok held the Deerskin and Jumping dances at three places along\nthe Klamath river, and the Jumping dance alone at three points on the\ncoast, to the south. At the mouth of the river an annual spring\nceremony to cause or regulate the ascent of the salmon was made. Until\nthis ceremony had been made salmon were not eaten. The shamans of the\nYurok were almost all women. Alone of all the tribes in the\nNorthwestern region the Yurok held no dance or public ceremony on the\noccasion of a girl's puberty. Their traditions seem to have the\npeculiar Northwestern qualities perhaps more deeply impressed upon them\nthan even those of their neighbors, the Karok and Hupa, especially in\nregard to the underlying conception of a previous race and its\nfunction. In accord with the development of this conception, the\nmythical heroes of the Yurok show less approximation to being creators\nthan those of the other tribes, and animals are mentioned in the\nmythology surprisingly little.\n\nThe Karok, who live immediately upstream from the Yurok on the Klamath,\nheld the Deerskin and Jumping dances at three places. At each of these\nthe dances were conducted in connection with a sacred ceremony called\n\"New Year's\" by the whites and \"making the world\" by the Indians. This\nceremony was performed early in autumn, practically by one man, the\npriest who knew the formula and ritual. A similar ceremony was held at\na fourth locality in spring, in connection with the coming of the\nsalmon. The Karok regard the Deerskin and Jumping dances of the Yurok\nand Hupa as the equivalents of these ceremonies of their own, reckoning\naltogether ten places in the world at which they are performed. Karok\nmythology is of the Northwestern type, but shows more animal characters\nthan that of the Yurok.\n\nThe territory held by the Hupa was much less extended than that of\ntheir neighbors, and this was no doubt the occasion of their making\nonly one Deerskin and Jumping dance in their valley. They held a New\nYear's ceremony in autumn which had distinct reference to the acorn\ncrop. Ceremonials and restrictions connected with menstruation were\nconsiderably developed, much more than among the neighboring Yurok. It\nwas thought dangerous to speak to a dog, as he might be provoked to\nanswer, which would be a fatal portent.\n\nThe religion of the other Athabascans in this part of the state is very\nlittle known, but it is certain that before the southern end of\nHumboldt county is reached, in other words, in the Eel river drainage,\na totally distinct set of conceptions and practices is encountered,\nwhich are allied to those of the Central region.\n\nThe Wiyot or Wishosk, who adjoin the Yurok on the south, did not\npractice the Jumping dance, other ceremonies, which are very little\nknown, taking its place among them. One dance was performed by women\nstanding up to the hips in water. Shamanism is of more prominence among\nthem than with their neighbors the Yurok, and men as well as women are\naffected with supernatural powers. The sex of the guardian spirit is\nusually the opposite of that of the shaman. It is possible that on\naccount of the almost complete disappearance of their tribal life and\ncommunal religious practices, shamanism, which has been retained with\ngreater vigor among the Wiyot, now appears relatively more important,\nas the only remnant of the religious side of their culture. An\nelaborate hanging feather head-dress, a belt, a pipe for smoking, and\nanother for sucking, are the constant paraphernalia of the\nmedicine-man. Two shamans often support each other in curing disease,\none diagnosing, the other removing the pain. The mythology of the Wiyot\nresembles that of the Yurok chiefly through possessing certain specific\nnarrative episodes in common with it. But the idea of a previous\nparallel race is very little developed, and there is a true creator,\nAbove-Old-Man. Most of the other mythical characters are animals. The\nwhole mythology therefore is of the Central rather than of the\nNorthwestern type.\n\nWith the Yuki of Mendocino county a pure form of the Central culture\nobtains. The creator is Taikomol, \"he who goes alone.\" His companion,\nwho supplements his work, especially as regards the culture of man, is\nCoyote. There is a Taikomol ceremony in which this character is\nimpersonated, and which is shamanistic at least to the degree of being\nperformed to cure an individual of sickness. There is no trace of the\nsacred formulae of the Northwest. The shaman, who is usually a man,\nreceives his power either by dreaming or in a vision in a desolate\nplace. His power is not sought by him and he possesses definite\nguardian spirits. Bear shamans are much feared. All the Yuki possess a\nsacred society initiation ceremony, in which performances of magic are\nprominent. Among the northern Yuki and neighboring Wailaki this is\ncalled Flint ceremony, and the initiates display magic powers in\nhandling and swallowing flint points. Among the southern Yuki, as among\nthe neighboring Pomo and Athabascan Kato, the ceremony relates to\nghosts and is popularly known as Devil dance. The members possess power\nof causing sickness and contend against each other much like the\nshamans of the Maidu and Yokuts.\n\nOne of the most conspicuous features of the religion of the Pomo, who\nare south of the Yuki, is their shamanistic fetishes. The medicine-man\npossesses a number of objects, stones, parts of animals, and other\narticles, which he treasures and with which his power is largely bound\nup. Pomo mythology is characterized by the importance of Coyote, who\ncomes nearer than any other personage to playing the part of creator.\nIn certain ceremonies there are exhibitions of fire-eating and the\nclown occurs.\n\nThe Wintun occupy a territory which is of much greater extent from\nnorth to south than from east to west. The northern and southernmost\nmembers of the family therefore differ considerably. In the north there\nis a well defined conception of a creator who dwells above, and to whom\nCoyote forms an antithesis. In the south, where everything shows the\nWintun and Pomo to have influenced each other considerably, he is\nreplaced by Coyote. In both regions a world-fire is prominent in the\nmythology. In the north the shaman is inaugurated in his career in a\nceremony in which he is assisted by his older colleagues. The southern\nWintun may prove to have been the people who largely developed the\ndances and ceremonies characteristic of a large part of the Sacramento\nvalley. They show much in common with their western neighbors the Pomo,\nand with the Maidu who adjoin them on the east and who themselves\ndeclare that they have derived the Hesi and other dances from them.\n\nNone of the groups so far discussed, with the possible exception of\npart of the Wintun, practiced any distinct mourning ceremony. On the\nother hand, all that follow, with the possible doubtful exception of\none or two tribes on the outskirts of the state, held mourning\nceremonies as among the most important of all their religious\npractices.\n\nThe Maidu everywhere possessed a secret society. Their system of dances\nbecomes less and less developed as one proceeds farther from Wintun\ninfluence. Among the mountain tribes almost all ceremonies were much\nless developed than in the Sacramento valley. Shamanistic beliefs and\npractices also varied, although there was everywhere a clear idea of\nspirits personally acquired and controlled by the medicine-man. Among\nthe northeastern Maidu every shaman's son invariably became a shaman,\nalthough only through his own acquisition of spirits, which might be\nthose of his father. In the Sacramento valley spirits were acquired by\ninvoluntary dreaming without much regard to heredity. Puberty\nceremonies for girls were performed both among the northwestern and\nnortheastern Maidu, perhaps among those of the south also. The\nmythology of the several Maidu divisions is much more uniform than\ntheir religious practices. The creator is always opposed and his\nbeneficent work rendered incomplete by Coyote. It is clear that the\nmythology of the Maidu is distinctive and much less under Wintun\ninfluence than their ceremonies.\n\nAmong the Miwok the Coyote largely takes the place of the creator. As\namong their northern neighbors the Maidu, the mourning ceremony was\nimportant, and the two stocks held at least certain dances in common.\nThe individual mourning practices and restrictions of the widow were\nelaborate and severe. Nothing is as yet known of a secret society, but\nas both the southern and northern neighbors of the Miwok performed\ninitiation ceremonies, it is likely that they also possessed them.\n\nAmong the Yokuts, who occupied the head of the San Joaquin-Tulare\nvalley south of the Miwok, there are no traces of the ceremonial system\nof the Sacramento valley, which is replaced by public shamanistic\nceremonies, in which contests and exhibitions of magic were\nconspicuous. The annual rattlesnake ceremony which has been described\nis of this type, as is the Ohowish, a ceremony in which medicine-men\nfrom different villages or districts; directed their powers against\neach other. There seem to have been also certain animal dances among\nthe Yokuts. Medicine-men usually acquired their power by dreaming,\nsometimes by visions while alone. Bear shamans were known, but were not\nso much dreaded as farther north. Rain doctors, who could control the\nweather, were important. Their power was bound up with certain stone\namulets evidencing a fetishistic development. Formulae, some with\nritualistic accompaniment, were spoken, but differed from those of the\nNorthwest in being short direct prayers or supplications instead of\nmythical narratives. The creators in Yurok mythology are several\nanimals, the chief of whom is the eagle and among whom Coyote always\nfinds a place. A favorite mythological personage is the prairie-falcon,\nand a myth which has found a particular development relates the visit\nof a husband to the world of the dead in pursuit of his wife.\n\nVery little is known of the ethnology of the coast tribes west of the\nMiwok and Yokuts. Among the Southern Costanoan peoples creation myths\nresembling those of the Yokuts are found. Coyote is at once a trickster\nand a giver of civilization and arts to man. Similar ideas probably\nprevailed among the Salinan tribes. As regards the Esselen and Chumash\nnothing is known.\n\nTribes belonging to the great Shoshonean family held almost all the\neastern border of the state as well as a large part of the southern\ndesert and coast region. The former inhabited the Great Basin, and are\nculturally entirely distinct from those of Southern California, of whom\nalone is there any considerable knowledge extant as regards religion.\nCertain of the northern groups, such as the Mono, lived on the western\nor California slope of the Sierra Nevada, in contact with the Yokuts\nand Miwok, and partook more largely of the culture and presumably\nreligion of these people than of the tribes of the Basin.\n\nAmong the Shoshoneans of Southern California, such as the Gabrielino\nand Luiseno, the so-called Mission Indians, mourning ceremonies were\nmore important than any others, and were held both on the death of a\nperson, sometime afterwards, and again in a still more public manner at\nlarge gatherings. At some of these ceremonies images representing the\ndead, and recalling those of the Maidu far to the north, were burned.\nOne form of mourning ceremony was the Eagle dance, performed with an\neagle that was slowly killed as the ceremony went on through the night.\nMany of the songs of the mourning ceremonies are of mythological\ncontent, referring to the great leader or culture-hero Wiyot. The\npuberty ceremonial for girls was elaborate and contained symbolic\nactions. The initiation of males was intended for boys, and therefore\nalso took on largely the character of a puberty ceremony. This\ncharacter was heightened by the presence of numerous ordeals. Part of\nthe initiation of boys consisted of the drinking of jimson-weed. Sand\npaintings of a very simple type, evidently influenced by basket\npatterns, but thoroughly symbolic in meaning and therefore essentially\nof the same nature as those of the Pueblos and Navaho, were made in\nconnection with this initiation. On the whole religious symbolism was\nmore developed than in Central California or even among the Yuman\ntribes to the east, who are geographically so much nearer the Indians\nof the Southwest. The shaman acquired his power by dreaming, and the\npipe with which he sucked as well as smoked was of the utmost\nimportance to him. Paraphernalia were much used by the shamans,\nespecially boards or wooden swords, which were swallowed and worn as\nhead-dresses. These, however, were not purely fetishistic objects, but\nof potency rather through symbolism and association. The mythology of\nthe Shoshonean Mission Indians was not essentially different from that\nof the other Indians of Southern California.\n\nThe Yuman family, which is so much represented in Arizona and Lower\nCalifornia, occupied the southernmost portion of Southern California.\nThe Diegueno in the coast mountains and on the coast were culturally\nsimilar to the Shoshonean Luiseno, with whom they are generally\nincluded as the present Mission Indians. Along the Colorado river the\nphysical and ethnic environment was quite different, but as has already\nbeen said, there was much closer resemblance to the Mission Indians in\nmatters of religion than in almost any other phase of culture. The\nprincipal Yuman tribes in this Colorado region are the Mohave and the\nYuma. The religion of only the former is known, but the two give every\nevidence of having been very similar. The religion of the Shoshonean\nPaiute or Chemehuevi in the desert adjoining the Mohave has been\nlargely colored by the influence of the latter. The most distinctive\nfeature of Mohave religion is the insistence upon dreaming as the\nsource of everything religious, although this dreaming must be\ninterpreted rather as a belief in the presence of the individual in\nspirit form at the great events of mythic times. All myths that are at\nall of sacred character are believed not to be handed down by\ntradition, but to be dreamed by each narrator. The shaman receives his\npower by dreaming ritualistic myths, which reveal to him his practices.\nThe lengthy series of songs which are the essence of all ceremonies,\nand the mythical narratives connected with them, are also learned in\ndreams. It is probably a result of this importance of the dream-world\nand of the identification of myth and ceremony, of religious belief and\nreligious practice, that ritualism is so slightly developed among the\nMohave. Their geographical nearness and intercourse with the Hopi and\nother southwestern tribes, among whom ritualism and symbolism find\nperhaps their highest development on the continent north of Mexico,\nwould certainly justify a contrary expectation. Both ceremonial actions\nand ceremonial paraphernalia and dress are developed only to a very\nslight extent. There is no initiation or society. The singing\nceremonies, which with the exception of a few minor observances such as\nthat for a girl's puberty, constitute all the Mohave ceremonies other\nthan mourning ceremonies, are quite numerous, more than twenty being\nknown. Some of these ceremonies are acknowledged to have been borrowed\nfrom other Yuman tribes, especially the Yuma, and these Indians no\ndoubt have also acquired Mohave ceremonies. Some of the ceremonies are\nprimarily mythical in character, others somewhat shamanistic. All are\nalso sung in mourning. In addition there is a distinctive mourning\nceremony held annually for important men.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY.\n\nMuch of the material on which the statements in the preceding essay are\nbased is information collected by the University of California's\nEthnological and Archaeological Survey of California since 1901 and as\nyet unpublished. Of old accounts dealing with the religion of the\nIndians of California, the best is by the Franciscan missionary\nBoscana, entitled Chinigchinich and published in the 1846 edition of a\nvolume by A. Robinson called Life in California. It deals with the\nShoshonean Indians of Mission San Juan Capistrano. An occasional\nreference of value may be found in other works, such as Venegas'\nHistory of California. The series of translations and republications of\nearly explorers in California and the Southwest, published in the Land\nof Sunshine, later Out West, beginning in 1899, is also convenient,\nthough naturally it deals but incidentally with religion. Reid's\naccount of the Indians of Los Angeles county, published in an early Los\nAngeles newspaper and republished by Alexander Taylor in the fourteenth\nvolume of California Farmer in 1861, is particularly good, though less\nso on the side of religion than on most others. Stephen Powers' Tribes\nof California, issued in 1877 as the third volume of the Contributions\nto North American Ethnology, a government series, deals with the\nIndians of the greater part of the state and contains many references\nto their religious life. Powers is however often very inexact, and the\nvalue of his work is in its comprehensiveness rather than in its\nreliability. An important work is Creation Myths of Primitive America,\nby Jeremiah Curtin, which consists of a collection of myths from the\nWintun and Yana of Northern California. The differences of form which\nthese myths show from most Indian myths that have been published in\ntranslation are apparently chiefly due to the method of their\npresentation by the author. Curtin's introduction is very suggestive\nbut exaggerated. Professor R. B. Dixon has brought out a paper on Maidu\nMyths, and another, a great part of which is devoted to religion, on\nthe Northern Maidu, both in the seventeenth volume of the Bulletin of\nthe American Museum of Natural History. These two contributions are\namong the most careful studies as yet made by a trained observer in any\npart of the state. The same author has also published briefer articles\non Some Coyote Stories from the Maidu Indians of California, System and\nSequence in Maidu Mythology, and Some Shamans of Northern California,\nin recent volumes of the Journal of American Folk-Lore, and on The\nMythology of the Shasta-Achomawi in the American Anthropologist for\n1905. Professor P. E. Goddard has published Life and Culture of the\nHupa, the last portion of which refers to religion; and Hupa Texts\n(with both interlinear and current translations), almost all of which\nare religious in character. These two papers constitute Volume I of the\nUniversity of California Publications in American Archaeology and\nEthnology. In the Journal of American Folk-Lore for 1906 is a paper by\nthe same author on Lassik Tales. Miss Constance Goddard DuBois has\npublished a number of valuable papers on the Mission Indians, mainly\nconcerning the mythology of the Diegueno, in the volumes of the Journal\nof American Folk-Lore for 1901, 1904, and 1906. In the American\nAnthropologist for 1905 Miss DuBois has an article on the Religious\nCeremonies and Myths of the Mission Indians, while another paper on The\nMythology of the Dieguenos appears in the Proceedings of the Thirteenth\nInternational Congress of Americanists. From the present author there\nhave appeared, in the second and fourth volumes of the series of\nAmerican Archaeology and Ethnology, of the University of California\nPublications, Types of Indian Culture in California, in part treating\nof religion, and Indian Myths from South-Central California; in the\nJournal of American Folk-Lore between 1904 and 1906, A Ghost Dance in\nCalifornia, Wishosk Myths, and Two Myths of the Mission Indians; in the\nAmerican Anthropologist for 1902, A Preliminary Sketch of the Mohave\nIndians. In the American Anthropologist for 1905 and 1906 the late\nMajor H. N. Rust has two brief articles on The Obsidian Blades of\nCalifornia and A Puberty Ceremony of the Mission Indians. The Journal\nof American Folk-Lore has contained a rather confused article on The\nCosmogony and Theogony of the Mojave Indians, by Capt. J. G. Bourke, in\n1889, and others by G. W. James, on myths of the Mission Indians of\nSouthern California, in 1902 and 1903. In the same Journal appeared in\n1902 An Indian Myth from the San Joaquin Basin by J. W. Hudson, and A\nComposite Myth of the Pomo Indians by S. A. Barrett in 1906. Since 1906\nthe Journal has contained a series of Notes on California Folk-Lore.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"The Religion of the Indians of California","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":14105}