THE MIWOK
The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) were among one of the many Native American groups indigenous to California before contact
with European-Americans in 1769. Anthropologically they are broken down into
four culturally and geographically diverse
ethnic subgroups: the Plains and Sierra Miwok (Northern, Central, and Southern)
from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the San Joaquin Valley, the Sacramento
Valley, and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; the Bay Miwok from Contra Costa
County; the Lake Miwok from Clear Lake basin of Lake County; and the Coast
Miwok from Marin County and southern Sonoma County.
Each regional group shared certain commonalities. They were hunter and gatherers that possessed deep understanding of the resources that were available to them. They caught fish, like Salmon, hunted deer and a variety of other game, and wasted nothing. The used the parts of the animal as a source of clothing, material for tools and instruments, tanning hides, etc.
Each regional group shared certain commonalities. They were hunter and gatherers that possessed deep understanding of the resources that were available to them. They caught fish, like Salmon, hunted deer and a variety of other game, and wasted nothing. The used the parts of the animal as a source of clothing, material for tools and instruments, tanning hides, etc.
Each regional
group shared certain commonalities. They were hunter and gatherers that possessed
deep understanding of the resources that were available to them. They caught
fish, like Salmon, hunted deer and a variety of other game, and wasted nothing.
The used the parts of the animal as a source of clothing, material for tools
and instruments, tanning hides, etc.
They depended upon acorns as a mainstay of their diet because they were plentiful, nutritious, and stored well in large granaries called cha’ka. However they contained a great deal of bitter-tasting tannin and had to be processed a certain way. They ground the acorn meat into a fine meal in mortar cups, or chaw’se, carved into large slabs of limestone or marble with a stone pestle. Then the acorn meal was rinsed in hot and cold water to leech the tannin out of it and then it was boiled or baked over a fire-pit for consumption. This was a task Miwok women tended to, whereas hunting and fishing were left to the men.
Elaborate basket weaving was another activity Miwok women took on besides gathering, preparing food, and raising children. They used twining and coiling methods to create sturdy, watertight baskets out of willow branches, and redbud fibers. It was a long, skilled process that took months and even years to complete. These baskets were used for gathering, processing acorns, cooking, storing food, etc.
The Miwok existed in smaller factions of villages that comprised of 100-500 people. They were active in trading with neighboring tribes, using clamshell disks as currency, and forming alliances with them. In Northern California the Kuksu religion was prevalent in their culture. They participated in elaborate acting and dancing ceremonies in traditional costume, an annual mourning ceremony, puberty rites of passage, and shamanic intervention with the spirit world. An example of a Miwok dance was one that included clowns called Wo'ochi who were painted white and represented coyotes. They also had the Uzumati or grizzly bear ceremony, where the dancer pretended to be a bear, with pieces of obsidian attached to his fingers as claws.
They depended upon acorns as a mainstay of their diet because they were plentiful, nutritious, and stored well in large granaries called cha’ka. However they contained a great deal of bitter-tasting tannin and had to be processed a certain way. They ground the acorn meat into a fine meal in mortar cups, or chaw’se, carved into large slabs of limestone or marble with a stone pestle. Then the acorn meal was rinsed in hot and cold water to leech the tannin out of it and then it was boiled or baked over a fire-pit for consumption. This was a task Miwok women tended to, whereas hunting and fishing were left to the men.
Elaborate basket weaving was another activity Miwok women took on besides gathering, preparing food, and raising children. They used twining and coiling methods to create sturdy, watertight baskets out of willow branches, and redbud fibers. It was a long, skilled process that took months and even years to complete. These baskets were used for gathering, processing acorns, cooking, storing food, etc.
The Miwok existed in smaller factions of villages that comprised of 100-500 people. They were active in trading with neighboring tribes, using clamshell disks as currency, and forming alliances with them. In Northern California the Kuksu religion was prevalent in their culture. They participated in elaborate acting and dancing ceremonies in traditional costume, an annual mourning ceremony, puberty rites of passage, and shamanic intervention with the spirit world. An example of a Miwok dance was one that included clowns called Wo'ochi who were painted white and represented coyotes. They also had the Uzumati or grizzly bear ceremony, where the dancer pretended to be a bear, with pieces of obsidian attached to his fingers as claws.
NOTEABLE MIWOKS
Camilo Ynitia
Camilo Ynitia was born in 1803 in the Miwok village of
Olompali. He was a notable leader of the Coast Miwok people subgroup and was identified
as the last Hoipu (headman) of the Miwok group living at Olompali. He was
perhaps most known for signing a treaty with the Mexican government and
becoming the only Native American in Northern California to be given and keep a
large Mexican-era land grant. The amount of land given to him was approximately
8,900 acres which provided enough room for his tribe, a successful ranching
operation, and large adobe brick home which is still around today. He ended up
selling most of the land in his later years and died in 1856. It is rumored
that he was buried with all the gold he got in the sale, which supposedly his
wife and children dug up later to buy cattle.
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Lucy Telles
Lucy Parker Telles was a famous Native American basket
weaver born around 1870/1885 and was a Mono Lake Paiute and Southern Sierra
Miwok. Her Native American name was Pamahas, which translates to "Meadows”
and she grew up in Yosemite valley and at Mono Lake. Learning how to weave
baskets as a child enabled her to develop her technique and even invent new
methods and design. She began the art of multicolored baskets in a time where
people were weaving single-colored baskets; weaving together black from bracken
fern roots and red from split redbud twigs. She also created new patterns on
her baskets that were inspired by Plains Indians geometric beadwork. These
innovations have had a lasting impression on the types of baskets made by
Yosemite weavers since. One of her greatest accomplishments when she was alive
includes taking first prize at the 1933 World’s Fair for making an enormous 36"
diameter basket. She lived the rest of her life demonstrating for Yosemite
National Park visitors and teaching members of her family until she died in 1955/1956.
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