Collection: Directories and Documents > Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection

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Title: The Valley Nisenan Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection Author: A.L. Kroeber Source(s): UC Publications in American Archaeology & Ethnology, Volume 24 # of Pages: 20 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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274 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [ Vol. 2 ~ 1929] Kroeber: The Valley Nisenan 275 This incident shows that Lampakan was prominent both as a rit‘ualist and as a shaman; but in theory the two are distinct. As the informant said, a peipi does not kill people with cil'a’ like a yomuse, but makes food grow and general luck. eee Grizzly bear ‘‘doctors,’’ cu'lik, are friends of the grizzlies, They ‘do not put on a bear skin but ‘‘use their own hides.’? Women are ‘stronger at this than men. The eul'ik go about in summer in groups, ‘attack whom they find, cannot be shot. They do this from inherent viciousness. f : -O’epe or ho’epe are a kind of ‘‘doctors’’ different from both peipi and yomuse. They neither cure nor direct dances; but ‘‘sing for luck.’’ In spring, in the dark dance house, they sing night after night to make acorns, seeds, fish, ducks grow in abundance. Ca’wen is poison, such as shamans use to kill people. It occurs in the air, water, or ground. If a man knows a poison root and takes the proper preventive medicine, he can dig it out. One such kind is ealled ho’kpol; it is potato-like and red..: Another is a bird, la‘lakeo, like a goose but many-colored, that sometimes got caught in duck nets. ‘A water poison comes from wa'listeak, which also looks like a bird. A man spearing salmon might see one, spear, kill, and keep it to kill people with; but he must take medicine to protect himself before using it. ee . The o”lele’ was a luck bird, looking like a dove.but staying in the -water. It seemed tame and kept close to people but was very hard to catch. If one kept a feather it had dropped, one-was lucky in fishing and hunting and gambling and became rich. The feather was kept covered and not shown. : 5 These beliefs seem the reflection of a life and thoughts in terms of water, fish, and fowl more than of land andgame. Shamans shot novices to train them,*! and other shamans in ¢ tests or exhibitions—the two objectives were not distinguished by informant. The magical object shot was called ci’l'a’; the perform: ance, in midsummer, ci‘l'a’mii’.. The shaman was paid by the noviee ‘“‘for bringing him alive again’’; all came to see him do ‘that. novice would fall dead, but the old people would sit by and lau knowing he was not dead. Then the shaman would suck out the cil’a’, and when the young man got up would put leaves on his head nl keep and treat him for a number of days, until he was well. gave the novice some of his own strength. Should the youth howey eat meat, fish, fat, or salt, he would sicken of matai or taboo-breach, his tongue would draw back into his throat, and he would invariably die. In other cases there was more of an exhibition of power. T shaman would smoke, then take his arrow-like cil'a’ and, looking between his legs, shoot it from a miniature bow of quill with a woman ; hair, at a man perhaps ‘‘a mile off,’’ who dropped. Then the sham, —a real shaman, of course, not an ordinary one—revived him, ai he was new, stronger than before.** Shamans never cured their close kin, but paid others to do so A woman with a good heart was often preferred to a man shama presumably, because she was considered less likely to use poison. Some shamans could handle rattlesnakes with impunity, but the was no public rattlesnake rite. A person bitten by a rattlesnake was. isolated in a shelter, not allowed in the house, and attended only by. a shaman. After being cured, he was given special medicine, else would be bitten again. Shamans who could ‘‘make’’ weather were called ha’ikat, t name given the principal personage in the creation. They could ma or stop rain or wind. The informant ‘was told the following by grandfather. On a hot summer day people were in the tules, fishi some eight miles from their village. Lampakan, already mentioned in connection with the Kuksu cult, was with then. A young ma taunted him to make rain and ealled him a liar about his powersll Lampakan became angry but said nothing. He pulled a young tule. shoot, pointed and shook it; soon there were clouds, then wind, the the rain came, and the people trudged home in the mud. MYTHS AND TALES Earth diving—There was no land, only water. They wanted earth, but no one could reach it. Many tried diving on a long rope but. could not come near ‘the bottom. They asked Turtle. He was reluctant. Finally he went, taking his rope, and reached bottom. He brought earth up in his paws and Haikat (weather shaman) shaped it into the world. Haikat could make anything. Turtle now “ean live on land or water. i Death.—Haikat said, ‘‘They will die for four days and nights, then live again and be young.’’ Coyote protested, ‘‘No, they will stink if they lie so long. ‘Better have them die for good and be put away.’’ Then Haikat agreed. But he laid a scouring rush (a banded, smooth stem) on the path to the river. Coyote’s daughter came along to get water. The rush turned into a rattlesnake, bit her, and she died. Then Coyote said, ‘‘Let’s have them live again when they are 81 Faye, this series, 20:47, 50, 1923. 4a 32 Same, p. 46; his lomuse-m-payo’q seems to mean ‘‘shaman’s dance’? (1 fo y). In the valley, yomuse is a women’s dance—see Kuksu cult.