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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* pen IT . — 272 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol ; : , 9] Kroeber: The Valley Nisenan 273 Yokteo, the introducer of valley dances to the hill Nisenan in th first ghost dance period,*° was known to the informant as a good” dancer from Mu’k’el, presumably the Plains Miwok village Mokelumn He was never sick, died of old age at Elk Grove in Plains Miwok terr yocabulary. week Pio hea epee tory, and left no (adequate) successor. He made his dances at : ee? foarte — e Nisenan were given to ie oor reasis. Pi: cy Grove, not among the valley Nisenan held the yo’’we'da and sa”’we'da, which were ‘‘like pienics,’’ with : : Near Auburn among the hill Nisenan, a local man named aces, hand-games, play, and a hnu'sla or great meal given by the and after hi i, who was not quite so powerful, made a cerem: gy-DEd ars chief). The yo’’we'da was held when all the or seance called o’ye, which the valley Nisenan did not make. A ers, yo”, were in bloom, and the women wore them on their hair, night the dance house was left dark to make ghosts of the dead : rs, and hands. The sa’’we'da came later in the season, when flowers wo’nomiise, appear. Singing by the performer brought them. Th ; re'gone and everything was in leaf. es were heard shaking the cocoon rattle, sometimes crying, sometimes! Dances and rites unknown to the informant.—These include the ? f= >] singing, sometimes telling of the cause or circumstances of their dea Kauda or rattlesnake anaes s performance; .a formal first-salmon and ‘‘anything that was happening in the world.’”” They were known ceremony ; the victory or sealp dance; dancing at the girl’s adolescence because they named themselves. Those who wished might touch them: Bhecrysnces ; jimsonweed drinking—even the plant was unknown. 5 they had no head or limbs but were as smooth as a thigh Sometimes While the informant knew nothing of an annual first-salmon rite ° a 6 sas oe they could not let go of the rattle; then the performer blew native a.shaman—'‘all the men went to catch salmon, not.a doctor’’—the tobacco on them and the rattle could be heard to fall as the ghost first salmon caught in any new net had to be consumed completely. departed. The informant had one of his relatives appear at Bati’s ace. rattlemakes were ‘feared, :medicine “was. put en the feet. summoning.—This may have been post-ghost dance; but the type of © rhe snakes would smell this and keep away. shamanistic exhibition is likely to be old hill Nisenan. The informant knew of nothing similar among the valley people, and told the aboye © in answer to a question as to ghost society practices of the Pomo kind, fish is surprising. Like many Californians the Nisenan had sepate words to denote the first and subsequent menstruations—see the SHAMANISM The shaman, yo’muse, seems to have got his power chiefly from older people—either a kinsman who taught him, or the gathered’ amans who trained him. The informant did not appear to connect shamanistic power with dreaming; nor did he have anything to say of spirits. The medicines were roots, seeds, leaves, which were crushed, boiled, and drunk, Curing was partly by sucking blood from a cut. With the blood, some other object, the cause of the disease, came out: a dead fly, clot of blood, or such. This was shown, but immediately buried. The shaman’s rattle for singing was of cocoons; his whistle was of wekwek hawk bone, which, like the bird, was small t shrill. The shaman’s bag was called do’kdok. ‘This was not herited because it was kept secreted and therefore lost with the owner’s death. Shamans might show and give their medicines to ~ their sons or other relatives, but not their poison; this was hidden at a distance. The bag might be shown to others for pay. The viewer had first to take a medicine; in fact the shaman himself took some before handling the bag. Some of the contents were so powerful as to cause nosebleed. On the whole these practices savor of Patwin and Pomo point of view rather than of hill and mountain Maidu. OTHER RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES a Mourning anniversary. —tThis was known as he’i’pai’ and came ‘‘in ~ summer.’’ It seems to have been an inconsiderable affair compared with that of the hill people, lasting only one day. Clothing, baskets, — 4 beads were burned (not at might); and all cried. There were no j e hills, where they were made f ha s, danced with, and thrown into a hole © 7 es ei cineca wailed. Girls’ adolescence.—The girl sat in a hole surrounded by tule mata in the house, or outdoors in summer. She was not let out for fear a ~ tree might fall on her or she sicken and die. She ate only plant food, . b no fish, fat, or meat. Women, sometimes men, sat by and sang. There — was no dancing. The second menstruation was not so dangerous for her, and she could eat meat or fowl but no fish. The stronger taboo 30 Gifford, 229.