In Her Own Words [Villiana Calac Hyde Archive] (2 pages)

YOLANDA MONTUJO Villiana Calac Hyde once said. In her ninetieth year now, after nearly a century of life and living, Spanish still comes stubbornly to her lips. But the language that never leaves her, or her heart, is the language of her family and culture, Luiseno. And it is this language that Villiana Hyde has dedicated herself to preserving for future generations, with the support of family and friends. Today, when so many native Californian languages are on the brink of extinction, Villiana has literally given her own voice to help preserve her indigenous language. Since 1988, she has been working in conjunction with the folklorist and poet Louise Jeffredo-Warden, a member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno and a doctoral candidate at Stanford University, to create an extensive dictionary of the Luisefio language, plus a collection of recordings of her life experiences, and of people, places, ll . was just allergic to Spanish,” Villiana Hyde. Photo by Patricia Bragg, courtesy of Louise JeffredoWarden. 42 gil NEWS FROM NATIVE CALIFORNIA In Her Own Words times and traditional social activities, from the ritual to the mundane, significant in Luiseno life, culture, and history. Villiana is one of the few remaining fluent speakers of the Luiseno language. She is also a prominent elder and sister to the last practicing hereditary chiefs (now deceased) in the Calac lineage, historically one of the most powerful of Luisefio lineages. Born in 1903 on the Rincon Reservation in north San Diego county, Villiana shared her childhood with two sisters and six brothers. Her language, and her right to speak and share this language with others, have always played an important role in Villiana’s life. In the government school she attended at Rincon, she was punished for speaking Luisetio. When she was thirteen years old, her mother was advised to send her daughters to the Sherman Institute, a boarding school in Riverside, California for Native American children. There again, all children were instructed not to speak their native languages and were punished for doing so, but Villiana remembers hiding under the bedcovers at night with one of her cousins to share traditional Luisefio stories and songs. Villiana left the Sherman Institute after five years to care for her ailing mother at home. She later became a cook by profession, for families and ranches in the San Diego county area, and married at the age of 25. After the loss of her son, she and her family proudly raised five Native American children placed in her care by the county. Although Villiana left school after the sixth grade, she has been much involved in educating others, in particular about the Luiseno people. In the 1960s she worked as a language consultant for linguists associated with the University of California at San Diego, creating her book, An Introduction to the Luiserio Language, which was edited by Ronald M. Langacker and published by the Malki Museum Press in 1971. The Villiana Calac Hyde Archive In the 1960s, she was also a principal informant for the Luisefio Culture Bank, a project designed and directed by Susan Dyal that largely dealt with the material culture of the Luisefio. The Smithsonian Institution later featured Villiana and the project in the Cultural Conservation segment of its American Folklife Festival. Villiana and Louise Jeffredo-Warden met in 1985 at the Smithsonian Institution where, at the age of 25, Louise was serving an internship in the Office of Folklore and Folklife, which included assisting the Smithsonian in its festival exhibit and presentation of the Luisefio Culture Bank. Having been raised in Luisefo territory, Louise had known of Villiana since she was a child. However, she was unprepared for the “absolute awe” she felt for Villiana during the duration of the festival. “You see,” Louise explains, “By that time I had already worked as a folklorist and had heard quite a few storytellers. But I had never heard anyone tell a story like Villiana. As a poet myself, I could not help but be drawn to the significance and beauty of her words.” From that point on, Louise and Villiana began a friendship and, a few years later, a student-teacher relationship based on their understanding of the dire necessity of preserving the Luiseno language, as well as Villiana’s own accounts of her life, folklore and culture. In 1988, at the age of 85, Villiana felt it was time to commit herself to such work. Since then, she and Louise have tirelessly recorded over 300 hours of tape. Supported financially only by a three-year graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation which expired in 1991, and a small grant from the Institute for Intercultural Studies, Louise is now in her second leave from her doctoral program at Stanford, continuing her work to fully transcribe, translate and catalog these tapes. Over the past five years she and Villiana have continued working despite the 500 miles separating them,

YOLANDA MONTUJO Villiana Calac Hyde once said. In her ninetieth year now, after nearly a century of life and living, Spanish still comes stubbornly to her lips. But the language that never leaves her, or her heart, is the language of her family and culture, Luiseno. And it is this language that Villiana Hyde has dedicated herself to preserving for future generations, with the support of family and friends. Today, when so many native Californian languages are on the brink of extinction, Villiana has literally given her own voice to help preserve her indigenous language. Since 1988, she has been working in conjunction with the folklorist and poet Louise Jeffredo-Warden, a member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno and a doctoral candidate at Stanford University, to create an extensive dictionary of the Luisefio language, plus a collection of recordings of her life experiences, and of people, places, ll . was just allergic to Spanish,” Villiana Hyde. Photo by Patricia Bragg, courtesy of Louise JeffredoWarden. 42 gil NEWS FROM NATIVE CALIFORNIA In Her Own Words times and traditional social activities, from the ritual to the mundane, significant in Luiseno life, culture, and history. Villiana is one of the few remaining fluent speakers of the Luiseno language. She is also a prominent elder and sister to the last practicing hereditary chiefs (now deceased) in the Calac lineage, historically one of the most powerful of Luisefio lineages. Born in 1903 on the Rincon Reservation in north San Diego county, Villiana shared her childhood with two sisters and six brothers. Her language, and her right to speak and share this language with others, have always played an important role in Villiana’s life. In the government school she attended at Rincon, she was punished for speaking Luisetio. When she was thirteen years old, her mother was advised to send her daughters to the Sherman Institute, a boarding school in Riverside, California for Native American children. There again, all children were instructed not to speak their native languages and were punished for doing so, but Villiana remembers hiding under the bedcovers at night with one of her cousins to share traditional Luisefio stories and songs. Villiana left the Sherman Institute after five years to care for her ailing mother at home. She later became a cook by profession, for families and ranches in the San Diego county area, and married at the age of 25. After the loss of her son, she and her family proudly raised five Native American children placed in her care by

the county. Although Villiana left school after the sixth grade, she has been much involved in educating others, in particular about the Luiseno people. In the 1960s she worked as a language consultant for linguists associated with the University of California at San Diego, creating her book, An Introduction to the Luiserio Language, which was edited by Ronald M. Langacker and published by the Malki Museum Press in 1971. The Villiana Calac Hyde Archive In the 1960s, she was also a principal informant for the Luisefio Culture Bank, a project designed and directed by Susan Dyal that largely dealt with the material culture of the Luisefio. The Smithsonian Institution later featured Villiana and the project in the Cultural Conservation segment of its American Folklife Festival. Villiana and Louise Jeffredo-Warden met in 1985 at the Smithsonian Institution where, at the age of 25, Louise was serving an internship in the Office of Folklore and Folklife, which included assisting the Smithsonian in its festival exhibit and presentation of the Luisefio Culture Bank. Having been raised in Luisefo territory, Louise had known of Villiana since she was a child. However, she was unprepared for the “absolute awe” she felt for Villiana during the duration of the festival. “You see,” Louise explains, “By that time I had already worked as a folklorist and had heard quite a few storytellers. But I had never heard anyone tell a story like Villiana. As a poet myself, I could not help but be drawn to the significance and beauty of her words.” From that point on, Louise and Villiana began a friendship and, a few years later, a student-teacher relationship based on their understanding of the dire necessity of preserving the Luiseno language, as well as Villiana’s own accounts of her life, folklore and culture. In 1988, at the age of 85, Villiana felt it was time to commit herself to such work. Since then, she and Louise have tirelessly recorded over 300 hours of tape. Supported financially only by a three-year graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation which expired in 1991, and a small grant from the Institute for Intercultural Studies, Louise is now in her second leave from her doctoral program at Stanford, continuing her work to fully transcribe, translate and catalog these tapes. Over the past five years she and Villiana have continued working despite the 500 miles separating them,