As soon as a Cahuilla dies, he is washed, dressed, and taken to the ceremonial house, kishumnawat. The members of his clan gather round the body and sing all night. If the deceased was a man, the Creation story is sung, if it was a woman, a song about the Moon is sung, for the […]
With all their geographical proximity to the Yuma and Mohave, the Desert Cahuilla partake essentially of the native civilization of the Shoshonean coastal tribes of southern California. Birth of Mukat and Tamaioit In the beginning, there was no earth or sky or anything or anybody only a dense darkness in space. This darkness seemed alive.
The native belief is that all food was once human and could talk just as we can. Mukat designated certain people in the beginning who were to become plants and be converted into food for our use. The mesquite tree is the main reliance of the Desert Cahuilla for food. It is their staple. The
Until within a few years ago, girls puberty ceremonies were observed among the Cahuilla. These were called Hemelonewin or sometimes Hemelushinum. They were held at the time of a girl’s first menses. The father of the girl informed the people of her condition and called them together for the ceremony, which began the first night
Future Life Mukat created a place in the east as a residence for the spirits of the dead. This was called Telmikish (compare telewel, spirit). At the entrance to Telmikish were two constantly moving mountains or large hills. They would come together and separate, come together and separate this movement never ceased. Montakwet was made
Several informants stated that there were only three seasons Taspa budding of trees Talpa hot days Tamitva cold days August Lomas of the Martinez reservation, my most reliable informant, named eight seasons, each one based upon the development of the mesquite bean, which used to be the main food. They were Taspa budding of trees
Dogs can not talk, but they understand everything that is said. They have a soul just as we have. When the people left Mukat s house and came to this valley, there was one dog with them; his name was Hakliswákwish. The people on the Martinez reservation still name their dogs after that first dog.
For a long time, the Cahuilla say, they did not wear any clothes at all. The first they had were breech clouts of deer skins and mountain sheep skins. In cold weather they used skins thrown over their shoulders. Mesquite bark was rubbed and pounded and pulled until it became soft. It was then used
The Cahuilla, like most of the California Indians, have been a very peaceful people. Their main troubles were between villages, and were caused by boundary disputes. Each village had definite boundaries, within which the inhabitants lived, hunted, and gathered mesquite and other food products. Food was very scarce in the old days and any infringement
The Cahuilla are organized in exogamous moieties, the Wildcat moiety (Tuktum), and the Coyote moiety (Istam). Descent is reckoned upon the paternal side. These two moieties are divided into numerous clans, most of which appear to be localized. The majority of the clans are supposed to have received their names from the place in which
It has been fifty or sixty years since these ceremonies have been performed among the Cahuilla, and it is therefore difficult to get an accurate account of them. Hardly any two versions agree. The ceremony of initiating boys was known as Hemvachlowin. Several weeks before the time set for the ceremony, the old people met
The Cahuilla belief is that everyone has a telewel, a spirit or soul. This spirit is very elusive and may leave one almost any time. When they dream, this telewel has left them and is really going through the experiences of which they are dreaming. While the spirit is gone, they cannot wake up. But
The most important ceremony of the Cahuilla always has been and still is the annual tribal mourning gathering, known as Nukil, or Hemmukuwin. This ceremony is held because Mukat told the people they should have one each year in memory of their dead. It was the first ceremony they ever held the first time it
Coahuiltecan Indians, Coahuila Indians, Coahuila Tribe, Cahuilla Tribe, Cahuilla Indians. A name adopted by Powell from the tribal naive Coahuilteco used by Pimentel and Orozco y Berra to include a group of small, supposedly cognate tribes on both sides of the lower Rio Grande in Texas and Coahuila. The family is founded on a slender
This account of the Cahuilla, one of the largest surviving tribes in southern California, represents the work of Lucile Hooper as University of California research fellow in anthropology in 1918. There is a considerable body of published literature on the Cahuilla and other Indian tribes of southern California, but no intensive monograph upon any one tribe nor a satisfactory comprehensive treatment of the region. The literature being so scattered, its citation would have resulted in innumerable detailed cross-references in foot notes, which the ethnological specialist in this field would scarcely need, and which would not be of much aid to the novice. The list of the more important works given at the end of this paper will probably meet the requirements of most readers.
