diff options
Diffstat (limited to '31429-tei')
| -rw-r--r-- | 31429-tei/31429-tei.tei | 3655 |
1 files changed, 3655 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/31429-tei/31429-tei.tei b/31429-tei/31429-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef01bca --- /dev/null +++ b/31429-tei/31429-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,3655 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>Washo Religion</title> + <author><name reg="Downs, James F.">James F. Downs</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>February 27, 2010</date> + <idno type="etext-no">31429</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2010-02-27">February 27, 2010</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">Washo Religion</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">By</p> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">James F. Downs</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">University of California Publications</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Anthropological Records</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Vol. 16, No. 9, pp. 365-386</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Editors (Berkeley): J. H. Rowe, R. F. Millon, D. M. Schneider</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Submitted by editors September 16, 1960</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Issued June 16, 1961</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Price, 75 cents</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">University of California Press</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Berkeley and Los Angeles</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">California</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Cambridge University Press</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">London, England</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<pb n='i'/><anchor id='Pgi'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Preface</head> + +<p> +This paper is the result of two and one-half months' field work among the Washo +Indians of California and Nevada supported by the Department of Anthropology of the +University of California and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. In it I have tried to +describe the religious beliefs and ritual activities of the Washo as they can be examined +today. Where possible I have attempted to reconstruct the aboriginal patterns +and trace the course of change between these two points in time. +</p> + +<p> +A second purpose has been to supplement the culture element distribution lists +prepared by Omer C. Stewart in 1936 (Stewart 1941). In a number of instances his +findings were at variance with those of Smith, whose notes Stewart incorporated; I +have been able to resolve some of the differences between Stewart and Smith. Where +my own research has led me to disagree with the statements in the culture element +distributions I have discussed the problem. In general my own work simply expands +the rather sparse descriptions of the element lists (Stewart 1941, pp. 366-418). The +culture element distribution list numbers which refer to traits dealt with in the various +sections are indicated in parentheses following the headings. Where a trait or +complex is dealt with in detail it is indicated by parentheses in the text. Statements +not otherwise attributed are the result of my own field work. +</p> + +<p> +I am indebted to Mr. W. L. d'Azevedo, who encouraged me to carry on field work +among the Washo and who has made his own field notes and knowledge available to +me. I have indicated information attributable to d'Azevedo by placing his name in +parentheses in the text; where his name appears with a date, the reference is to +a work published by him. +</p> + +<p> +I also wish to express my thanks for the suggestions made by J. H. Rowe, R. F. +Millon, and D. M. Schneider, who read this article before it went to press, and to +acknowledge the final reading given the manuscript by the late A. L. Kroeber. +</p> + +<p> +In addition, my thanks are owed to Mr. Frank Yapparagari, Mrs. Juanita Schubert, +and Mrs. Lois Buck of Gardnerville and Minden, Nevada, to Mr. Richard Shulter of +the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, Nevada, and to Mrs. E. M. Keenan of +Paradise, California, who assisted in various ways in the progress of the investigation. +Last, to the various members of the Washo tribe, who with patience and good +humor bore the probing into their lives, my deepest gratitude. +</p> + +<p> +James F. Downs +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='365'/><anchor id='Pg365'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Introduction</head> + +<p> +This paper will devote itself to a description of the +religious life of the Washo Indians living in the communities +of Sierraville, Loyalton, and Woodfords, in +California, and Reno, Carson City, and Dresslerville, +Nevada. Smaller numbers are scattered throughout the +area which was their aboriginal range, roughly from +the southern end of Honey Lake to Antelope Valley and +from the divide of the Pinenut Range in Nevada, almost +to Placerville, California. +</p> + +<p> +A short ethnography by Barrett dealing in large part +with material culture, Lowie's Ethnographic Notes, and +Stewart's Element Lists constitute almost the only general +references on Washo culture. Various other writers +have dealt with specialized questions such as linguistics +(Kroeber, Jacobson), peyotism (Siskin, d'Azevedo), +and music (Merriam). +</p> + +<p> +Most of the statements about the Washo give the impression +that they have long been on the edge of oblivion +(Mooney, Kroeber, etc.), and population estimates +have been well under one thousand for the past fifty +years. However, I find myself in agreement with d'Azevedo<note place='foot'>W. L. +d'Azevedo, basing his opinions on extensive field work in the +area, contends that early estimates of Washo population were incorrect +and that modern figures based on these estimates are inaccurate. A contemporary +estimate, made by a resident journalist in 1881, was somewhat +over 3,000.</note> +that the Washo are a vigorous and continuing cultural +entity. My own rather impressionistic estimate +of population is that there are perhaps two thousand +Indians in the area who consider themselves as Washo +and form a part of a viable cultural unit. +</p> + +<p> +My own field work was devoted to an attempt to +trace the patterns of change among these people since +the entrance of the white man into their area. To this +end I spent a great deal of time with older informants, +but my work was not exclusively <q>salvage ethnography.</q> +Many aspects of Washo culture have changed dramatically +in the past century; this is particularly true in +the area of material culture and subsistence activities. +On the other hand, I was impressed by the tenacity of +the less material aspects of the culture. The always-difficult-to-define +world view or ethos of the Washo, +which so clearly separates them from other cultures, +is very much an entity expressed in the attitudes and +actions of the Washo Indians, whether they are oldsters +who can remember many aspects of the <q>old +days</q> or children who have not yet entered the newly +integrated schools of Nevada. This continuity seems +most clearly expressed in the area which we subsume +under the title <q>Religion.</q> Almost all Washo, even the +youngsters, are familiar with, or at least aware of, +Washo mythology, attitudes about ghosts, spirits, medicine, +and a number of ritual actions and beliefs which +are common elements in Washo life today. +</p> + +<p> +This is not to imply that Washo religious activity +has not been affected by the tremendous changes which +have taken place in western Nevada and eastern California. +I suggest that rather than disappearing under +the withering rationalism of civilization the religion +of the Washo has simply altered and expanded to serve +the Washo in new situations. +</p> + +<p> +In this work I take the broadest possible definition +of religion, conceiving it as any institutionalized activity +or attitude which reflects the Washo view of the +cosmos. In so doing I have included a number of categories +which may not generally be considered suitable +for inclusion under the heading of religion. Stewart, +for instance, includes shamanism, curing, special powers +of shamans, miscellaneous shamanistic information, +guardian spirits, destiny of the soul, ghosts or +soul, and jimsonweed. My own work includes some of +these specifically, incorporates some under other headings, +and treats a number of subjects not included in +the list given above. +</p> + +<p> +The reason for this approach is practical rather +than theoretical or philosophical. As anthropological +definitions of religions are extremely varied and the +activities described as religious under various definitions +cover a greater or narrower range, it seems +valuable to include as many activities as possible in +a purely descriptive work. +</p> + +<p> +The goal of this paper is to make as much information +as possible about the religious and ritual activities +of the Washo available to scholars who may be +interested in religion. The inclusion of as many fields +of activity as possible permits them to select information +which they feel pertinent to their interests. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever possible I have tried to include direct +quotations from informants as well as information +about their behavior and attitudes, so that my own +interpretations and conclusions can be examined by +others in light of the information on which they are +based. +</p> + +<p> +Statements made by informants are indicated by +quotation marks. I did not have a recording device +available and did not attempt to record entire interviews +verbatim. However, whenever informants indicated +that they considered their statements important +I took them down word for word. If I felt some passing +remark to have significance, I asked the informant +to repeat it and often read it back to him for verification. +Other stories, particularly those of a mythological +nature, or semilegends, or experiences which +were important to individual informants, were repeated +voluntarily on almost every occasion of our meeting. +Whenever statements are presented in quotation marks +the material was gathered in this manner. +</p> + +<p> +This paper contains material from a number of +sources. Statements of fact or interpretations taken +from published anthropological or historic works are +indicated by citations in the customary manner. Information +based on conversations or other private communications +with other investigators is so designated. +All statements of fact which are not credited to these +two sources are taken from my own field notes and +represent statements of my informants. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='366'/><anchor id='Pg366'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Mythology</head> + +<p> +Washo mythology has been presented in the form +of interlinear texts by Dangberg (1927) and in Lowie's +Ethnographic Notes (1939, pp. 333-351). There are two +versions of the creation myth, one describing the creation +of Paiute, Washo, and Diggers from the seeds of +the cattail by the Creator Woman, and the second attributing +the creation of Indians to the Creation Man, +who formed the three groups from among his sons to +keep them from quarreling. Lowie also reports the +common theme of several previous inhabitations of +the earth. The most important myth, or at least the +one which is still commonly told and seems to be the +favorite among the Washo, devotes itself to the adventures +of Damalali (short-tailed weasel) and Pewetseli +(long-tailed weasel). These heroes are responsible for +many of the natural features of the region so references +to this myth are rather frequent. The Coyote, +in the form of a rather malevolent and stupid trickster, +and the Wolf, a generally patriarchal and protective +figure, appear in several myths, as do cannibalistic +giants and a giant bird, the an. +</p> + +<p> +Figures which appear only incidentally in the myths +as recounted are elaborated almost infinitely in what +might best be termed folk fantasy. +</p> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Water Babies</head> + +<p> +Most prominent of these figures are the Water +Babies (Stewart 1941, p. 444, 2574). In the mythology, +Water Baby figures as the creature responsible for +the many lakes of the eastern Sierra. Killed and +scalped by the rascally Damalali, Water Baby commands +the waters of the area to rise until the weasel +returns the scalp to avoid drowning. The waters left +in mountain valleys as the flood receded formed the +lakes. +</p> + +<p> +The Water Baby is not confined to mythology. My +informants were able to describe the appearance of a +Water Baby in detail, to supply me with population +figures, and to recount an almost endless series of +incidents in which Water Babies were involved. +</p> + +<p> +All informants agreed that the Water Baby is a +creature about one and one-half feet tall, gray in +color, with extremely long black hair which never +touches the ground but which floats along behind the +Water Babies when they walk. In general, these creatures +look like small humans. However, they are +boneless, cold to the touch, and damp. +</p> + +<p> +Between two and three thousand Water Babies live +in the Sierra, according to one informant. They inhabit +lakes, streams, marshes, ponds, springs, and irrigation +ditches. They speak a language of their own but +are always able to speak Washo. With a single exception, +every Washo of middle age and over to whom I +talked claimed to have at least heard Water Babies +calling from some body of water in the night. Several +others claimed to have seen Water Baby footprints +(one even reporting that the footprints he had seen +were those of a female because the tracks were clearly +those of high heeled shoes!). One informant steadfastly +claimed to have seen a Water Baby, at least +fleetingly, in 1956. +</p> + +<p> +Two distinct attitudes about these creatures are displayed +by the Washo. Most informants openly admitted +being afraid of Water Babies. If they heard one they +remained in their houses or attempted to avoid contact. +They claimed that if a person saw a Water Baby by +accident, at the very least he would be struck unconscious +and greater harm, in the form of sickness, +might be inflicted on him or on one of his relatives. +The general attitude was that Water Babies were best +left alone because they were extremely powerful. +</p> + +<p> +This attitude is perhaps summed up best by one of +my informants, a rather sophisticated Washo who has +lived in cities for long periods and who is an active +leader in the tribe's legal battle with the federal government. +He is also a devoted peyotist who often conducts +curing ceremonies and is conceded to have a +curing power. He said, <q>If they ever get up a bunch +to trap one of them [Water Babies], I don't want to +have nothing to do with it.</q> When I asked why not, he +replied: <q>Why hell, if you make one of them things +mad they'll flood the world. I just don't want nothing +to do with them. I ain't that desperate.</q> I asked, <q>desperate +for what?</q> and he replied <q>for power. I like +to dream about womens [sic] and things like that, not +about Water Babies and that funny stuff.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This last statement clearly indicates the other attitude +about Water Babies; they are often guardian spirits +of Washo who have special power, particularly shamanistic +curing power. Another informant expressed +this other attitude about these creatures. He is about +seventy, attended Stewart Indian School for ten years +and lived among the Hopi for ten years. He boasts a +stone and cement-block home, the only such dwelling +owned by a Washo. He has learned to bead baskets +and during most of the year earns a reasonable income +from this. His seeming adjustment to white culture +is confounded when his philosophic position is examined. +He can only be termed a mystic who interprets +the world in Indian terms. Exposure to such influences +as the writings of Kroeber and Huxley has +only confirmed his essentially Indian viewpoint. Both +his parents were famous Indian doctors and his maternal +uncle, who was also his mentor,<note place='foot'>This statement +should not be considered as an indication of matrilineality +in Washo society. Freed and d'Azevedo, who have done extensive +work in kinship and social organization of this group, seemed to agree +that the Washo were loosely bilateral with certain formalized patrilineal +elements. However, because of fragile marriages, many Washo have had +a longer and closer association with their mothers' families than with +their fathers', or with those of any of their mothers' subsequent husbands.</note> +was a famous +shaman. My informant implied that his uncle's spirit +(wegeleyo), from which his power was derived, was +the Water Baby, and his own carefully guarded statement +implied that the creature was potentially his own +spirit. His view of the Water Baby was quite the reverse +of other informants. <q>Some people think the +Water Baby will hurt them, but he won't. If they see +him by accident he won't do nothing. But if he has +given you his power and you see him—then wham, he +maybe knock you right down.</q> This appears to have +been his way of describing a seizure by the Water +Baby, which although a fearful experience, usually resulted +in the gift of additional power. There was, however, +<pb n='367'/><anchor id='Pg367'/> +general agreement among informants that the +Water Baby could, if he gave his power to a person, +demand repayment with the lives of his protégé's +close relatives or entire family.<note place='foot'>Kluckhohn +reports that the payment for joining a coven of Navajo +witches is often the life of a relative (1947, p. 131).</note> +</p> + +<p> +The various powers and activities of the Water +Babies are perhaps best described in the following +stories recounted by informants: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<p> +1. <q>One time my Dad was sick. He called in +two, three doctors and they said he had to give a +basket to the Water Babies at Lake <hi rend='italic'>Išmedel</hi>. There +is an island in this lake and my Dad was supposed +to go out to that island and leave a basket. I was +too young then but he took my brother. They went +up there and my Dad just started walking out to +the lake and the water never got any deeper than +there (pointing to his knees). He walked right on +that water. He left that basket and came back and +he got well. Them Water Babies helped him walk +on the water. My brother saw it happen.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2. <q>There is this deep pool up in the mountains. +There is a kind of black sucker live there but no +Indians ever caught them because that was a Water +Baby place and they was Water Baby food. Womens +used to sit on a platform of logs and weave baskets +there [special baskets for the Water Babies, +apparently, such as the one used as offering in the +story above]. One time I took another fella like +you [anthropologist] up there but when we got there +we couldn't find nothing but sand with a little water +bubbling up in the middle. He wouldn't believe me. +I showed him where them womens had sat but I +think he thought I was lying. I guess them Water +Babies did something.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3. <q>There is this women called Frances. She +was up at Blue Lake with her husband following +him along the edge of the lake. It was kind of dark. +She saw them little footprints right on top of her +husband's in the sand.</q> +</p> + +<p> +4. <q>I'll tell you what happened to me right in +this house about two years ago. I was in bed in +that room there and I felt these little hands creeping +under the covers. I brushed 'em away but they +just come back. They tried to feel me down here +[indicating his genitalia]. I yelled for my mother +and she come in and said something and something +went zip (waving arm violently to indicate direction) +right out of that window. We looked out that way +[to the south], that's toward Walker Lake. Everything +was kind of hazy blue.</q> +</p> +</quote> + +<p> +In light of Washo views about receiving shamanistic +power, it would appear that my informant was suggesting +that this visitation was a Water Baby making its +patronage known. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<p> +5. <q>My old uncle had been doctoring up by Genoa. +He had a tough one and fallen in the fire and burned +all his pants off and was walking wearing his coat +like a skirt. He got by Wally's Hot Springs when he +felt like he wanted a bath. Them Water Babies must +have been working on him. He went over by the +creek and started to lean over and then he passed +out and fell into the water and there was a Water +Baby. That Water Baby said, <q>come on,</q> and he took +him down to Water Baby country. The chief of the +Water Babies lived in a big house made out of that +black shining rock [obsidian]. But they didn't go +there. The Water Baby said <q>we got some girls that +want to give you something,</q> and he took my uncle +to a place and there was five girls there. They all +sat around my uncle and sang him a song and told +him that it was his song from now on. Then the +Water Baby took my uncle back and then he said +it was like waking up from a dream and there he +was laying in the creek down under a bunch of cattails.</q><note place='foot'>This +story very closely parallels one recorded by James Hatch among +the Yokuts. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, No. 19, Fall, 1958.</note> +</p> + +<p> +6. <q>There was this white man up here fishing. +He caught a Water Baby but he didn't know what +it was. He thought it was some kind of fish and +took it to San Francisco and they put it that place +where they have a lotta fish [aquarium]. Captain Jim +went all the way down there to tell the mayor that +they had better let that Water Baby loose, but nobody +would pay no attention to him. Well you know +they had a big earthquake down there and the water +came up around everything. When it was all over +that tank where they had the Water Baby was empty.</q> +</p> +</quote> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Giants</head> + +<p> +Washo mythology features several creatures which +may each have contributed to the wild men I will describe +in this section. Both Lowie and Dangberg report +myths in which a giant, Hangawuiwui, is the principal +figure. Although the myths do not describe him, +my informants generally picture him as a colossus +who hops on a single leg from the top of one mountain +to another. He has a single eye to match his +single limb and a proclivity for gobbling up Indians. +Several miles southwest of Gardnerville, in the hills +overlooking Double Spring Flats, a cave is known by +the Washo as Hangawuiwui aɲ¿l (the place where +Hangawuiwui lives). Present-day Indians tell a number +of stories about this giant and display a certain +uneasiness when they are near places he is supposed +to haunt. +</p> + +<p> +Another kind of giant appears in a myth reported +by Lowie. These beings appear to be considerably +more human than Hangawuiwui. Traditionally they +camped south of Pyramid Lake and terrorized the +Paiutes. However, when one of their number attempted +to take fish from a Washo the tribe rallied and routed +the giants in a battle near Walker Lake. The giants +did not have bows and arrows. They fortified themselves +behind rock walls and threw stones. +</p> + +<p> +According to my informant on the subject, the mountains +are still the home of a tribe of <q>wild men.</q> These +people have managed to hide the location of their camps +so that no one knows where they live. My informant +felt that they were in fact some kind of Indian. Despite +the mythological ability of the Washo to defeat +the giants, modern stories about them suggest they +have a great deal of supernatural power in addition +to their physical prowess. +</p> + +<p> +The following stories were told to me as contemporary +or relatively recent occurrences: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<p> +1. <q>There is these wild fellas up in the mountains. +I guess you call them giants. One time there +was an old man who had set up a blind to hunt chipmunks, +<pb n='368'/><anchor id='Pg368'/> +like I told you yesterday. He was up in the +pine-nut hills and he had killed four chipmunks. +One of these fellas come along and he snatched up +a chipmunk and he ate it. Then he snatched another +and ate it. He tried to grab another but the old +man wrestled with him and stopped him from getting +the chipmunk and then he got away. He tussled +with that wild man and got away. But a long time +after when he was real old and went around with a +long stick [staff], he went out walking and he didn't +come back. They went out looking for him and found +his tracks leading up the foot of Job's Peak and +they ended there. His stick was stuck in the ground +and at the end of his tracks it looked like something +had snatched him up.</q> +</p> +</quote> + +<p> +When I asked if the wild men had gotten him my +informant said he thought so. The theme of a wild +man's attempting to take part of a catch from a Washo +recalls the myth as reported by Lowie, although in the +version he recorded the incident occurred between +Wadsworth and Sparks and the final battle took place +at Walker Lake, whereas my informant changed the +locale to the Carson Valley area. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +2. <q>My old grandfather had this happen to him. +He was hunting up by the Lake [Tahoe], In them +days hunters just carried little thin rabbit skin +blankets. They covered up their front and put their +back to the fire. My old grandfather was just laying +there when he noticed the fire going down (maybe +that wild man did something to the fire). Pretty +soon he saw a big shadow. He was pretty scared +and just laid there. Pretty soon he felt a hand feeling +his feet and in between his toes and up his leg +and all around his hole [anus]. Pretty soon it reached +his face and tried to put his finger in my grandfather's +mouth. My grandfather bit that finger real +hard and the wild man yelled and ran away.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +I asked if the wild men still existed and my informant +replied: <q>Sure. They are up there in the mountains. +They are pretty smart and you can't see them. But us +Washo can hear them talking. We can understand their +language. I have thought a lot about it and they should +have called some Washo over to Oroville when they +caught that fella over there. I read about it in the +newspaper when I was younger. I know they had a lot +of them California Indians come up there but they +couldn't understand him. I'll bet a Washo could have +understood him.</q> I asked if he thought it had been a +wild man and he nodded in affirmation. +</p> + +<p> +The <q>wild man</q> of course was the now-famous Ishi, +the last of the Southern Yana who wandered half starved +into a slaughterhouse in Oroville in 1911. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Coyote And Other Figures</head> + +<p> +Washo myths contain a number of tales about a +bumbling, not very bright, generally malevolent Coyote, +who as a companion of Wolf seems to devote a great deal +of time to eating Indians and to sexual misadventures. +</p> + +<p> +Modern Washo seem less willing than their forebears +to weave Coyote into tales but are no less conscious +of his malevolent presence. Peyotists often see +visions or dream of Coyote (d'Azevedo and Merriam +1957), and quick asides about Coyote's influence are +apt to come up in conversation either as tentative +jokes or in seriousness. One tale of a modern occurrence +involving Coyote did come my way through the +kindness of Warren d'Azevedo. His informant was the +brother-in-law of my own informant and, like his kinsman, +a semimystic, very conscious of his Indianness +and credited by other Washo with powers beyond those +of an ordinary man in hunting. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>I was staying in this shack with the guy who +owned it. One night he didn't come home but I +kept hearing something walking around that shack. +The next morning when that guy came home he +was all tired out and there was Coyote tracks all +around that shack. I got my gun and told that guy +to stay away from me</q> (d'Azevedo). +</quote> + +<p> +The Aɲ, a huge man-eating bird described in Lowie's +myth number 13, is no longer alive, but according +to several informants the creature's bones or at +least the island on which it nested can be seen by +people flying over the lake because they are only a +bit below the surface. Washo insist that white airplane +pilots see the shape of the island daily but keep silent +because they don't want to confirm an Indian story. +One day on a trip around Lake Tahoe my Indian +companion, a sometime leader among the Washo +asked: <q>If we get that money from our claim do +you think one of them archeologist fellas could +go down under the water and find that there aɲ +bird's skeleton?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The foregoing paragraphs illustrate the tenacity +with which Washo mythology has maintained itself +among these people. The entirety of many of the +myths is no longer part of the repertoire of every +adult Washo, but variations, on-the-spot reconstructions, +and the introduction of mythological themes into +contemporary stories of a secular nature are definitely +part of the oral literature of the Washo. +</p> + +<p> +It is interesting to note that some aspects of Washo +mythology appear to have more viability than others. +Thus the Water Baby remains an important and vital +aspect of modern Washo life, as does the Coyote. The +twin weasels have lost much of their appeal, as has +the giant Hangawuiwui. The giants of the mountains +are acknowledged to be alive today but are seldom referred +to, whereas Coyote and Water Baby are almost +always mentioned and spoken of as living entities even +by the most progressive Washo. +</p> + +<p> +Except for the making of offerings to nature, which +may be defined as purely religious, other religious or +ritual activities dealing with what we would call the +supernatural are so integrated with other aspects of +Washo life as to be almost inseparable. Thus in describing +the religious activities of the Washo I will +proceed through various phases of their life, pointing +out the ritual actions which are part of Washo behavior +in specific situations. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='369'/><anchor id='Pg369'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Curing And Shamanism (2469-2541)</head> + +<p> +The Washo word da¿man¿li¿ has a wide range of +meanings which include almost all people with supernatural +powers, including curers of several orders. +The terms which they use when discussing the subject +in English are somewhat more precise and will +be used in this paper. +</p> + +<p> +The Washo make a distinction between curers +(2594-96) and Indian doctors. The latter, as will be +shown, are true shamans whereas the former are +somewhat less powerful. Curers appear to be women +who have certain powers revealed to them in dreams. +Such persons are usually members of what the Washo +describe as a <q>doctor family.</q> An informant described +the activities of such a curer: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<p> +<q rend='pre'>My mother was a curer. She just smoke and +talk. You would meet her on the way to town mebbe +and say <q>I don't feel good</q> and she'd just sit down +and smoke and talk [pray?] a little and then mebbe +tell you what was wrong and what you should do.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Along about the first war I got sick and couldn't +make no water at all. My mother smoked and then +spread ashes all over my belly and talked some and +after that I passed a lot of blood and got better.</q><note place='foot'>Regular +Indian doctors were forbidden to treat members of their own +families, a prohibition which appears not to have extended to a non-shamanistic +curer.</note> +</p> +</quote> + +<p> +Far more important than the curers, however, were +the Indian doctors. Such men were never exclusive +specialists and were apparently expected to share in +the work of hunting and fishing with less gifted men. +With the introduction of money by the whites, shamans +appear to have approached something like specialization, +charging fees of up to twenty dollars a session +for their services. +</p> + +<p> +Until the middle 1930's there were a number of +shamans among the Washo (Stewart 1944). However, +with the introduction of the peyote cult, which among +the Washo is concerned with curing, the shaman was +superseded. Today only a single Washo practices shamanistic +curing. Interestingly enough this man, now +seventy-five, was an informant of Lowie's in the 1920's, +and at that time Lowie described him as a sophisticated +young Washo, somewhat mystic and with shamanistic +ambitions (Lowie 1939). +</p> + +<p> +This man, Henry Rupert, spent ten years in the +Indian school at the Stewart Agency and after graduation +worked for a number of years in a printing plant +in Reno. When questioned about the old days he was +a fair informant, seldom offering more information +than was asked for and clearly enjoying the business +of making a white man work for every scrap of information. +He was also given to dropping subtle hints and +waiting with stolid indifference to see if I had been +alert. He did not deny his shamanistic practices but +was less than willing to discuss them in detail. +</p> + +<p> +His equipment, he admitted (but refused to show me), +consisted of a butterfly-cocoon rattle, an eagle-bone +whistle, and a feather headband. <q>I don't really do +nothing but help nature,</q> he said. When I replied that +only some people know how to help nature he was +gratified and smiled. <q>Oh well, it's all psychological +anyway,</q> he answered, confirming Lowie's description +of him as a sophisticate. +</p> + +<p> +He is noted for his rather atypical practice of tending +a garden, which consists mostly of fruit trees, and +for his open liking for old-fashioned foods, which he +collects, including fly grubs and locusts. I was not able +to observe his curing procedures, but they were described +to me by another informant, a seventy-five-year-old +woman, considered one of the most progressive +of the residents of Dresslerville. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>I took my granddaughter to Rupert after the white +doctors didn't do nothing for her. He don't doctor +in the real old Indian way [a phrase I later learned +meant that he did not hold a series of four one-night +sessions but only a short ceremony]. He don't give +you nothing, just sings and prays and talks over you +for a while. He has a rattle and a whistle and a +band on his head. After we went to him my granddaughter +got well.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +Another informant, the man who was cured by his +mother—curiously another graduate of the Stewart +School and outwardly a progressive Indian—was a veritable +fountain of shamanistic knowledge. His father and +maternal uncle were both well-known shamans. Although +he insisted that he had no particular power himself, +other Indians generally claimed that he had certain +hunting medicines which assisted him in taking game. +There is little doubt that he believed he had been approached +by spirits offering him shamanistic power. +His life story was a long recital of ailments and mystic +occurrences. The ailments, coupled with his attitude +about spiritual power, suggested strongly that his suffering +had been due to a rejection of the power offered +(Whiting 1950). He supplied the following account about +the process of becoming a shaman. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Young fellows sometimes have dreams but usually +they don't pay no attention to them. But when +you get older and keep having dreams you begin to +pay attention. Maybe you see a bear or a rattlesnake +or Water Baby or anything. It tell you that +you are going to be a doctor. The next morning you +go out and bathe and pray. This thing keeps coming +[in your dreams]. It may take any form, a skeleton +or an animal but you know it's always the same +thing as the first time, just taking different shapes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>These dreams keep coming for four, sometimes +eight, years to get you to be a good doctor. But +during all this time you don't get no song. But they +do give you your water. It tells you some certain +place up in the mountains where there is a spring. +You mebbe think there isn't no spring there, but +there is. Then it tells you where to gather tobacco. +Later it will tell you to make a rattle out of cocoon. +Mebbe at first you only make a rattle with one cocoon. +Later it says for you to add more. Finally it +will give you a song. You dream this song. But you +don't really remember it. You just begin singing it +like you had known it all the time. For a while you +may get a new song every year. Sometime you have +<pb n='370'/><anchor id='Pg370'/> +a dream that tells you how to handle your paraphernalia. +Sometime a dream tells you that you have to +be all alone in your house. I don't know what happens +in there but some of them doctors, I think, go +over to visit the dead for a little while.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>After you been dreaming for a long time maybe +you try to cure somebody but you don't ask for nothing. +You never tell them dreams or what your +spirit is but other doctors, they know. If your dreams +are right you can cure people and then you can ask +for something [payment]. The real Indian way was +to doctor for four nights. Then he'd lay out all his +stuff and give it a drink by sprinkling water on it. +Then he'd shake his rattle and sing and touch the +patient with his hands. He'd talk to the sickness, +like he knew it ... like maybe he was friends to +it ... he'd say <q>now you behave and don't bother +this person no more. If you don't behave I'm gonna +take you out and show you to everybody and then +you'll be embarrassed!</q> Then he'd suck at the patient +(some of these young doctors suck on a stick +with a feather on it that they pointed at the sick +person, but the old ones didn't do that), and get out +the sickness, it would be a feather or a stone. Sometime +that sickness come out and go into the doctor +so hard they can't get it out and have to get another +doctor to help him. Sometimes it hit them so hard +that they defecate. I seen them doctors just fill +their pants. If it's real tough they get all stiff and +fall over. Sometimes fall right in the fire and their +clothes all burn off but it don't burn them none. You +can't touch them then or it will kill them. But when +they begin to shake a little and that rattle begins to +go then you can pick them up. If he can, the doctor +will vomit out the sickness. When it's out he puts +it in his hand and rubs it with dirt and throws it +away toward the north; that kills it.</q> +</p> +</quote> + +<p> +This recital of the process of becoming a doctor +shows clearly the ideal situation, the receiving of +powers, unsought, from supernatural sources, the +guardian spirit watching over its protégé's career, +providing him with the wherewithal in the form of +songs, spells, and paraphernalia. In fact, however, it +would appear that the process of becoming a shaman +was far more a conscious and voluntary act on the +part of an individual than would be supposed from the +foregoing story. +</p> + +<p> +Doctoring power clearly seems to have remained +within certain families. The informant who gave the +foregoing account was himself the son of a woman +curer and a famous doctor and the nephew of another +doctor. From his childhood he was familiar with the +procedures of curing, with stories about dreams, spirit +visitations, trips to the afterworld, mysterious and sacred +locations. He somewhat proudly admitted that as +a boy he <q>used to shake that rattle</q> himself. In short, +until his shamanistic education was interrupted by white +man's schooling, he was a shaman's apprentice. +</p> + +<p> +This view is supported by the statements of other +informants: <q>Of course them people that is from a doctor +family, they have dreams and get curing power,</q> +said one rather assimilated woman of about seventy-five. +Another informant, a man of sixty, who repeatedly +indicated his fear of <q>power</q> but at the same time +was reputed to be an important curer in the peyote +church said: <q>If you come from a family of dreamers +there ain't nothing you can do. You're trapped by it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Young shamans appear to have undergone a period +of informal apprenticeship under an older doctor. Although +there appears to have been no special requirement +that a shaman have an assistant, it was not uncommon +for a younger man to help out. According to +one informant, when Blind Mike, one of the well-known +doctors in historic times, was becoming a doctor, his +teacher required him to smoke four hand-rolled cigarettes +in a row without allowing the smoke to escape +from his lungs. This was not considered an exercise +in legerdemain but a way to develop the younger man's +control over his power. +</p> + +<p> +Each doctor received instruction from his spirit +familiar as to what paraphernalia he should gather but +there was a great deal of uniformity in the outfits of +Washo doctors. The following description is of the kit +of my informant's uncle, who practiced until the first +decade of this century, and it includes some items +clearly postwhite in origin. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>I don't know what all doctors had but I'll tell +you what my old uncle had 'cause I seen it lots of +times. [At this point another Indian entered the +house, obviously curious, and my informant stopped +talking until the visitor left.] He had eagle feathers +and magpie feathers. He had a rattle with six or +eight cocoons on a stick wrapped in weasel skin and +humming bird feathers. He had a tobacco pouch of +tree-squirrel hide. He also had a stone. It looked +like a big tooth with a cavity in it. He told me how +he got that stone. He was walking to town [Genoa, +Nevada] one day and he heard something whistle. +He kept on walking but it whistled again. So he went +looking for what was making that noise and he found +that stone setting by a fence post. I heard that stone +whistle sometimes when he was doctoring. He also +had a tie made out of beadwork. Lots of times a +doctor would pay some woman to make him a real +fine basket or some bead work because that's what +his power told him to do.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +Washo doctors often worked together on <q>tough</q> cases. +One such was the treatment of what seems to have been +an infected elbow by my informant's uncle and Blind +Mike. The first step in the process was to blow smoke +in a circle around the painful area so that the sickness +couldn't move. This was followed by singing, rattling, +and sucking until something bright began to come out. +It was, according to witnesses, as bright as a star, so +bright in fact that even Blind Mike could see it. The +bright object proved to be (if we can trust descriptions) +the stone and setting of a cheap ring which was removed +from the sore arm. It is interesting to note that while +this process was successful my informant seemed to +consider the cure less than one-hundred-per-cent effective +because the woman who was being treated died two +years later. +</p> + +<p> +Doctors were privy to a number of secrets which +were not common knowledge among most Washo. Such +a secret was the cave reputed to be inside Cave Rock +at Lake Tahoe. This cave was a retreat for shamans +who went there to commune with their spirits or to +secrete a particularly important piece of paraphernalia. +The cave could be entered through a narrow opening +on the landward side, but most shamans preferred a +more dramatic entrance. By standing on a certain rock +and singing a special song they were lowered through +the water and then lifted into the cave. The last doctor +to attempt this was Blind Mike. He was directed +to go to the cave in a dream. However, he permitted +<pb n='371'/><anchor id='Pg371'/> +his wife to accompany him and when she saw him begin +to sink into the water she screamed with fear. +The rock stopped sinking with Mike only knee deep in +the water. Since that time no one has attempted to +enter the room. This promontory is the center of +Water Baby habitation and is reported to be the upper +end of a tunnel which extends under the mountains to +Genoa so that Water Babies can move freely from the +lake to the valley. The rock also marks the eastern +end of a road of white sand reported to cross the +lake bottom. On the northwest end of the road was located +a bed of plants, probably wild parsnips, which +doctors gathered for medicine. The wild parsnip was +poisonous but doctors ate it to demonstrate their power. +They also chewed it into a paste and spread it on +rattlesnake bites. +</p> + +<p> +Another spot familiar to doctors was a mysterious +hole in the mountains near Blue Lake. The hole could +be located by following a spiraling path of white quartz +toward the center. According to the Washo tale, if a +man dropped even as much as a hair into this hole it +made a great roaring sound. Suzie Dick, a Washo woman, +whose claim of being one hundred years' old is +borne out by white residents, insists that as a fifteen-year-old +girl she went to see this hole and was terrorized +by a huge hand which reached up out of the darkness +and tried to seize her. +</p> + +<p> +Vaguely known to most Washo but familiar to doctors +was a cave situated south and west of Gardnerville +where ready-made grinding stones were to be +found. These, depending on the informant, were made +by old Indians or were put there by <q>nature</q> for the +use of the Washo. +</p> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Noncurative Use Of Power (2567-2593)</head> + +<p> +Indian doctors often used their power in spectacular +displays, apparently to impress patients. Often +these displays were competitive. +</p> + +<p> +In the words of one informant: <q>Them old doctors +used to see who had the most power. They'd stick four +or five sticks in the ground, each one farther away +than the last one, and see how many they could knock +down.</q> Then, disconcertingly, he added: <q>You can read +about that in Kroeber. He tells about some other Indians +who did that but I guess he didn't know the +Washo did it too.</q> This informant considered Professor +Kroeber as an authority second only to himself +in matters pertaining to Indians. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Divining And Rainmaking (2553-2556, 2566)</head> + +<p> +There were no doctors with rainmaking power among +the Washo. However, anyone, particularly a man deemed +to be a leader, might encourage rain during the summer. +The rite, which is still observed occasionally by +individuals, consists of soaking a pine-nut cone in water +and placing it on the ground in the pine-nut hills. Modern +Washo look upon this more as a prayer, but in the +past it may have been considered as a spell. +</p> + +<p> +The ancient matriarch Suzie Dick steadfastly insists +that less rain falls in the Carson Valley than in neighboring +valleys because <q>nobody is talking to God anymore +around here.</q> While she talked she pointed to the +clouds hanging over Washo and Antelope valleys and to +the cloudless sky overhead. +</p> + +<p> +Older white residents speak of Indian rainmakers, +which is a source of much amusement among the Washo. +Until a few years ago an Indian, who still lives in +Dresslerville, used to take advantage of the gullibility +or generosity of white ranchers by performing <q>rain +dances</q> on their property in return for handouts of +food. The Washo generally frowned on this, but because +white men were the victims of the fraud it was considered +harmless. +</p> + +<p> +The father of the false rainmaker was a diviner of +stolen articles. His method was to sit and smoke until +the location of the desired article was revealed to him. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Objects Of Power</head> + +<p> +Eagle and magpie feathers were considered to be +the most powerful items of a shaman's paraphernalia. +Doctors are reported to have captured eagles and even +to have tried to raise them to obtain feathers (223-231) +The tail feathers were the most prized. Eagle feathers +were extremely valuable and could be traded for anything +including <q>a woman or a sack of pine-nut flour +or anything worth a lot.</q> Ideally the eagle was tied up +until the shaman removed three tail feathers. The doctor +then tied a string of beads to the bird's leg and +released it as a messenger to the spirits. Description +of eagle-down costumes suggest that birds were stripped +of many more feathers than the ideal three. In historic +times individuals have attempted to contain eagles. One +old man in Woodfords is well known for having kept +them on cradle-boards for easy transport, but such +experiments usually ended in failure. Magpie feathers +were considered less powerful than eagle feathers but +still were highly prized. Today they are gathered by +chance—taken from dead birds on the highway or picked +up where they were shed. +</p> + +<p> +In the past, eagle and magpie feathers were important +parts of the dress of warriors. Magpie feathers +were used to make a feather cap with a single feather +suspended from the top. Informants recall their elders' +describing eagle feathers' being suspended individually +from the upper arms and thighs of particularly powerful +warriors. +</p> + +<p> +Modern peyotists have lost none of the traditional +Washo feeling about these feathers. The ceremonial +fans of road chiefs, believed the only persons capable +of handling the immense power, are made of eagle +feathers. Other peyotists favor the less powerful but +nonetheless potent magpie feather (d'Azevedo and Merriam +1957). +</p> + +<p> +Tobacco, as the foregoing accounts illustrate, played +an important part in Washo shamanism. It appears to +have been used as an offering to the spirits. In addition +it is clear that it was felt to have special power +of its own. Today older men smoke sparingly and are +often somewhat embarrassed to be offered a cigarette +casually during conversation. In prewhite times the +tobacco was a native variety gathered and dried by the +shaman. Today Bull Durham appears to have replaced +the wild variety as <q>Indian</q> tobacco. The Indians seemed +delighted to see me rolling a cigarette; they acted as +if I were mastering what they felt was a particularly +Indian art. Bull Durham is also important in peyote +ceremonialism because it is <q>real Indian tobacco.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Incense cedar plays an important role in modern +peyote meetings. It is dried and thrown into the fire +to create a fragment smoke which is considered beneficial. +<pb n='372'/><anchor id='Pg372'/> +Meeting officials fan it into the atmosphere and +<q>rub</q> themselves in the smoke to obtain power or +purification. This has a connection with traditional +Washo ritual, but the relationship is unclear and the +aboriginal practices obscure. One group of Washo, +which was assigned a special place in the large camp +circle formed during the pine-nut dances held at +Double Springs Flats in the late nineteenth century, +is said to have special rights in connection with cutting +cedar. Modern informants do not have a clear +picture of what the rights were or what the customs +surrounding cedar were. One informant did say that +if the cedar <q>bunch</q> found anyone else with cedar they +would say <q>you aren't supposed to have that</q> and would +make fun of them. She could offer no further details +or explanations. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Sorcery And Witchcraft (2562-2564)</head> + +<p> +There is no real distinction in the Washo mind between +a doctor and a sorcerer or witch. Particularly +powerful doctors were able to kill their enemies. One +of the most feared bits of paraphernalia was an obsidian +point found by a doctor. These large points were +not made by Washo and are apparently remnants of +some previous cultural occupation in the area. If a +Washo finds one point up he carefully knocks it over +with a long stick before touching it. These points are +called mankillers, but I was unable to learn exactly +how they were used. They are still viewed with a certain +amount of awe, and the finding of a large point +in a sandpit in Smith Valley was known in Woodfords, +fifty miles away. +</p> + +<p> +Sorcery was used to explain the abandonment of an +ancient campsite at Dangberg's Hot Springs. This site +is a trove of grinding stones, points, and other Washo +artifacts. Formerly there were numerous skeletons in +the area, according to both Indian and white informants. +However, the site has not been occupied in historic +times because of the following incident. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>One winter there was a lot of Washos camped +around the hot springs. My old aunt was camped +there. There was this northern Washo [from Sierra +Valley] came into the camp. Nobody know'd him +and nobody would feed him. But my old aunt fed +him. But he was mad at them people so he went +to Markleville and made a lot of medicine. [Why +he went to Markleville is unclear. This is the site +of another hot springs, a fact which may figure in +the magic used.] After he made medicine for a +while he kind of spit on his fingers and pointed at +Dangberg Hot Springs. Right where he pointed all +the grass got brown; you can still see that line of +brown if you know where to look, and a lot of Indians +died. Nobody ever went back there. My old +aunt she didn't die.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +Only one Washo disputed this story. She, a very +progressive old woman and sometime Christian, attributed +the deaths to an epidemic and <q>didn't think</q> the +doctor was responsible. +</p> + +<p> +Witchcraft and sorcery among the present-day +Washo is a difficult subject to investigate. Even among +themselves it is treated with extreme indirection and +veiled hints. In discussing the problem with d'Azevedo +I found that we were in agreement that a number of +killings reported among these people could probably be +attributed to revenge for, or prevention of, antisocial +use of power. +</p> + +<p> +One woman, now dead, was described as probably +a witch. The wife of the diviner mentioned earlier was +considered a powerful and dangerous woman. She was +useful to the community because she knew prayers and +songs for the pine-nut celebration, but dangerous, particularly +if she met you at night. One informant describes the +attitude of the rest of the community toward her. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>She used to come around at night and knock on +your door and say she was lost. She came here one +night and pounded on the door with her cane but we +wouldn't let her in. After she went away my husband +rolled up a newspaper and set it on fire and ran it +along the inside of the door where she had knocked. +I don't know why he did that except we was afraid +of her.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +Stewart also reports this attitude toward the same +woman (1941, p. 444; 2562). +</p> + +<p> +The woman who told me this story is herself under +the shadow of indictment for witchcraft. Curiously +enough the same phrase, <q>I am afraid of her,</q> serves +as an accusation. She and her sister-in-law quarreled +over the disposal of her husband's body two years ago. +Since that time they have not spoken, and the sister-in-law +has been proclaiming her fear. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>War Power</head> + +<p> +The Washo have not engaged in real hostilities with +the Miwok or Maidu for well over a century and Paiute +hostilities appear to have taken the form of occasional +defensive skirmishes; thus the details of war magic +are vague. However, Washo tradition repeatedly mentions +a month-long period during which doctors gathered +and made medicine against the enemy before +launching a campaign. Usually this took place at Woodfords, +which was the site of a large earth lodge dance +house copied after Miwok structures and described as +<q>where the young mens learned them Miwok dances.</q> +(A second dance house is known to have existed in +Sierra Valley; attributed to the Maidu, it fell into disuse +after the death of its owner.) +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Summary Of Shamanism</head> + +<p> +Although there appears to be only a single practicing +shaman among the Washo today (and he certainly +not a practitioner of the old school), it would be a +mistake, in my opinion, to claim that Washo shamanism +is a thing of the past. Few, if any, Washo over +forty have not attended a shamanistic curing ceremony +and many have been patients. Even those Indians who +have rejected shamanism as old fashioned—or in deference +to white attitudes—give one the impression of +<q>protesting too much</q> in their denial of old beliefs. +The woman who took her granddaughter to Rupert, the +curer, is among the most progressive of the Washo. +She is a nominal Christian, active in an informal way +as a representative of her people before white authority, +and is most apt to deny supernatural explanations +of historic incidents. Nonetheless she has faith in the +power of this modern shaman and in the cures reported +for the old-time shamans. +</p> + +<p> +One factor in the decline of the shaman as a principal +in curative activities was the rise of the peyote +cult in the mid-1930's (Stewart 1944). The cult was +introduced by a Paiute who gathered a number of +Washo followers. His cult or <q>way</q> has since been +superseded by a strictly Washo group, following the +Teepee Way (d'Azevedo 1957). The Teepee Way is an +illustration of the effect an ethnographer can have on +the lives of his subjects. A casual remark by an ethnographer +that the peyote ceremonies carried out by +the Paiute leader were not like those he had seen +elsewhere motivated a Washo to drive to Idaho to find +out for himself. This trip resulted in the formation of +the new cult and the near dissolution of the group +headed by the Paiute. Washo peyotism has incorporated +much of the curing emphasis of Washo shamanism and +much of the symbolism as well. The peyote button is +reminiscent of the poison parsnip taken by old-time +doctors (d'Azevedo 1957). The powerful eagle feather +is reserved for the use of road chiefs just as it was +the special symbol of the shaman or powerful warrior. +The fans carried by most peyotists are often composed +of magpie feathers. Curative peyote meetings are often +conducted by a special chief, reputed to have very potent +curing powers, who does not conduct the regular +peyote meeting. Even in regular meetings one of the +main emphases is on curing ailments of both the body +and spirit. +</p> + +<p> +Led by an assimilated Washo, known by other Indians +as a <q>white man's Indian,</q> the shamans brought +suit against the peyotists urging they be arrested and +their meetings banned. They charged, among other +things, that peyote meetings were occasions of sexual +license. Such open accusations and the bringing of +white men into a strictly Indian matter created a great +deal of antagonism toward the shamans among the +Washo, whether or not they were committed to peyote. +</p> + +<p> +Peyote curing differs only in detail from shamanistic +curing as these two stories may illustrate. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Had these gallstones and them white doctors +operated and they got a lotta little stones but pretty +soon it was back. So I decided to pray. You know +whenever an Indian wants to pray the first thing he +turns to is water and tobacco. So every night when +I went to the john [toilet] I'd roll a cigarette and +pray to that Peyote. I'd say, <q>I don't want to be +sick so you got to help them white doctors. You +got to get all those little stones together in one +place.</q> That Peyote is a good medicine. I used to +go to meetings and it helped me before. So every +night I prayed to the Peyote to get them stones in +one place. Then I went to the hospital and they operated +and got out the biggest gallstone they ever +saw. It would hardly go in a fruit jar. I told that +Peyote that the job was too big for it all alone that +it should just help them white doctors and get all +them stones in one place.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +Another informant, mentioned earlier as a peyote +chief with special curing power, recounts the events +leading up to the death of his former wife of cancer +of the kidneys. +</p> + +<pb n='373'/><anchor id='Pg373'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Yeah I had a couple of meetings for Onie. I +helped her too. Except she would not do the things +I told her to do. I made that cancer move around +from her back where it hurt a lot. I got it around +in front where it didn't hurt her so much. But she +wouldn't keep doing the things I told her to do.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +These two incidents reveal traditional attitudes transferred +into a new framework of curing. In the first +place, illness is a corporeal object which can be manipulated—moved +and (if one's power is sufficient) removed. +Secondly, peyote is viewed as a manifestation +of a spiritual power. The informant with gallstones did +not attend meetings to have his ailment cured; rather, +he used water and tobacco, traditional adjuncts to shamanistic +curing. Moreover he did not take peyote for +his illness; he simply prayed to Peyote in a manner +very similar to praying to a spirit guardian for assistance. +</p> + +<p> +Other shadows of the shamanistic past seem to lie +heavily on the minds of modern Washo peyotists. In +his discussion of peyotism, d'Azevedo (1957, pp. 624-626) +describes in some detail the attitudes about the +assistance or interference that one peyote singer or +drummer may receive from another. The statements +of his informants, although couched in different terms, +are reminiscent of many I heard dealing with competitions +between shamans. +</p> + +<p> +For several years peyotists were a powerful factor +in the tribal council, and they were not loath to play +upon the connection between peyote and poison parsnips +in the minds of their cotribalists. The peyote button is +considered to be a powerful agent and as such potentially +dangerous. Therefore a man who could deal with this +agent, just like a shaman who could eat the poison parsnip +with impunity, was a man to be listened to and +followed. +</p> + +<p> +Despite a belief in and a dependence on shamanistic +curing or its latter-day counterpart, the peyote curing +session, most Washo are willing patients of white doctors. +This suggests that perhaps the old views are disappearing +under the scientific certainty of Western +medicine. Quite the reverse seems true, however. Every +failure of white medicine strengthens the Indians' belief +that the real source of curing power is a gift from +nature. Every success is attributed to assistance the +white men have received from Indians' power. When +asked the direct question: <q>Why aren't there so many +Indian doctors today?</q> my informant answered: <q>Well, +Indians just don't need all that power today. The white +doctors know a lot of things and can cure sickness +pretty good. In the old days we didn't know them things +so we had to have them real powers.</q> This attitude, +that nature provided whatever was necessary for Washo +survival, crops up in other contexts which I will discuss +later in this paper. Far from disappearing, the +old notions seem to be maintaining a strong hold on +the minds of the Washo. As the number of active peyotists +dwindle (d'Azevedo and Merriam 1957), one gets +the impression that the shamanistic forms may again +become a more important part of Washo life. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='374'/><anchor id='Pg374'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Dreams And Dreamers (2566)</head> + +<p> +Mentioned almost as frequently as doctors are +dreamers, whom the Washo view as distinct from +shamans. The so-called antelope shaman and rabbit +boss fall into this category rather than that of doctor. +</p> + +<p> +Dreamers were gifted with a power to foretell special +classes of events in dreams. All Washo believe +dreams are likely to foretell the future, and they are +alert to find meanings in any dreams they have. Certain +persons, those thought of as <q>dreamers,</q> are reported +to have special gifts of this nature. +</p> + +<p> +There are apparently no dreamers among the Washo +today, in the sense that the term was used in times +past. That is, no one is especially singled out as having +infallible dreams foretelling certain classes of +events. It may be that the breakdown of the band structure, +which was related to economic exploitative activity, +in effect, forced everyone to dream for himself. In +the past, dreamers were particularly important in setting +the time and place for activities which were carried +out by large groups, such as hunting, fishing, +pine-nut gathering, and war. With the disappearance +of the last seminomadic bands in the middle 1920's, +as well as with the reduced importance of hunting and +fishing as group activities, persons having dreams +which directed group actions were no longer useful. +Today, dreams appear to occur to a number of individuals, +and those felt to be of social significance usually +deal with catastrophe or other foreboding subjects. +The following stories were told to me by the widow +under the shadow of witchcraft. When I asked her if +she thought any of her friends would tell me their +dreams, she replied: <q>No I don't think no Washo would +tell you their dreams. But I'm not superstitious about +them things and I'll tell you these two dreams I had.</q> +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>One summer I was up at the Lake [Tahoe] with my +husband and I had a dream that the gambling house at +Dresslerville [a structure known officially as the community +center] was on fire. There was kids inside and +they was screaming but there wasn't no water. I saw +the men all around with buckets but they couldn't do +nothing because there wasn't no water. I told my husband +about the dream the next morning and he said I +should take a bath and pray. That's what we do to keep +a bad dream from happening.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +The following winter the community center did in fact +burn down. A young Indian in a rage after having an argument +with his father hurled a bottle of kerosene against +a wood stove. The resulting fire could not be extinguished +because the Dresslerville pump was not working. Whether +the dream was really a prophecy after the fact I do not +know. It is significant in any case that the prophecy appeared +in the form of a dream. My informant's second +dream foretold the violent death of a young Indian woman. +The prophecy came true two years later. +</p> + +<p> +Her statement that other Washo would be reluctant to +discuss their dreams was all too true, confirming the +importance that dreams play in their daily lives. A number +of tangential remarks suggest that the belief that +dreams confer advance knowledge of the future and that +they confer power is still common among the Washo. One +informant said, in talking about <q>old-time dreamers</q>: +<q>Today a lot of people will say they had a dream about +something, and act real big. I just tell them they are +crazy. They aren't real dreamers. They couldn't have a +dream about their girl friend.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Until very recent times a dream was justification for +almost any group activity. The most common motivation +for such events as a pine-nut dance, a war party, or a +rabbit or antelope drive was usually that <q>So-and-So had +a dream.</q> An announcement would be made and others +would gather for the event. +</p> + +<p> +These dreams are clearly different from the visitations +of spirits to prospective shamans, which occurred repeatedly +and were kept secret. Dreamers, on the other hand, +publicly reported individual dreams. Being a dreamer +appears to have been one of the important factors in attaining +positions of leadership, informal as such positions +were among the Washo. The almost legendary Captain +Jim,<note place='foot'>Captain Jim is the only Washo whom the Washo generally accept as +having been a leader of the entire tribe. Other claimants to the title of +chief of the Washo are contemptuously discounted. There were in the +past a number of men, usually considered leaders of a <q>bunch</q> who were +called <q>captains</q> or, less often, <q>chiefs</q> because they dealt with the +white population. The entire institution of captain may well be a post-white +development.</note> who was acknowledged as a leader by all the Washo +in the late nineteenth century, is considered to have been +a dreamer by many of the Washo. Those informants who +remember the big times at Double Springs Flat, in which +a large number of the Washo of the day participated prior +to the pine-nut harvest, usually begin their accounts with +the statement that Jim would have a dream and announce +the date of the meeting. Various parts of the ceremony +were also validated by dreams. It is equally clear that +although Jim was an honored leader and had dreaming +power he was not considered a doctor. +</p> + +<p> +Negative testimony also indicates the importance of +dreaming in Washo life. It is to the advantage of certain +individuals to deny the <q>chieftainship</q> of Captain Jim; +they vehemently deny that he was a dreamer but insist +that he was simply a good man who was trusted by the +Washo. <q>That Jim was just a good old guy that everybody +obeyed because they liked him and the whole group selected +him. He wasn't no more of a dreamer than I am,</q> +is the way one claimant for the Washo chieftainship put +it. However, his own claim was based on his relationship +to a man who was a rabbit boss and who dreamed when +it was time to hunt rabbits. +</p> + +<p> +Clearly the Washo believed and still believe that dreams +make one privy to the future and provide important insights +on which one can base decisions. The specific uses to +which dreams can be put change with the situation. Antelope +dreaming is no longer important because there are +no antelope. Rabbit dreamers no longer exist because the +rabbit drive has lost much of its importance in Washo life. +Conversely, dreams dealing with modern problems appear +to be taken seriously. +</p> + +<p> +One informant often dreams of snakes and evidences a +great fear of them. The Washo view this behavior as a +rational response to a real warning and consider the man's +caution as good judgment in the face of repeated warnings. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='375'/><anchor id='Pg375'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ritual Activities</head> + +<p> +Few, if any, Washo activities do not contain an element +which we can describe as religious, supernatural, +or magical. This element is most commonly revealed +by specifically ritualized behavior carried on while a +regular course of action is being taken by a Washo. +The following sections will deal with this ritualized +behavior and the rationale for it offered by the Washo. +</p> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Conception And Contraception</head> + +<p> +Apparently the Washo have no specific ritual to encourage +conception. They are extremely fond of children +and desire as many as possible. No Washo has +ever heard of, or will admit having heard of, infanticide +among the Washo, although they have heard of +the practice among other Indians. The birth of an illegitimate +child, despite the attitude of whites, is +greeted with as much joy as that of a legitimate child. +</p> + +<p> +However, it is believed that conception can be prevented +by manipulation of the afterbirth. When the +afterbirth is expelled it is wrapped in a piece of deer +hide or cloth and buried. It is always placed right side +up if a woman desires to continue bearing children. If +she wishes not to have children it is buried upside +down. If at a later time she wishes to become pregnant, +she will turn the earth where the upside-down +afterbirth was buried. Informants say that not many +people do this any more, mainly because younger +women go to the hospital to have their babies, but +that many people know how and some may still do it. +</p> + +<p> +Certain Indians are reported to be able to prevent +the birth of children without the knowledge of the woman +concerned. This requires the cooperation of a +woman who has just had a child and who will give the +magician the afterbirth. It is then buried or hidden +upside down and the woman concerned will not become +pregnant. The method of transferring the influence of +the afterbirth from the real mother to the victim was +not explained, and in fact the practice was revealed +with a good deal of reluctance. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Birth (2178-2293)</head> + +<p> +Informants report that the baby was not touched, +either by the mother or her attendants, until the afterbirth +was expelled. The birth and recuperation were +carried out in a pit filled with warm ashes. A slow +birth was blamed on the belief that the mother had +slept too much or been lazy during her pregnancy. +</p> + +<p> +The mother was not allowed to eat salt until the +baby's umbilicus dropped off, usually in two or three +days. The umbilicus was dried and hung on the right +side of the cradleboard to insure that the baby would +be right-handed. +</p> + +<p> +The baby's hair was cut about thirty days after its +birth. Until that time the mother was not permitted to +eat meat or to leave her bed of ashes. However, one +of my informants who had borne eight children claimed +never to have spent more than two weeks in her lying-in +bed. She did insist that <q>in the old days</q> women +adhered to the traditional thirty-day period. +</p> + +<p> +A pregnant woman was not permitted to eat eggs +with double yolks, or double fruit, lest she have twins. +No special action was taken if twins were born, however. +</p> + +<p> +During her confinement a woman was not supposed +to rub the sweat from her face. She might dab the +sweat off, but to rub it would cause her to be wrinkled +in her old age. One informant assured me that this +was the truth and pointed to her own relatively unwrinkled +face as proof. +</p> + +<p> +When a child loses a milk tooth, it is taken up and +thrown into the brush. At that time an admonition is +shouted to <q>some little animal with sharp teeth,</q> that +it should exchange the milk tooth for a good permanent +one (2295a-2301) +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Puberty: Girls (2305-2352)</head> + +<p> +Aside from the <q>big times</q> which will be described +later, the girls' puberty dance was the most important +ceremonial gathering among the Washo. This custom +has survived with tenacity and it is still considered a +matter of real concern if for some reason a girl does +not have <q>her dance.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Although much of the activity at a girls' dance is +clearly social throughout the occasion, there is a series +of ritual actions which must be carried out. The following +account is an idealized version of the <q>old way.</q> +Other accounts will describe variations which have developed +in the past years. +</p> + +<p> +Certain statements which I make will appear to be +at variance with Stewart's Culture Element Distribution +Lists. However, I am inclined to think that the absence +of traits in the memory of my own informants represents +a pattern of change rather than inaccuracies on +the part of earlier investigators. With minor exceptions, +differences between statements made today and Stewart's +lists take the form of traits marked present in the +lists which are unknown to my own informants. Moreover, +most of these differences are to be found in the +hair-combing and scratching complex and suggest that +the taboos on hair combing were abandoned some time +between the childhood of his informants, who were in +their seventies in 1936, and that of my own informants, +who are in their seventies today (1959). +</p> + +<p> +The parents of my informants must not have known +or not enforced combing taboos, while the parents of +Stewart's informants must have considered them proper +and so instructed their children. We can speculate, on +this basis, that the taboo on hair combing and scratching +was abandoned by the Washo some time in the first +half of the century. Whether this can be credited to the +influence of the white man or to a continuing pattern +of change is a matter for further investigation. +</p> + +<p> +The account of the entire puberty complex which +follows was given to me by a seventy-five-year-old +Washo woman who is generally consulted whenever a +family plans to hold the girls' dance. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>When a girl is about ten she is told what is +going to happen to her. When her first period comes +[she is not specially confined] people tell her to be +<pb n='376'/><anchor id='Pg376'/> +active and not to be lazy. She drinks only warm +water. In the old days anything that she gathered +anyone could come along and take. She couldn't eat +meat or salt but Washo don't think eggs are the +same as meat.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +(This last statement was in response to direct +questions and does not reflect special Washo traits. +In fact, all food appears to have been forbidden for +four days.) +</p> + +<p> +The family of the girl immediately prepares as +much food as possible to feed the guests. One informant +remembers in his youth that a family of a girl +eligible for a dance would light a large fire part way +up on Job's Peak to announce the event. +</p> + +<p> +The dance itself is carried out at night. Singing +and hand-clapping accompany the dancing, which may +go on all night. During the dance the girl carries a +wand about six or seven feet long. The wand is made +of a very light wood, often elderberry, and painted +red with a native pigment. +</p> + +<p> +In the past, groups camped about Dresslerville +staged their dances at the base of a prominent hill +nearby. During the night the girl was required to run +to the top of the hill and light four fires; this practice +has been discontinued for many years, however, apparently +as a result of white accusations that the Indians +started range fires and also to avoid attracting +curious whites. +</p> + +<p> +About dawn one of the girl's male relatives ran +forward and snatched the stick from her. He then ran +with it into the hills and hid it in an upright position +in some out-of-the-way place. +</p> + +<p> +The elderberry wand is a device used to insure +the girl's continued agility and lightness of foot. As +long as the hidden stick remains unbroken the girl +will remain straight and agile. +</p> + +<p> +After the stick was taken away, an older female +relative took a small amount of ash on a whisk of +sage, and dusted the nude girl on the head, arms, +and legs. This ritual was accompanied by an informal +prayer that the girl not suffer pains in her head, +arms, or legs. She was told: <q>I am doing this early +in the morning so that you will get up early in the +morning and work hard.</q> The whisk was then thrown +into the crowd, along with a gift, which today is usually +a bit of money. Food or beads were apparently +used in the past. +</p> + +<p> +After the dusting, a basketful of water was brought +forward and the girl was bathed. The basket was then +thrown into the crowd. This was considered a high +point of the celebration. After she was bathed, a few +dabs of native pigment were placed on her chest and +face. +</p> + +<p> +The ceremony above was described as the <q>real +way to do it ... the way they did it in the old days.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Carson Valley Record Courier reports a puberty +dance held in the summer of 1919 in which at +least some of these activities were observed (although +the reporter thought he was attending a betrothal dance) +Some two-hundred Indians were in attendance. There +were no fires, only lanterns and flashlights. The participants +had taken up a collection and purchased watermelon, +ice cream, cake, pie, bread, and meat for the +feast. The food was served (to the surprise of the reporter) +on a long table with plates. About midnight two +girls appeared in the center of the dancing circle carrying +long wands. +</p> + +<p> +In 1926 Lowie witnessed a girls' dance near Minden +and was obviously unimpressed. The crowd gathered +slowly and gradually began to dance. He makes no +mention of either the wand or the ash-dusting ritual, +nor does he give us details of the feast. The bath was +given from a tin can, and he does not report a basket's +being thrown (Lowie 1939, pp. 305-308). +</p> + +<p> +One suspects that dances held today are somewhat +more elaborate than those of three or four decades +ago, possibly as a response to increasing awareness +and pride in the fact of Indianness. Certainly every +girl expects to have her dance, just as a debutante +expects to have a coming-out party. When death in the +family made it inadvisable to hold a dance on a girl's +first menstrual period, everyone agreed that it was +indeed a shame. The girl went through her four-day +fast and a small party was held for her when her +second period occurred. One informant insisted that +in the <q>old days</q> a dance was always held on the occasion +of a girl's second period but that this had long +since been abandoned (Cartwright, 1952, confirms). +</p> + +<p> +The basket plays an important part in the ceremony +and it would be considered improper if there were no +basket to be thrown to the crowd. It is best if the +basket is well made and can actually hold the ceremonial +bath water. If such a basket cannot be obtained, +and they are growing rarer as the older basket makers +die, the bath is poured from a bucket, but a less fancy +basket is still thrown to the crowd. The bath and dusting +are now given to the girl while clad in her slip, +in deference to white notions of modesty which are +strictly observed by the Washo. The painting is carried +out only if native pigment is available. The wand +is left unpainted unless native pigments are available. +</p> + +<p> +The ritual of seizing and hiding the wand is carried +out perfunctorily. During a recent dance the girl's +uncle took the wand but simply carried it to the grandmother's +house, intending to take it to the mountains +later. However, the stick remained with the grandmother, +who was somewhat concerned about it. It was +kept in an upright position, and she constantly reminded +the man that he should take it. He regularly promised +that he would, the next time he came to visit, but just +as regularly forgot it. It may well be that as an adult +and an important peyote chief, he was reluctant to +carry out what he considered an old Indian superstition. +</p> + +<p> +There is no indication now that the girls' puberty +dance is dying out among the Washo. It may well be +changing in form and developing into more of a party. +As the number of persons who know white dances increases, +these may replace Indian dances. There is +some suggestion of this in other ceremonial activities. +And of course the fact that future generations of Washo +girls will attend integrated Nevada public schools and +associate with white students with different aspirations +for approaching adulthood may have important effects +on the future of the girls' dance. +</p> + +<p> +Pine-nut flour seems to have taken on an important +symbolic role in latter-day dances. We see no mention +of this food in 1919 or 1926. Today it might be considered +proper to delay holding a dance if it was not +possible to get enough pine-nut flour to feed the crowd. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Puberty: Boys (2379-2386, 369-374)</head> + +<p> +The approaching maturity of a boy cannot be measured +in dramatic physiological terms, and puberty is +considered to occur about when a boy's voice changes. +<pb n='377'/><anchor id='Pg377'/> +The ritual for boys is less important than that for +girls. +</p> + +<p> +The emphasis for a boy is on his developing ability +as a hunter. Although hunting is far less important +today than it was even in the recent past, few Washo +go through the winter without depending on rabbit or +deer for meat. The pursuit of the squirrel, ground +squirrel, gopher, and other small game appears to be +minimal, but certainly this food is not spurned, if +available. One of the common legal conflicts with the +white man stems from out-of-season hunting during +the winter by Washo men filling out the family larder. +</p> + +<p> +Young boys were encouraged to hunt with bow and +arrow as soon as they could. Quite often such training +was carried out by an older male relative—a grandfather +or an old uncle. Expeditions of old men and +young boys after chipmunk and squirrel appear to have +been common, freeing able-bodied men for major hunting +while the experienced, but less able, older men +instructed the boys. +</p> + +<p> +However, all the game taken by a boy was taboo to +his immediate family. This included young deer and +does which he might kill. Such game was given to another +family, usually related. The boy was also forbidden +to eat his own take. The taboo included any +fish the boy caught. +</p> + +<p> +When a boy killed a buck deer considered by his +father or other male relative to be big enough, he +went through a simple ceremony. One informant said +that in the old days a boy was required to crawl under +the antlers of his kill. His father or older male relative +then gave him a bath, and from that time he was +considered a man and the taboo on his kill was lifted +from himself and his family. +</p> + +<p> +My informant, a mother of four sons now over +forty, stated that all her sons had gone through the +taboo period and were bathed by their father when +they killed their first big buck. Until very recently +she received meat from some relatives with a young +son who hunted frequently. +</p> + +<p> +Whether or not the young Washo are still observing +this taboo and ritual I was unable to determine. However, +in certain conservative families it seems probable +that at least minimal ritual is observed. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Marriage (2018-2051)</head> + +<p> +Marriage is entirely a social institution, and no +religious elements appear to have entered into it. +Traditionally the ceremony, if there was any at all, +consisted of a <q>chief</q> (respected man) throwing a +blanket over the shoulders of a couple at a dance. +Ceremonial gatherings, such as the pine-nut dances +and the girls' dances were important in the selection +of marriage partners, inasmuch as boys and girls +came together at these gatherings to engage in flirtation, +affairs, and courtship. Dreamers at the <q>big +times</q> are reported by informants to have exhorted +married couples to be good to each other and not +fight (see also Lowie 1939, p. 303). +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Death (2389-2453)</head> + +<p> +No amount of social dislocation or cultural impact +alters the constant fact of death. Each generation faces +this inevitability. It is less than surprising then that +changes in attitudes and rituals surrounding death +among the Washo have changed very slowly. The only +changes which appear to have developed in Washo death +customs are those imposed by direct intervention of +the whites or as unavoidable consequences of changes +in other aspects of the culture. +</p> + +<p> +In the past, when a person died the house in which +he expired was abandoned by his family. Of course, if +the death occurred in the spring or summer such abandonment +was simple; during these seasons the Washo +usually lived in simple brush shelters. A winter death +was a more serious matter; it was during this season +that the Washo lived in the gal'sdaɲl—a structure +made to last through the winter and until the next +winter, when it was reoccupied. Valley Washo often +made these winter homes of brush or tules. In the +foothills and mountains, bark slabs and tree limbs +were utilized. If an occupant died, this home must be +abandoned and was often burned down, and the immediate +family moved to another campsite. Thus a family +which suffered no deaths during the winters might +spend several years in a single campground, whereas +a less fortunate family might have to move every +winter, or even oftener than that. +</p> + +<p> +A few Washo began building simple rectangular +board and batten houses in the 1890's. Most of the +others continued to live in gal'sdaɲ¿l made of boards +and scrap, begged, stolen, or purchased from the lumber +mills which were quite numerous in the area at +the beginning of the century. In the 1920's, when most +of the Washo moved into the <q>colonies</q> established for +them by the government, the native-style houses were +abandoned in favor of the wooden homes built by the +government. No longer permitted to move about the +country at will, and frankly unwilling to abandon the +more comfortable white-style houses, the Washo adjusted +their death customs. The most common adjustment +was to prepare for an impending death by shifting +seriously ill persons into an adjoining structure, +often a shack built in the native manner or a shed or +lean-to. This structure could be burned down without +loss when its inhabitant died.<note place='foot'>The willingness +of the Washo to send gravely ill persons to the hospital +seems in part motivated by the wish to avoid a death in the house.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The Washo viewed this destruction of a house occupied +by a dead person as simply preventing his spirit +from bothering the living. +</p> + +<p> +Most Washo death customs display a conscious attempt +to avoid association with the dead. Barrett reports +that cremation was practiced, and the bones +placed in a stream to prevent their desecration. However, +this appears to have been only one of the disposal +customs and is not well remembered by Washo +living today. The burning or burying of the personal +possessions of the dead was common. Certain prized +possessions were interred with the body, which was +usually wrapped in a shroud of matting, deerskin, or +bearhide and placed in a fissure or cave in the mountains. +Although there are a number of locations known +by both Indians and local whites as old burying grounds, +all my informants agreed that in the <q>real old days</q> +there was no special cemetery and that these burial +spots have developed since the coming of the white +man. This may well have been as a result of direct +white interference with native funeral customs and an +insistence that Indians concentrate their burials. Some +of these sites have become traditional among the Washo. +</p> + +<pb n='378'/><anchor id='Pg378'/> + +<p> +The dispute between the widow and the sister mentioned +earlier was an argument as to whether the deceased +would be buried in one of these sites or in the cemetery +at Stewart, Nevada. +</p> + +<p> +A white man who has lived in the area for ninety +years, reported that as a boy he often came across +caches of belongings of dead Indians in the mountains. +Today, prized possessions are either crowded into the +casket with the body or burned or secreted in some +remote area of the Sierra. +</p> + +<p> +Funeral ceremonies were apparently simple. The +body was wrapped and carried into the hills to be interred. +Prayers in the form of a short speech were +directed toward the dead. <q>We are burying you because +you are dead. It's not because we are mad at you or +don't like you. But you are dead. Please don't come +back and bother us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Widows traditionally cut their hair in mourning, a +custom which is still practiced. Stewart reports that +mourners painted their faces black. My informants +denied this, but one elaborated: <q>I remember when I +was a little girl old Indians who had lost someone +would cry a lot and let the tears run down their faces +and not wash their faces until they were real dirty +and black with fire smoke.</q> Crying at a funeral was +expected and in fact positively sanctioned. At a funeral +conducted while I was present the sheriff arrested a +drunken Washo who was wailing quite loudly. The Indians +were all bitter about this because: <q>All of us +cry at a funeral whether we are drunk or not. That's +the way the Washo do it.</q> (This funeral was that of a +murder victim and the sheriff was present because he +feared there might be a reprisal attempt.) +</p> + +<p> +A newspaper report of a funeral in Genoa, Nevada, +in the late 1880's records that the Indians had borrowed +a wagon from a white man to transport the +corpse (that of a well-known Indian woman) to the +burying ground. The wagon was followed by a large +crowd of weeping mourners. +</p> + +<p> +Modern funerals usually take place under the auspices +of a funeral director, and generally services are +performed by a Christian minister from the Stewart +Indian agency. After the white minister has left, it is +usual for an older Indian to approach the casket and +repeat the old funeral prayers. The reason for waiting +until the minister leaves is to avoid hurting his +feelings. My informants said the prayers made the +older Indians feel more comfortable. It is usually not +necessary to burn the deceased's home, but his belongings +are disposed of. There is an increasing tendency +to tend graves and put flowers on them. The +cemetery at Stewart appears to be well decorated with +flowers. Two old Indian graves near Lake Tahoe are +regularly visited and jars of flowers placed on them.<note place='foot'>The +concern for these particular graves may be in part motivated by +the fact that they are a focal point in a Washo land claim. Because of California +law concerning cemeteries, the Indians contend that the tourist +camp presently on the site is there illegally and that the land is theirs. +Thus far the camp operator has been enjoined from removing or desecrating +the graves, but the Indians' claim has not been considered.</note> +</p> + +<p> +When the husband of one of my informants died, +following a twelve-year illness spent in a secondary +house, she went to visit a daughter living near Lake +Tahoe. When she returned to Dresslerville her two +sons had torn down the shed and disposed of all their +father's possessions. In deference to their mother's +rather modern views about funerals, nothing had been +placed in the casket. +</p> + +<p> +While I was in Dresslerville an Indian of about +forty put the torch to the house in which his mother +and father had lived. The house had been unoccupied +since their deaths. While the house burned no effort +was made to extinguish the fire or to call the fire +department. A nearby rancher saw the fire and summoned +the fire department, but the Indians refused to +tell the firemen how the fire had started. The local +newspaper reported it had been burned to drive away +evil spirits. This upset my informants, one of whom +said that the sight of the house simply made the man +sad. She elaborated that the Washo felt they were helping +God wipe out the tracks of a dead person. The +Washo claim that after a death there is always a rain +or sand storm which wipes out the tracks of the deceased. +</p> + +<p> +After the Washo return home from a funeral, they +immediately wash their faces and hands. They would +not feel safe in handling food or children until this +ritual had been carried out. +</p> + +<p> +The behavior of the dead is a matter of concern +for most Washo (2606-2609a). Ideally, the spirit is +supposed to go up and to the south where dead Indians +are. This land of the dead is guarded by a number of +men with bows. Some shamans were able to make the +trip to the land of the dead (2541-2544). If they could +elude these guards, they were sometimes able to recover +the spirit of a recently dead person and return +it. If, however, the spirit has partaken of the water +of a spring immediately behind the guards, it can never +be recovered. The by-now-familiar uncle of my informant +once visited the land of the dead and reported that +there were lots of Indians there playing games and +having a good time. If murder victims were present +they were with the celebrants, but the spirits of the +killers were segregated and were not having a good +time. +</p> + +<p> +Ghosts, however, wander over the land. They are +generally malevolent. If they feel they have been badly +used in life, or are not properly honored after death, +or have not been given the things they wanted when +buried, they may wreak vengeance on the living. To prevent +this, homes were abandoned, prayers were said, and +names of the dead were not used. In discussing a recent +murder, one of the most progressive of the Washo was +extremely reluctant to give the name of the victim, and, +when she finally did, she whispered it. One of the difficulties +encountered by government agents when pine-nut +lands were allotted to the Washo was a refusal to name +the ancestors on whom the allotment claim was based. +</p> + +<p> +Ghosts are often said to come in the form of whirlwinds +or dust devils, and most Washo will avoid looking +at a whirlwind. At night, a sudden puff of warm +air is thought to be a ghost passing nearby. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='379'/><anchor id='Pg379'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ritual In Subsistence</head> + +<p> +Hunting, far more than gathering, appears to have +been the focus of much ritual activity. This suggests +that for the Washo the importance of ritual may have +increased in proportion to the element of chance inherent +in the activity undertaken. Gathering was a +surety, assuming of course that there was a harvest +to gather. With the wide variety of plants available +within the Washo territory during the spring, summer, +and fall it seems highly unlikely that the failure of +one species of plant created a serious problem. This, +of course, was not true of the pine nut. A failure of +the pine-nut crop was a harbinger of a starvation +winter. The gathering of pine nuts, in contrast to the +gathering of other plants, was the subject of a great +deal of ritual and, in some degree, of ceremonialism +uncommon to most Washo gathering activities. This +will be dealt with later in the paper. +</p> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Hunting</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Deer</hi> (1-27).—Deer were hunted in a number of +ways. Barrett reports, and old informants confirm, +that hunting parties of as many as thirty or forty +men were formed in the old days to go to the western +slope of the Sierra in pursuit of deer. The large number +may have been necessitated by the possibility of +meeting hostile Miwok or Maidu. My own informants +claimed that these large parties often set fire to the +forest to drive the deer into the open, and that the +large number of men was needed to cover the escape +routes. +</p> + +<p> +More common, apparently, were small groups of +five or six men, usually relatives, who went into the +deer country together. Their technique was to drive +along a single deer run toward one of their number +who was considered the best shot. This method was +very common after the introduction of firearms, particularly +repeating firearms. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, any Washo man might hunt singly. Often +groups of five or six men went hunting together but +each did his own stalking. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever the technique, hunting magic was an individual +affair which did not require any ceremonial activities. +</p> + +<p> +A single hunter, before the days of firearms, often +stalked in the antlers and hide of a deer. Washo were +often superstitious about using the real antlers and +made artificial sets from manzanita branches. This +fear of using real antlers appears related to the treatment +which was accorded to the bones of deer. These, +once the meat had been completely stripped off, were +submerged in a stream to prevent their being eaten +by dogs or wild animals. Perhaps the best account of +the magic involved in stalking is the following by an +aged informant, reputed to have <q>hunting medicine.</q> +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>We never had no poison arrow for bear or +deer but had something just as good. We took red +paint and mixed it with marrow from a deer leg +and rubbed it on the shaft and point of the arrow. +Arrowheads for war were little but those for big +game like deer or bear were pretty big.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +When I asked my informant the Washo word for +this mixture he evaded the question. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<p> +<q rend='pre'>I don't think they had a word for it. They didn't +talk about it, just used it. If you used it you had to +carry some medicine to work against it, 'cause if +you got a scratch of that mixture and didn't have +this other stuff [the counter agent], you was a goner.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>A long time ago one man would hunt. Some of +them fellas was superstitious about using real deer +horns, so they would make horns of manzanita and +then cover up with a deer hide. They'd move along +... taking a long time, just like a deer. That old +buck would try to get to the side away from the +wind to smell you, but you kept circling around so +he wouldn't smell you. Finally you could get real +close, maybe only three, four feet ... going around +making sounds just like a deer. Sometimes them +bucks would really believe you and want to fight +and then it was dangerous. When you was close you +shot that arrow into the deer right behind the shoulder +blade. That way when he jumped, the shoulder +blade comes back and breaks off the shaft. The man +would grab the shaft and suck off the blood. Then +he'd make a little fire on a flat stone and when it +was hot he'd sweep off the fire and spit that on +the stone and it would bubble up and disappear. +Then you'd go after the deer and you'd find him +laying there with blood bubbling out of his nose +just like that blood bubbled on the stone.</q> +</p> +</quote> + +<p> +Other rituals related to hunting dealt with the loss +of hunting luck. To regain one's luck in hunting, a +sweat lodge was built, consisting of a temporary brush +shelter (688-759). +</p> + +<p> +To insure luck it was common in the old days to +bathe and rub the leaves of a certain mountain plant +over one's body. Other Washo carried a plant on their +persons while hunting, to insure luck. I was unable to +get my informant to give me the Washo name of this +plant. Certain other special medicines are reported. +One man, it is hinted, has a medicine which he rubs +on his gun to insure good aim. Old hunters are said +to have obtained medicine from the Miwok which would +put deer to sleep. Today this medicine is a subject of +esoteric humor between my informant and his son-in-law. +The latter insists that the bear has a medicine +which will put his father-in-law to sleep because he +came upon the old man asleep under a tree one day +when he should have been hunting. Although the Washo +depended on ritual to assist them in hunting, it is +clear that they considered a successful hunter the possessor +of power beyond simple magic. Like curers or +dreamers, certain hunters obviously had been blessed +by spirits and were able to outthink and outsmart animals +and therefore were particularly good hunters. +At least some of the Washo who hunt today attempt +to give the impression that their success is based on +something more than luck or skill. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Antelope</hi> (27a-75).—There are no Washo alive today +who can remember antelope surrounds. It appears +that most of the Washo territory was not inhabited +by antelope, lying as it does between the northern and +<pb n='380'/><anchor id='Pg380'/> +southern ranges of the Nevada herds. However, small +herds did range in the eastern portion of Washo country, +but the appearance of firearms and livestock eliminated +the antelope completely in this area. One informant, +himself seventy-five, remembers stories +about the hunts, told to him by a very old brother-in-law +who remembered the antelope songs. +</p> + +<p> +Another informant, generally a good source of hunting +information, admitted that he did not know anything +about the subject. He had never hunted antelope, nor +had his father or uncles. +</p> + +<p> +The signal to hunt was a dream announcing the +presence of antelope to a dreamer, who acted as +leader of the hunt. The entire process was considered +to be magical by this informant who said: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>There was really no corral. Mebbe just a few +piles of brush. The people just danced around and +sang, and that kept them antelope there like they +was hypnotized. They could keep them right there +all night that way. After they held them all night +they'd start to slaughter at sunrise. They'd sing: +<q>We aren't doing this for meanness or for fun but +we want you for fine food,</q> or something like that. +I heard the song once but I never learned it all. +I wish I had, now.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +This informant was certain that the Washo did not +expect a person to die as a result of the exercise of +antelope charming. He had heard of other tribes which +believed this, and he thought it peculiar (Steward 1941: +218-220). This explanation compares favorably with +the culture element distribution lists presented by +Stewart, which reported none of the traits usually considered +as part of the shaman complex in antelope +hunting common among Basin Shoshone and Paiute. +(Stewart 1941; Steward 1941.) +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Rabbits</hi> (92-96).—The pursuit of the jack rabbit +appears to have been changing in its importance during +the past century. Several informants recall being +told in their youth by old men that often only the hides +were stripped from rabbits to make blankets, but that +most of the meat was discarded because other game +was plentiful. However, firearms and agriculture soon +put an end to antelope hunting, and the trans-Sierran +region, like most of the nation, suffered a steady decline +in the number of deer. All informants agree that +in their own youth trips to California after deer were +necessary because there were almost no deer east of +the Sierra. All Indians agree that the deer population +in Nevada today is far greater than it was in the early +years of this century. The decrease in antelope and +deer forced a greater dependence on the jack rabbit +as a source of food as well as fur. The communal +nature of the rabbit hunt may have made possible a +gradual transference of ritual traits from the antelope +complex to the rabbit hunt. +</p> + +<p> +Traditionally the Washo drove rabbits into nets, a +method common in the Basin. Stewart's notes, taken +from informants in their seventies in 1936, make no +mention of any supernatural aspect of the rabbit drive. +Evening dancing during the rabbit drive was denied. +There was, however, a special leader who directed +the hunt. In later times these men were credited with +dreaming power, as this quotation illustrates: <q>Jack +Wallace would dream where the rabbits were and when +it was time for hunting he would send out a call.</q> The +man mentioned was described as the last of the real +dreamers. This power made him extremely influential +among the Washo, and his descendants are considered +among the claimants for the <q>chieftainship.</q> There appear +to have been formalized prayers which were said +before the hunt by a man with power over rabbits. +</p> + +<p> +Today, rabbit hunts are invariably held on Sunday. +In the words of one informant: <q>Nowadays anybody can +just say <q>Let's have a hunt this Sunday.</q><note place='foot'>This +statement was made to point out to me that in other times only +special people, inspired by dreams, would have suggested a rabbit hunt.</note> +They have to +hunt on Sunday because most of the men have jobs during +the week.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The disintegration of the ritualized aspects of rabbit +driving is not complete, however, and many Washo prefer +to hunt with a certain man who lives in the Indian +colony at Carson City. While no one will openly claim +that he has supernatural power, it seems clear that +his presence is important to other Indians. His role +is that of leader or captain who superintends the order +and discipline of the line of hunters who today sweep +a wide area, armed with shotguns. D'Azevedo, who was +fortunate enough to take part in a hunt in 1955, states +that prior to the hunt this man withdrew from the +group. When he asked what the leader was doing he +met evasion, and he concluded that perhaps the man +was praying. In the period covered by the memory of +my oldest informants, dances were often staged nightly +during the rabbit drives. The dancing is invariably described +as <q>just for fun</q> and probably was more social +than religious, but such dancing appears to have been +part of other ceremonial or semiceremonial occasions +such as the girls' dances, first-fish ceremonies and +the pine-nut dances. It seems clear that whatever tendency +there was to shift the ritualized aspects of antelope +hunting to rabbit drives has been stemmed by a +growing dependence of the Washo on wage labor which +precludes their response to dream-inspired hunts. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Bear</hi> (298, 2558-2561).—Bear hunting appears never +to have been a subsistence activity among the Washo. +Many informants stoutly deny that bear meat was ever +eaten, although bear were hunted. No Washo ever gave +a direct answer to the question of why they hunted +bear if they didn't eat the meat. Others stated that +the bear might be eaten in extreme starvation conditions +but was never eaten regularly. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, almost all Washo men were able +to describe in detail the method of hunting and they +obviously enjoyed telling bear-hunting stories. The following +story told to me by one of the eldest men in +Dresslerville, who claims it was told to him by a +very old man, is consistent with the stories told by +other informants. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>There was hardly any Washo who kill bear. +But I know this much ... the man who went in +there and did it tells me ... bears have their +own home in the rocks ... a hole going in the +rocks. Go in there naked with a knife or arrow +in one hand and burning pitch in other ... light +scares him out [the bear], then other men shoot +the bear in the mouth with poison arrow [see deer +hunting for reference to poison] ... get sick for +four or five days, maybe a week. Then the man +goes back in. Hardly any Indians could do this.<note place='foot'>This +kind of a statement was common and whenever it was made suggestions +of special power were made explicit later in the conversation, +or were implied by the attitude of the informant.</note> +<pb n='381'/><anchor id='Pg381'/> +I've heard that they cook it and eat it ... not +only here but up north. After they get the rifle +they get to killing bears around here but hardly +ever hear of dividing up the bear meat.</q> +</quote> + +<p> +This last remark appears to be significant as all +informants emphasized that Indians shared food equally. +Thus a statement made voluntarily that bear meat +was not shared suggests different attitudes about bears. +</p> + +<p> +Another informant adds the detail that when the +bear left his lair, the companions of the man who +entered the den would block the entrance so the bear +could not return. The first man to place an arrow in +the animal could claim it and get the hide. This informant +also added at this point: <q>It's funny that the +fella who went inside was <emph>just an ordinary fella</emph> [emphasis +mine].</q> He also insisted that after a bear was +killed the hunting party painted their faces black. +Other informants claimed not to know of this or said +such painting was done when a mink was killed but +they did not know why. +</p> + +<p> +One traditional story (Dangberg) sheds a bit more +light on the bear. In this tale a group of Washo were +camped near a band of Paiute who challenged the +Washo to fight. Instead of fighting, the Washo drove a +bear from its den and killed it and thus defeated the +Paiute. +</p> + +<p> +I had all but given up the pursuit of information on +the bear, being convinced that my informants either +honestly did not know any more (the bear having been +relatively rare in this area for a good many years) +or were unwilling to discuss something of an extremely +sacred nature, when a chance remark suggested at +least part of the explanation. +</p> + +<p> +A pioneer white resident who had lived in Alpine +County, California, for ninety years casually mentioned +that every Indian man who was buried during his boyhood +was wrapped in a bearskin shroud. This, coupled +with an earlier mention of <q>rough</q> men having bearskins, +suggests that the killing of a bear represented +the ultimate in Washo bravery and the possession of +the skin conferred extra powers on the owner. The +rifle made such acquisitions much less hazardous and +in the late nineteenth century it had become common +for Indians to own a bearskin cloak, which became +their most prized possession and was buried with them. +</p> + +<p> +Stewart's element lists show no evidence of any +formalized bear cult among the Washo. However, +Smith's notes, which Stewart used, report a bear shaman +who impersonated a bear (2558). Certainly the +bear was one of the spirits who could give power to +a man destined to become a shaman. Bear shamanism +is reported only for the Fish Spring Valley Paiute by +Steward and for the Tago and Wada Northern Paiute +by Stewart. These three groups constitute the only +ones having formalized bear ceremonialism of any +sort in the Basin. The bear dance and a note about +impersonating bears (Steward 1941, pp. 266, 322) suggest +that formalized bear ceremonialism came into the +Basin from the Rocky Mountains via the Ute and Bannock. +However, Kroeber reports awe of the bear, +special euphemisms for them, and ritualized secrecy +about hunting them among the Miwok which seem more +closely related to Washo behavior. Bear impersonators +among the Battle Mountain Paiute were credited with +invulnerability in war, which is reminiscent of the use +of a bear-hide cloak by Washo <q>rough men.</q> Although +it is not possible to make any conclusive statement +about the role of the bear in the supernatural life of +the Washo, it seems clear that the animal is held in +special awe and esteem by modern Indians. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Fishing (252a-296)</head> + +<p> +Fishing appears to be far less subject to ritualization +among the Washo than was hunting. Here again +there may be a correspondence between the amount of +ritual and the degree of certainty involved in obtaining +the desired food. The Washo area is rated by Rostlund +as being one of the higher fish-producing areas in +North America. Certainly the many lakes, streams, +and rivers were the source of great amounts of fish +every year. Indians who could at most be described +as only middle-aged, recount the tremendous numbers +of fish which swept up the streams from Lake Tahoe +during the spawning season. While the numbers may +have varied from year to year, the large number of +fish plus the intensive fishing methods employed by +the Washo almost guarantee a large catch. +</p> + +<p> +However, d'Azevedo reports that Northern Washo +describe some degree of ritualism connected with fishing +(d'Azevedo personal communication). Dreamers are +said to have predicted the day of the spawning run. +Dances were held and prayers said, suggesting a rather +attenuated first-fish ceremony for some of the Washo +(2618). Other Washo report <q>big times,</q> which included +dancing and prayer, during the spring gathering on the +lake. However, in the actual catching of fish there was +much less ritual. +</p> + +<p> +Some fishermen carried a fishing medicine composed +of dried larvae of the <hi rend='italic'>Ephydra hians</hi> (Say), called +<foreign rend='italic'>kutsavi</foreign> by the Paiute +(Heizer 1950) and <foreign rend='italic'>matsi babaša</foreign> +by the Washo. These larvae were obtained from the +Mono Lake Paiute in trade or as gifts. They were considered +good food and are still eaten by some Washo. +However, in addition they were credited with having +great powers to lure fish and were rubbed on harpoons, +hooks, and lines. Perhaps this material was considered +a fish medicine because these larvae are said to be +generated from the scales of a giant fish. This leviathan +is reported to have traveled through all the lakes +in the Sierran area looking for a lake large enough in +which to live. At Mono Lake it scraped some scales +into the water before it left to find a permanent home +in Lake Tahoe (Steward 1936). Whether the Washo share +this story with the Owens Valley Paiute, I do not know, +but Mono Lake, because of its saline water and its +lack of any fish life, is thought of with some fear and +awe. Today I get the impression that some Washo still +keep a bit of this material with their fishing gear, although +they are apt to rationalize it as a lure rather +than real medicine. It should be remembered that hook-and-line +or spear fishing accounted for a much smaller +percentage of the total annual take than did trapping, +damning, netting, or other communal methods which +entailed no ritual. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Miscellaneous Concepts About +Hunting And Fishing</head> + +<p> +A number of ritual activities cluster around hunting +and fishing. Perhaps the most important is the requirement +that women, particularly menstruating women, +avoid the hunting and fishing equipment. If a woman +touched such gear the owner would bathe it and pray +<pb n='382'/><anchor id='Pg382'/> +<q>I'm giving you a bath to wash away the bad luck.</q> +(2354-2378). +</p> + +<p> +A further restriction placed on menstruating women +was that they must not eat meat during their periods. +To do so meant bad hunting for the man who killed +the game. +</p> + +<p> +The meat from the neck of a deer and the intestinal +organs were forbidden to vigorous young people. +If a man ate neck meat his aim would be bad (360-368). +Neck meat was reserved for children and the +old. In actuality it would seem that only the children +and the almost decrepit ate such meat. One of my informants +who is seventy-five, thus certainly qualifying +for old age, has never tasted either neck meat or internal +organs. To do so apparently would be an admission +of loss of vigour which no Washo oldster wishes +to make. Menstruating women today will eat meat purchased +from a butcher but refrain from eating venison +or other game taken by someone they know, for fear +of spoiling his luck. Menstrual taboos also hold today +in regard to touching firearms or fishing poles, although +at least some Washo women own fishing poles, +and in the early part of this century a woman who +lives at Carson City was reputed to be a great hunter. +In times past, certain women are reported to have +made excellent bows but not to have used them. +</p> + +<p> +Stewart reports dances to bring deer which none of +my informants remembered. However, even in his time +the dances were said to be <q>mainly for pleasure,</q> which +suggests the sacred nature of such dances has gradually +faded out of the consciousness of most modern Washo, +particularly as deer hunting has become entirely an individual +enterprise and is no longer central to Washo +subsistence. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Gathering</head> + +<p> +As stated earlier, there appears to have been much +less ritual involved in gathering activities, perhaps because +there was much less chance of failure than in +hunting. However, Stewart reports that sometimes +dances were held to make seeds grow (2619-2621). +Such gatherings appear to be remembered, if at all, +by living Washo only as social occasions. +</p> + +<p> +The fall pine-nut dance was clearly part of the ritual +of the pine-nut harvest (2617, 2622). The pine nut +was central to Washo winter survival, and its production +was a matter of extreme concern. Even today the +pine-nut harvest becomes a paramount interest among +all the Washo during the last part of the summer. +Speculations as to its size, wishes for rain, and survey +trips into the pine-nut hills become common, and +according to one informant: <q>If we have a couple of +bad years somebody will say, <q>We ought to have a +pine-nut dance,</q> and then we'll have one.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The following account of the pine-nut dances of the +past was given to me by a man, now almost blind, of +between seventy-five and eighty. His father claimed to +be chief of the Washo through an affinal relationship +to the famous Captain Jim, and my informant maintains +the claim, stoutly denied by all other Washo except +his relatives and admitted by them only when +they are forced to depend on his hospitality. The account +is one of a well-regulated four-day ceremony +of the first fruit. However, it will become apparent +as other information is presented that it is a highly +idealized version. It is valuable, however, because it +includes a number of sacred elements of obvious importance. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<p> +<q rend='pre'>This prayer<note place='foot'>Used in an +adjectival sense. In the reference below prayer is used +nominally.</note> fella [Captain Jim] lived at Double +Springs all year round. He would have a dream telling +him when to have a meeting. He was what you +would call a religious man. He would get someone +he could trust and send out a long, tanned string of +hide with knots in it. For every day until the meeting +there was a knot and every day the messenger +untied a knot so the people would know how many +days they had until the meeting.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>All the men came and hunted for four days, and +the women would start gathering pine nut. They would +hang up the game to let it dry.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The prayer wouldn't eat meat during those four +days but he could drink cold water, and some lady +would cook him pine nut.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Every night they would have a dance. On the +fourth day everybody would bring the food they had +and put it in front of the prayer, and then he would +pick some man who was fair [just] and the food was +divided a little before sunrise. If you have a small +family you get less, if you have a big family you +get more.</q><note place='foot'>No matter how reluctant +aged Washo may have been to discuss other +aspects of the past, they became eloquent about any occasion on which +food was plentiful. They describe in minute detail the kinds and amount +of food at a feast although they cannot remember the time, place, or +those present.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Then the prayer makes a prayer something like +this: <q>Our father I dream that we must take a bath +and then paint. Even the childrens ... [we must] +wash away the bad habits so we won't get sick from +the food we have in front of us!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then everybody go to the river ... no matter +if there was a little ice on the water, and take a +bath. If they was not near the river they bathed the +kids from baskets at Double Springs. The prayer he +prayed for pine nut, rabbit, and deer.</q> +</p> +</quote> + +<p> +Suzie Dick, an ancient Washo woman who claims to +have reached the century mark in 1959, recalls that +Captain Jim was her mother's sister's son and that +she called him brother. He was a big man in a figurative +if not a literal sense. He wore eagle feathers on +his head and arms. He had red trousers made out of +a blanket with feathers on the sides of the legs. As +she remembers him at these ceremonies: <q>He would +scare you to death.</q> The assembled Washo brought +pine nuts, deer meat, megal [Indian tea], and much +other food. Captain Jim prayed and gave a sermon, +urging everyone to drink water and avoid liquor, and +supervised four nights of dancing. +</p> + +<p> +Judging from the age of these two informants, these +meetings, which they claim were attended by all the +Washo, were held between 1880 and 1900. Most Washo +agree that these large meetings were the way <q>they +did it in the old days.</q> However, <q>the old days</q> appear +not to be aboriginal but the late nineteenth century, +when the Washo experienced a brief period of +semi-unity and prosperity. +</p> + +<p> +Rupert, the psychologically oriented shaman comments, +<q>Hell, them northern Washo didn't come down +to Double Springs very much. They got their pine nuts +southeast of Reno. Captain Jim he was only a big man +to them Carson Valley Washo. He didn't have nothing +to say to the northern bunch.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Despite this, it seems clear that during the last +part of the nineteenth century large numbers of Washo +from the various areas did, in fact, gather at Double +<pb n='383'/><anchor id='Pg383'/> +Springs prior to the pine nutting. It seems equally +clear that this was distinctly a postwhite phenomenon +and that in aboriginal times such gatherings were +much smaller. +</p> + +<p> +The essential elements of these pine-nut ceremonies +are clear. There was a gathering of a number of bands, +usually at the prompting of a dreamer who knew certain +prayers and songs which would insure a successful +harvest. There was a sharing of food among the +celebrants, as well as dancing and ceremonial bathing. +Such affairs were held in Sierra Valley and at Double +Springs and probably at a number of other places in +the pine-nut hills. +</p> + +<p> +The large celebrations at Double Springs appear to +have taken on a distinctly nativistic or revitalistic +cast. Informants remember Captain Jim's exhortations +to abstain from white man's whiskey, to treat each +other as brothers and sisters, to eat Indian food, and +to apply themselves to the business of hunting and +gathering. He himself refused to wear new white clothing +but accepted only used garments. It was during +this period that Washo received individual pine-nut +allotments based on their traditional picking grounds. +</p> + +<p> +Mooney (1896), whose information on the Washo was +filtered through the Paiute, reports the Washo during +this period as a shattered remnant of a former society +eking out an existence in the dump heaps of white settlements +in Nevada. The fact that the Washo did not +respond to the Ghost Dance seems in his mind to support +his notions about the condition of the tribe. However, +among older informants this period is invariably +recalled as an almost golden age. Although the implications +of movements such as the Ghost Dance were +not clear in Mooney's time, it seems more than likely +that the Washo failed to join the movement because +they were not suffering the social and cultural dislocation +of the Paiute, Plains tribes, or California Indians +and, in fact, may have been undergoing a process of +social unification under Captain Jim. This unification +appears to have had its primary symbolization in the +ritual activity which surrounded earlier ceremonies +concerned with pine-nut harvesting. The use of a hide +string to summon people to the meeting appears earlier +as a war signal used by a threatened band to entreat +other Washo (often not too successfully) to come +to their aid. +</p> + +<p> +With the death of Captain Jim, the large gatherings +at Double Springs appear to have ceased. In the words +of one informant, <q>When he died all them things like +the knotted string and that stuff died with him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +After his death the pine-nut dances continued to be +held in various places in Washo country—Sugar Loaf +Mountain, Genoa, and Sierra Valley being the most +frequently mentioned. Jim's daughter (or sister's daughter) +who was married to the claimant Captain Pete +and was the mother of the present claimant, Hank Pete, +staged a number of dances around Genoa until her death. +This action is of interest in view of the fact that she +was considered a dangerous woman and a poisoner. It +suggests that there was in fact no clear distinction between +doctors and witches or sorcerers. Her knowledge +of pine-nut prayers and songs made her essential in the +ceremony despite the fear the Washo may have had of her. +</p> + +<p> +Since her death in the early 1940's, pine-nut dances +have been less frequent. Only one woman among the +Washo is reputed to know all the songs, although I +suspect that several others are in possession of this +knowledge but refuse to come forth and serve as +leaders, in keeping with Washo reluctance to assume +responsible roles. +</p> + +<p> +After a number of years without a dance, the custom +was revived in the early 1950's at Dresslerville. The +dances were staged because previous crops had been +poor and it was felt a dance would increase the harvest. +</p> + +<p> +These dances, supervised by the woman who knew +the songs, were not considered too successful because +both Indian dances and white men's dances were conducted. +Indian dances were held outside the community +house while younger couples danced in the white manner +inside. The prayers, bathing, and dreams played +a very minor role, although food was supplied. From +the accounts these dances sounded extremely secular +with an emphasis on the recreational aspects, particularly +dancing. However, the consensus that the ceremonies +were not successful because of the introduction +of white-style dancing suggests that the Indian dances +still retain some of their former sacred character. It +was agreed that a dance might be held today or in the +future if the crops were poor. Here again the present +economic situation of the Washo tends to limit these +affairs to weekends. The impossibility of holding four-day +dances however, is not considered serious by most +Washo. Several informants stoutly denied that there +was any requirement that the dance last four days. +They implied that those who insisted on this were +simply trying to make it sound more important (note +that using the figure four makes something more important). +Their accounts report that the dances might +last from one or two days to a week during which +time games were played, dances held, and the ritual +described earlier carried out. However, there is no +doubt that the dances were important to the success +of the harvest and the well-being of the harvesters. +One informant recalls that: <q>Sometimes them pine nuts +was ripe before the dance. If we picked them then +[before the dance], we took a bath every day before +we started picking but we didn't have to do that after +the dance.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The following incident illustrates the attitude most +conservative Washo have toward the pinyon pine. +D'Azevedo (personal communication) accompanied an +elderly woman to her pine-nut allotment where she +discovered that illegal Christmas-tree cutters had +topped a number of trees, which she believed destroyed +their ability to bear. Her response was of +sorrow rather than anger. She sat under her trees for +a long time apologizing to her father, from whom she +had inherited the plot, and to the spirits of the trees. +</p> + +<p> +There seems to have been little ritual involved in +other gathering activities, except for the dances to +make the seeds grow mentioned in the element lists +(2621). This practice must have been occasional and +relatively old, because it is no longer part of the +memories of older informants. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='384'/><anchor id='Pg384'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Miscellaneous Ritual</head> + +<p> +Although modern informants do not remember taboos +dealing with hair combing and scratching during menstruation, +they do recall being warned against combing +their hair at night. <q>My father used to say that if we +did it we'd marry out of the tribe. Mike (her husband) +used to tell the same thing to our girls but they didn't +listen and every one of them married out of the tribe.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The dried body of a bat, described as having several +different kinds of hair (Lowie 1939, p. 332) was a +powerful gambling charm. Professional Indian gamblers, +who traveled about the country participating in the hand +game, often carried one. Bat power was considered extremely +dangerous if one did not know how to use it. +<q>My daughter found a bat in a field one day, but an +old Indian said that if she didn't know how to treat it, +it would eat up her children.</q> Women especially were +afraid of bat-talismans and of living bats. The Washo +believe that a bat charm is also a powerful love medicine +and that a woman once touched by such a charm +is powerless in the hands of its owner. <q>You touch a +woman with that thing and it hypnotizes her. She follow +the guy and die if she don't go with him. I don't believe +I ever heard of a Washo use one. We'd be too afraid. +But them Paiutes and Shoshones use it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Except for the painting of a girl during her puberty +dance, painting of the face and body had little part in +Washo ritualism, although its social significance may +have been important (Lowie 1939, p. 304). However, +certain other customs of dress and adornment appear +to have had religious significance. Eagle feathers and +magpie feathers, as well as a bearskin robe, conferred +power. A similar notion may explain the use of the +skin of the agile and wise long-tailed weasel as a +binding for hair braids. +</p> + +<p> +The hooting of an owl or singing of birds at night was +considered as a warning of danger or an omen of death. +</p> + +</div> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Influence Of Christianity</head> + +<p> +The Washo have been exposed to Christianity from +two main sources. Missionary groups have maintained +representatives from time to time at one or another +of the Washo colonies. A church dominates the appallingly +dreary landscape of Dresslerville. Weather and +neglect have caused the building to deteriorate. Permanent +missionizing efforts apparently have been +abandoned. One church group carries on a summer +Bible class for children and sewing classes for women. +Funerals are generally conducted by a Christian minister, +but this appears to be a sop to white opinion rather +than the result of any real desire on the part of +the Washo to become Christians. At best they seem +to have simply incorporated Christian services as another +source of power. It is less than surprising that +a people whose main religious emphasis seems to +have been on curing or subsistence ritual should have +found white doctors useful but white ministers a rather +mysterious and superfluous bit of white culture. +</p> + +<p> +The other main source of Christian ideas has been +the peyote cult, which includes a roughly Christian +version of God and Christ visualized as the father and +the brother. The cross, pictures of Christ, and references +to Jesus play a role in peyote ceremonialism. +Other investigators (d'Azevedo and Merriam 1951; Stewart +1944) have noted a shift toward Indian tradition in +the Washo peyote cult, with an attending reduction of +Christian ideas. The attitude of one Washo woman +sums the question up quite well: <q>I think them peyote +people [she was not a peyotist but had encouraged her +son to attend a meeting to cure a back injury] believe +more what they doing than the white preacher.</q> Her +own religion is summed up in her actions. In addition +to sending her son to peyote meetings, she had taken +her granddaughter to the shaman and is a regular attendant +at the church sewing school. She was also the +person who waited until the minister left the church +to repeat ancient funeral prayers. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='385'/><anchor id='Pg385'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Bibliography</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Abbreviations</hi> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>AA: American Anthropologist</l> +<l>BAE: Bureau of American Ethnology</l> +<l>SI-MC: Smithsonian Institution, Miscellaneous Collections</l> +<l>UC: University of California Publications</l> +<l>UC-AR: Anthropological Records</l> +<l>UC-PAAE: American Archaeology and Ethnology</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Barrett, Samuel A.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1917. +The Washo Indians. Bull. Milwaukee Pub. Mus., Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-52.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Cartwright, W. D.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1952. A Washo Girls' Puberty Ceremony. Pro. 30th +Int. Cong. of Americanists, pp. 136-142. London.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Dangberg, Grace</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1927. Washo Texts. UC-PAAE 22:391-443.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>d'Azevedo, Warren L., and A. P. Merriam</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1957. Washo Peyote Songs. AA 59:615-641.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Freed, Stanley A.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1960. Changing Washo Kinship. UC-AR 14:349-418.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Heizer, Robert F.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1950. Kutsavi, A Great Basin Indian Food. Kroeber +Anthro. Papers, No. 2 (Fall), pp. 35-41.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Kroeber, Alfred L.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1907. Religion of the Indians of California. UC-PAA 4:319-356.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Kluckhohn, Clyde, and Dorothea Leighton</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1947. The Navaho. Cambridge; London.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Lowie, Robert H.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1939. Ethnographic Notes on the Washo. UC-PAAE 36:301-352.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Mooney, James</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1896. The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890. +BAE 14th Ann. Report, Part 2, pp. 641-1136.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1928. Aboriginal population of America North of Mexico. +SI-MC 80, No. 7, Washington, D. C.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Siskin, E. E.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>MS The Impact of the Peyote Cult Upon Shamanism Among the Washo Indians. +Ph.D. Diss. 1941. Yale Univ.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Steward, Julian H.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1936. Myths of the Owens Valley Paiute. UC-PAAE 34:355-440.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1941. Culture Element Distribution, XIII: Nevada Shoshone. UC-AR 4:209-360.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Stewart, Omer C.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1941. Culture Element Distribution, XIV: Northern Paiute. UC-AR 4:361-446.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1944. Washo-Northern Paiute Peyotism. UC-PAAE 40:63-142.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Whiting, Beatrice Blyth</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>1950. Paiute Sorcery, New York.</l> +</lg> + +</div> +</body> + +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div id="footnotes"> + <index index="toc" /> + <index index="pdf" /> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter" /> + </div> +</back> +</text> +</TEI.2> |