CULTURAL RULES

NATURE WAS FULLY ALIVE WITH EVERY ROCK, HILL, VALLEY, WIND, PLANT, AND ANIMAL - THEY EXHIBITED SPIRITUAL FORCES. THERE WERE CULTURAL RULES FROM OFFENDING WHO MIGHT REACT EMOTIONALLY AND CAUSE LIGHTENING, THUNDER, WHIRLWINDS, OR EARTHQUAKES. THERE WERE TABOOS OBSERVED CONCERNING THEIR DIET, MENSTRUAL CYCLES, AND SEXUAL ACTIVITIES BEFORE HUNTING AND GATHERING. ALL OVER CALIFORNIA TRIBES HAD TWO RULES : 1) LEAVE SOME OF WHAT WAS GATHERED, 2) DON'T WASTE WHAT YOU HAVE HARVESTED. SOME ACORNS WERE LEFT ON THE TREES, SOME BERRIES LEFT ON BUSHES AND SOME TUBERS WERE LEFT IN THE GROUND. THEY KNEW THERE WOULD BE OTHERS HERE AFTER THEY HAD GONE. WE LIKE TO LEAVE SOMETHING FOR THE OTHERS WHO COME AFTER. THIS RULE WAS ADHERED TO BY MOST CALIFORNIA INDIANS. THERE WERE RITUALS THAT SURROUNDED THE ACT OF HARVESTING, HUNTING OR FISHING AND THEY WERE AS IMPORTANT AS THE ACT. THEY HAD A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH THEIR FOOD BY SAYING A SILENT PRAYER BEFORE EATING. THEY BELIEVED THAT STRAYING FROM THIS BELIEF WOULD DIMINISH THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS. AS A SPECIAL POMO BASKET MAKER "WHEN YOU DIG THESE BASKET ROOTS, YOU DON'T NEED TO RUSH IN THERE AND RUN ALL OVER, YOU DON'T DO THAT. MY MOM APPROACHED THE GRASS VERY SLOWLY. SHE'D COME AND STAND AND SAY A PRAYER. SHE ALSO HAD A CANE, AND SHE'D TOUCH THIS GRASS WITH VERY SLOW MOVEMENTS. SHE DIDN'T GO IN THERE AND START DIGGING. SHE'D COME TO A CERTAIN BED OF SEDGES AND TRY IT AND THEN SHE'D GO TO ANOTHER ONE AND TRY IT. BEFORE SHE EVER SAT DOWN SHE'D ASK SPIRIT TO GIVE HER PLENTY - THANK YOU YOU GAVE ME ENOUGH.

MOST TRIBES HAD LEGENDS THAT VIVIDLY TOLD OF THE CONSEQUENCES THAT WOULD BEFALL HUMAN IF THEY TOOK NATURE FOR GRANTED OR VIOLATED NATURAL LAWS.

KAT ANDERSON