THE CAHUILLA WOULD SPEAK TO GRIZZLEY BEARS WHEN THEY MET THEM IN THE FOREST THE'Y SAY "I AM LOOKING FOR FOOD - YOU ARE HUMAN AND UNDERSTAND ME, TAKE MY WORD AND GO AWAY." HUMAN RYTHMS WERE TIED TO NATURAL CYCLES AND SOME TRIBES PLANNED WHEN THEY CONCIEVED A BABY SO THAT IT WOULD BE BORN DURING DIFFERENT SEASONS.
PEOPLE CARRIED OUT WORLD RENEWAL CEREMONIES IN ORDER TO DRIVE AWAY SICKNESS , PREVENT NATURAL DISASTERS SUCH AS EARTHQUAKES, LANDSLIDES OR FLOODS, AND TAP THE ABUNDANCE OF NATURAL FOODS. THEY STILL USE THESE TRADITIONS.
CALIFORNIA INDIANS USED A SORT OF PROTOAGRICULTURE WHICH WAS VERY ANCIENT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD - PERHAPS 30 - 50,000 YEARS OLD IN AFRICA AND ASIA. IT MEANS THAT THIS WAS A SUCCESSFUL WAY THAT PEOPLE CARED ABOUT TENDING AND PLANTING CERTAIN PLANT SPECIES. THEY HAD KNOWLEDGE OF NATIVE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR CONSERVING THE PLAQNTS AND HABITAT FOR RARE RARE SPECIES. THEY USED A VARIETY OF TECHNIQUES TO ENSURE THEIR RESOURCES WOULD BE PRESERVED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. CALIFORNIA HAS HAD AN ABUNDANCE OF FOODS NATURAL VEGETATION AS WELL AS ANIMALS DURING PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC TIMES. THESE TRIBES HAD NO AGRICULTURE PER SAY. SOME OF THE WILD VEGETATION HERE INCLUDE: CHIA SEEDS, BUTTERCUP SEEDS, MANZANITA BERRIES, CACTUS PADS (mEXICAN IN ORIGIN), WILD ONIONS, NATIVE POTATOES -BRODEIA, BLACKBERRIES, MUSHROOMS, WILD GRASSES, WILD CURRANTS, SWEET CLOVER, TULE STEMS AND ROOTS, ACORNS, BUCKEYES, AND PEPPERWOOD NUTS. IN THE DESERT THE NATIVES ATE MESQUITE PADS AND YAMPAH.
THESE PROLIFIC FOODS BENEFITTED WILDLIFE AS WELL - WHICH WAS QUITE ABUNDANT BEFORE THE EUROPEANS CAME HERE FOR MINING AND EXPLOITED SOME OF THE ANIMALS. THE NATIVES DID SOW SEEDSNEAR THEIR VILLAGES AND PRUNED AND TENDED PLANTS AROUND THEIR VILLAGES TO INCLUDE PRODUCTIVITY. THEY ALSO PINCHED OFF LEAAVES TO ENCOURAGE GROWTH, USED DIGGING STICKS TO AERATE AND WEED SOILS.THEIR UNDERSTORY BURNING HELPED BERRY PLANTS BEAR MORE FRUIT, AND INCREASED SMALL GRASSES, AND REDUCED INSECT PESTS.
THE DESERT DWELLERS KEPT WADS OF LEMONADE BERRY LEAVES IN THEIR MOUTHS TO KEEP THEIR MOUTHS WET ON LONG DISTANCE JOURNEYS. A SMALL HANDFUL OF CHIA SEEDS KEPT IN THE MOUTH WOULD SUSTAIN AN INDIAN FOR HOURS.
PLANT HORTICULTURAL TECHNIQUES
THEY BURNED UNDERNEATH THE OAKS AND INTO THE VALLEYS ON THE FALL AND YOU WOULD SEEMANY BEAUTIFUL WILDFLOWERS AND THEY WANTED TO GATHER AND THE SEEDS OR GRIND THEM FOR FLOUR.
THE TRIBES HAD VERY DIVERSE DIETS WITH THE WIDE VARIETY OF NATIVE PLANTS. EACH MEMBER MEMORIZED EACH ASPECT OF EVERY PLANT IN THEIR TERRITORY, INCLUDING HOW TO PICK IT, USE IT, PREPARE AND COOK IT.THEIR SEEDS, NUTS AND BERRIES PROVED A BETTER DIET THAN MOST OF US EAT TODAY. THEY HAD MANAGEMENTTECHNIQUES THAT SUSTAINED THEIR DIVERSITY OF PLANTS AND ACTUALLY INCREASED THE PLANT ABUNDANCE. BY THE TIME ETHNOGRAPHERS BEGAN RECORDING INFO ABOUT INDIAN TRIBES THE FLORA HAD CHANGED SIGNIFICANTLY.
THE NATIVE GRASSES WERE REPLACED FROM EUROPE DUE TO THE INTRODUCTION OF CATTLE. EVEN SO THE TRIBES GATHERED SOME OF THESE AS WELL. MOST WOMEN ALL OVER CALIFORNIA COLLECTED VARIOUS GRASSES AND WILDFLOWER SEEDS WITH SEED BEATERS AND BURDEN BASKETS. THEY WORE ABALONE SO AS TO STARTLE THE SNAKES. THE SEEDS CAN BE STORED FOR WINTER USE. SOME OF THESE SEEDS WERE SPIRITUAL AND FOUND IN BURIALS. THE KLAMATH GATHERED 30 POUNDS OF WATER LILY SEEDS FROM MARSHES PER DAY. CHILDREN WOULD PLAY NEAR THEIR MOMS. SOME OF THEIR WATER LILY SEEDS WERE STORED IN BASKETS HUNG IN THEIR WALLS. OR THEY HAD PITS LINED WITH CEDAR TO STORE SEEDS. THEY PARCHED THE SEEDS BEFORE EATING WITH HOT STONES PLACED ON WINNOWING BASKETS SO THE CHAFF WAS REMOVED AND THE FLAVORING CAME OUT. THEN IT COULD BE EATEN, BUT MORE LIKELY THEY WERE POUNDED INTO A FLOUR . THE FLOUR COULD BE MOISTENED AND THE BALL EATEN BY HAND OR BAKED INTO A BREAD OR BOILED IN A SOUP.
THIS MIXTURE IS CALLED PINOLE AND IS A SPANISH WORD DERIVED FROM AN AZTEC WORD MEANING CORN MEAL. IF THE FLOUR WAS BAKED INTO A BREAD IT WAS NO LONGER PINOLE. THERE WERE MORE THAN 30 TYPES OF PINOLE GATHERED BY YUKI, POMO, AND WAILAKI.
WHILE THE WOMEN WERE COLLECTING SEED THEY WERE ALSO SCATTERING SEEDS FOR THE NEXT YEARS CROP. THESE SEEDS WERE SCATTERED AFTER BURNS. THEIR UNDERSTORY BURNING AIDED CLEARING OF BRUSH FROM THE ACORN TREES. IT FOSTERED GROWTH OF SEED BEARING ANNUALS.
UNDERSTORY BURNING WAS PLANNED OVER LARGE AREAS IN THE WEST TO APPLY GRASSES AND TO SMALL PLANTS SUCH AS TAR WEED AND WILD TOBACCO. ANTHROPOLOGIST ERNIE VOEGELIN RECORDED BURNING FOR BETTER SEED CROPS IN ELEVEN TRIBES KLAMATH, MODOC, EASTERN SHASTA, WESTERN SHASTA, ATSEGEWI, WESERN ACHUMAWI, MC CLOUD RIVER WINTU, MOUNTAIN MAIDU, NORTHWEST MAIDU, NISENAN, AND SOUTH MOUNTAIN NISENAN. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO INSTALL FIRE EXCLUSION POLICIES SO THE INDIANS COULD NOT BURN AFTER THAT.
KAT ANDERSON
KAT ANDERSON
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