PAIPAIIN IN BAJA,MEXICO

PAIPAI ARE AN ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF NORTHERN BAJA, MEXICO. THEY OCCUPIED AN AREA NEAR KILIWA ON THE SOUTH SHORE OF THE KUMEYAAY. TODAY MOST LIVE IN SANTA CATARINA. TODAY MOST LIVE IN SANTA CATARINA. THEY BELONG TO THE YUMAN LINGUISTIC STOCK. THE YUMAN MAY HAVE SEPARATED FROM SEVERAL OTHER BRANCHES ABOUT 100 TO 1700 YEARS AGO. SOME OF THEIR PEOPLE WERE ASSOCIATED WITH MISSIONS. ONE RESEARCHER ESTIMATED THERE WERE 1800 PAIPAI.

THEIR ABORIGINAL SUBSISTENCE WAS WITH HUNTING AND GATHERING VS. AGRICULTURE. NUMEROUS PLANTS WERE COLLECTED INCLUDING AGAVE, YUCCA, MESQUITE, PRICKLY PEAR, ACORNS, PINE NUTS, AND JUNIPER BERRIES. MANY OTHERS PLANTS SERVED AS MEDICINE AND CRAFT MATERIALS. THEY HUNTED DEER, ANTELOPE, BIG HORN SHEEP, RABBITS, WOODRATS, SMALL QUAIL. FISH AND SHELLFISH. CROPS WERE INTRODUCED HISTORICALLY.

THEY BUILT THATCHED ROOF HOUSES AND RAMADAS AND SWEATHOUSES, THEY MADE POTTERY, BASKETRY MANOS, AND METATES, MORTARS, AND PESTLES, STOVE KNIVES, RABBIT ROBES, SANDALS, BASKETRY CAPS AND CRADLES.

IT WAS A PATRILOCAL SOCIETY. IN HISTORIC TIMES THE COMMUNITY WAS FLUID. NO FORMAL LEADERS WERE THERE. RECREATION INCLUDED GAMES - SHINNEY, KICKBALL RACES THE RING AND PIN GAMES, JUGGLING and CAT'S CRADDLE. THEY SANG AND MADE CRUDE FLUTES AND GOURD RATTLES.. PETS WERE KEPT.

SHAMANS COULD CURE OR CAUSE DISEASE. THEY COULD MAKE OR PREVENT RAIN. THEY GOT POWERS THROUGH DREAMING AND TAKING TAKING DATURA. GIRLS WERE INITIATED BY BATHING AND TOOK PART IN RITES. THEY HAD RESTRICTIONS DURING MENSES. BOYS CEREMONIES WERE RACING, FASTING AND NOSE PIERCING.

MARRIAGE WAS NOT VERY FORMAL THERE WERE TABOOS FOR PARENTS WHO HAD A BABY. THE MOST ELABORATE CEREMONY WAS FOR FUNERALS. THEY WERE CREMATED AND THEIR PROPERTY DESTROYED. TABOOS WERE CREATED REGARDING HUNTING EXPEDITIONS.

THEY HAD MANY ORAL HISTORIES AND MYTHS. IN 1602 THEY FIRST ENCOUNTERED THE EUROPEANS AND SPANISH. IN 1769 SPANISH FOLKS ESTABLISHED MISSIONS AT SANTA CATARINA AND IT WAS DESTROYED BY 1840 BY INDIANS

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