1
THE YUKI
THE Yukian linguistic family comprised groups speaking five dialects.
Three of these, namely, Yuki proper (Round Valley), Witukomnom
(Eden Valley), and Huchnom (Potter Valley, or Redwoods), were cur-
rent in the northeastern section of Yukian territory, which, beginning
a few miles north of Round valley in Mendocino county, stretched
southward along Eel river, past the confluence of South Eel river
and Middle fork, and extending beyond the headwaters of South Eel
into Potter valley in the Russian River drainage. On the east this area
reached the summit of the Coast range at the sources of Middle fork
and its tributaries, and the eastern affluents of South Eel river.
West of this division, and nearly separated from it by the intrusion
of the Kato, was the country of the Coast Yuki, extending on the coast
from Athapascan territory at Usal creek southward about twenty miles
to Pomo ground at a point about midway between Ten Mile river and
Fort Bragg.
The fifth Yukian dialect, which differs from the others more than
they differ among themselves, was that of the Wappo, occupying a
detached area about forty miles south of their nearest congeners, in the
northeastern corner of Sonoma county, and specifically in Alexander
valley of Russian river, near Healdsburg.
Only the Yuki proper will be discussed in these pages.
The name of this group is a Wintun word meaning “aliens.” It
appears to have been applied to them by a misunderstanding, for the
central Wintun, who adjoin them on the east, call them, not Yuki, but
Nómkehl (“west foreign language”); while the more distant northern
Wintun apply the term Yúke, not to the Yuki but to the Shasta of
Shasta valley.
The Yuki proper had no collective name for themselves. They
were divided into at least nine local bands, which were severally inde-
pendent, uniting one with another only for temporary purposes. They
occupied the country from north of Round valley to south of Two Riv-
ers at the junction of Middle fork with South Eel river, and one band,
the Sukshultatanom, were on Hull creek (Súkshudltatúm, “straight
pine”), a tributary of North fork. The remainder of the watershed of
North fork belonged to the Wailaki. In topography and vegetation this
region is very like the home of the Wailaki, differing principally in be-
From the World Wisdom online library:
www.worldwisdom.com/public/library/default.aspx
2
The North American Indian: Volume 14
ing more elevated; for the permanent villages of the Yuki were nearer
the headwaters, and their summer range extended to the summit of
the Coast range.
Their neighbors, besides other Yuki-speaking groups, were the
Kato, Sinkyone, and Wailaki on the west, northwest, and north; vari-
ous Wintun bands on the north and east; and Pomo on the south. With
all these at one time or another, and more or less among themselves,
the several Yuki divisions and bands engaged in hostilities. The Wil-
liams Valley and Blue Nose Ridge bands combined to fight the Wailaki,
and the Huititnom, on South fork of Middle fork, were enemies to the
adjacent Wintun bands on account of the salt deposit on Salt creek
directly east of them across the summit of the Coast range in the ter-
ritory of the Wintun. The Yuki on the headwaters of South Eel river
were excellent friends with that isolated band of Pomo who controlled
the salt beds on Stony creek, although with other Pomo divisions these
Stony Creek people were seldom on the best of terms, being extreme-
ly chary of granting the privilege of gathering salt. Among Yukian divi-
sions, the Witukomnom of Eden valley were generally at enmity with
their southern neighbors, the Huchnom, on account of trespass on
game or food preserves or mistreatment of unprotected women. They
fought also with the Pomo of Potter valley; but with the Yuki proper
they were as a rule on friendly terms. No feuds marred the mutual
relations of the bands of the Yuki proper; nevertheless, the Ukomnom
and the Odlkátno’m, close neighbors on opposite sides of Round val-
ley, held no friendly intercourse just prior to the advent of the white
race. About that time the Ukomnom paid a visit to the Odlkátno’m,
who possessed a comparatively much more developed ceremonial life.
When the visiting young men saw the Odlkátno’m chief take his place
on the housetop to deliver a speech, they laughed at him, and one of
them, with an Indian’s keenness for ludicrous comparison, said, “That
is the way a squirrel does!” This was an insult which their hosts found
it difficult to forgive.
The methods of war did not vary markedly from those practised
by their Athapascan neighbors. They performed the war-dance and
the victory-dance, and carried home the heads of the enemy’s slain,
there to remove the scalps and prepare them for permanent trophies.
Some warriors protected themselves with untanned elk-skin tunics,
and dashed fearlessly among the enemy, dodging here and there only to
3
The North American Indian: Volume 14
avoid capture; for arrows could not penetrate their armor. Few besides
the war-chiefs had these tunics.
The Yuki do not figure prominently in the history of the state.
They suffered the usual penalties of residence in a country attractive
to miners, and lost a considerable part of their population. In 1859
they were placed on Nome Cult Indian Farm in Mendocino county,
which a few years later became Round Valley reservation. At that
time they were reported to number about three thousand, and with
them were gathered, in greater or lesser number, individuals of various
other tribes, such as Wintun, Wailaki, Pomo, Achomawi, and Maidu.
In 1910 there were enumerated ninety-five Yuki, fifteen Coast Yuki,
fifteen Huchnom, and seventy-three Wappo.
A repeated description or even a summary of the material culture
of the small groups of this immediate region would be tedious and not
particularly profitable, and it must suffice to say that in this phase the
Yuki did not greatly differ from the Kato and Wailaki. However, the
catching of fish by the use of narcotic herbs, mentioned as a Wailaki
practice, is here to be described in detail; and the stalking of deer with
the aid of a disguise, unknown to these Athapascans of California,
must be mentioned as a Yuki custom.
When fish were numerous in a quiet pool, the water trickling into
it from above was diverted by a dam of brush and stones, and then
either nush (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) or kíchidl-wâimol or lílmidl
(both unidentified) was crushed on a stone and thrown into the pool.
Any one or any combination of these could be used, but the favorite
method was to use all together. If soap-plant (Chlorogalum) was used
alone, a considerable quantity was required, but the others are much
more powerful, and particularly lílmidl. In a short time, varying from
half an hour to an hour according to the quantity used, the fish began
to swim about in great agitation, and after another brief period they lay
near the edge quiescent, and could be taken in the net. If the pool were
left for half a day or all night, the fish were found lying quite dead on
the bottom. During the entire process, until the fish showed the effect
of the drug, the following formulas were constantly repeated:
1. Túk-mol túki yútika.
water goers move in a circle ?
2. Hudl híhlka, híhlka, híhlka.
4
The North American Indian: Volume 14
eyes pop out pop out pop out
The decoction of lílmidl is still used for pain in the stomach, and
the leaves are rubbed on the body for rheumatism.
The deerskin disguise and its use have been described in the pre-
ceding volume as a Shasta hunting method. When a Yuki hunter had
repeated bad luck with his disguise, the game scenting him and run-
ning away, he would take it to a deer-lick, and after singing a certain
song would dip the skin into the water. In the same manner deer-
snares were sometimes purified.
The favorite play for men is ál-t!a
n
i-motmil (“wood tied-around
gambling-instrument”), the previously described grass game. The
woman’s dice game, á1-cha (“wood scatter”), is played with six half-
round sticks blackened on one side, which are cast in a bunch, end
foremost, down upon a blanket. With three black and three white
faces exposed, the count is one point; with all of a color, two points.
Shinny, tit (“roll ball”), used to be played for wagers between teams of
six or seven men. The ball was rudely shaped, cut from the leg-bone
of a deer or from a block of wood. Distance shooting with arrows, as
well as shooting at a stake for accuracy, was practised; and young men
wrestled for wagers or for sport, grasping each other’s biceps. They did
not indulge in running.
Generally the houses of a Yuki community were scattered over a
comparatively wide area, three or four constituting the nucleus and
the others being placed here and there in favorable spots. Each vil-
lage possessed its own chief, and he had an assistant who frequently
consulted with him and made his decision known to the people. The
chief himself spent much time sitting in state in his house. He did not
hunt, and in fact performed no labor of any kind. Whenever anything
of unusual value, such as a very fine cougar-skin or bear-skin, was
obtained, it was brought to him as a token of honor. For his part the
chief was expected to take constant thought of the welfare of his peo-
ple, and at frequent intervals to invite them to partake of food, and to
plan dances for their amusement. The Yuki chief seems to have had
considerably more authority than the head-men of surrounding tribes.
He was the head of the people in all the daily affairs of life. He sent
hunters to obtain food for ceremonial feasts, and delegated women to
grind acorns for the same purpose. All disputes were referred to him.
5
The North American Indian: Volume 14
When any of his people committed depredations on other bands or
tribes, representatives of the offended ones came to him with their
demand for payment, and he was the one to act as judge and mediator,
and himself paid the required damages. If his utmost offer of indemnity
was insufficient in the eyes of the injured, it then became his duty to
issue orders to the war-chief, tlô
n
-húyukol (“war leader”), to prepare
for fighting.
The successor to a deceased chief was his son, or, in lieu of a son,
his daughter or his wife, if either were suitable; otherwise the office
passed to some male relative on either side. A female chief is said to
have been obeyed exactly as if she were a man. During the lifetime
of the chief his logical successor, whether son or daughter or other
youthful relative, received special training for the office, in the regular
schools for boys and girls.
The chief’s assistant, wítu-yukol (“work leader”), lived next to the
ceremonial house and took care of it, besides officiating as messenger
of the chief and general go-between in the relations of the chief with
the people. Sometimes he took the place of his superior and delivered
the morning harangue to the people from the roof of the assembly
house, admonishing them to be up and busy, to live at peace with all.
The assistant chief was charged with the duty of seeing that everything
went smoothly on all public occasions, and of maintaining order in the
village.
The war-chief was the head of all war-parties, but had no author-
ity to compel any man to accompany him or to enforce obedience in
the field. He, and usually he alone, wore an elk-skin tunic in battle.
There were no clans among the Yuki, the units of social organiza-
tion being the village group and the family.
Among the Yuki proper the relations of a man with his mother-
inlaw and of a woman with her father-in-law were rigidly restricted.
They avoided each other’s presence, and when they were necessarily
in the same place they averted their faces. They never addressed each
other. This custom however was foreign to the Witukomnom of Eden
valley.
In the spring young boys were taken into the ceremonial house to
be trained by the old men. For four days they received very little food
or water (an informant said none at all, but this is more than doubtful),
and during the entire term, which was repeated at intervals through
6
The North American Indian: Volume 14
the summer, they slept in the assembly house and received only pi-
nole or acorn soup. Instruction began at sunrise and continued in vari-
ous phases until sunset. The course included practically every phase
of life: the virtue of self-restraint and unselfishness; precepts regarding
the treatment of a wife; the methods of making and using weapons
and hunting implements; warfare; games, songs, and dances; and par-
ticularly myths and ceremonies and the mythic origin of the principal
customs and institutions. In teaching singing and dancing, the instruc-
tor had the assistance of some man who had officiated in ceremonies
as song-leader. In addition to all this, the pupils were given the hardest
kind of physical training, such as racing up hills and fighting battles
with wooden-pointed arrows and missiles such as oak-galls. Only those
who showed promise of developing into exceptional men were re-
tained in the class. If, for instance, when the tray of pinole was passed
around, any boy showed such lack of restraint as to reach suddenly for
it, he was sternly admonished, and the recurrence of a similar offense
meant dismissal. If a pupil interrupted an instructor’s discourse by a
restless movement, the old man stopped short and spoke no more for
that day. The parents of a very young child would sometimes go into
the assembly house, and sitting behind the wearied child would hold it
up in an erect, sitting posture. The promising pupils were taken back
into the class season after season, until there was nothing left for them
to learn. The youth who was expected to succeed his father in the of-
fice of chief was specially trained for the duties of that position. This
initiation was called Wók-num (“dance at”), or Taikómol-wóknum.
1
One who successfully passed through the school was Taikómol-wok-
númchi, and the families were pótidl-ólsil (“dust younger-one”).
Girls underwent training in a separate house under the tutelage of
other old men. The parents or other elderly relatives of some of the
pupils in these classes remained in the village to look after the physical
wants of their children and of the instructors (who received no pay),
while the rest of the population were roaming hills and valleys in quest
of the winter’s food.
The observance of Humnúm-wok (“adolescent-girl dance”) was
very strictly attended to; for it was taught that Taikó-mol, the creator,
1 Taikó-mol (“solitude walker”) is the creator.
7
The North American Indian: Volume 14
would severely punish the shaman in charge and the girl herself if they
committed any error. Two girls, but not more, were sometimes treated
at once.
When a girl’s first menstruation began, no matter what the rank
of the family, she was made to lie down in the house and to cover her
face with a deerskin or a basket; her face was not to be seen. She was
attended by an old woman, sometimes by two women, who brought
her a little water when she wished to drink, and at mealtime a little
vegetal food. If it became necessary to go outside, they led her out
with her face still covered. She was not permitted to scratch with the
fingers, but must use a stick. If the season was spring, summer, or
autumn, a brush enclosure (sut, shade) was built at once, in which
the women sang over her for four days and four nights. Otherwise,
seclusion and its accompanying restrictions were continued until the
weather permitted outdoor activities.
Although only women participated in the singing, the ceremony
was under the direction of an old shaman. The first singing occurred in
the afternoon. After a few songs, while the women danced in a circle
one of the attendants danced with the girl, these two facing each other
and holding their hands on each other’s shoulders. The girl’s head of
course was still covered. Within the enclosure was a shallow trench,
which from time to time they heated by burning in it a quantity of
fuel. Leaves of p!ú’nkini (locally called wormwood) were then spread
in the trench, and the girl reclined on them for a time. At night the
women sang a few songs and then danced; but the girl did not engage
in any activities. The same procedure was followed on the next three
days and nights. Then on the fifth morning the medicine-man called for
a few women to pound acorns and bake bread. Those who responded,
perhaps four to six in number, brought their own mortars, pestles,
and baskets, and when they had seated themselves in a row, the med-
icine-man addressed Taikó-mol as “our father above” and asked him
whether these women were all fit for the work they were to do. Two
or three other shamans stood near him to see that he did everything
in proper order, and listened to note what the reply would be. The
shaman professed to receive some answer, and if it purported to be to
the effect that some particular woman was unfit, he pointed her out
and declared that she would bring bad luck — a great storm or other
calamity — if she should pound acorns. Another then took her place,
8
The North American Indian: Volume 14
and again the shaman addressed Taikó-mol; and so it went until all the
women were pronounced satisfactory. These women were necessarily
persons of good character, industrious and capable workers, known to
observe all the religious restrictions, such for instance as not working at
basketry during their menstrual periods. They proceeded to pound up
acorns, while a man dug a pit and prepared it for baking bread; and fi-
nally the dough was spread on the hot stones and covered with leaves,
hot stones, earth, and embers. It remained there all night, and early in
the morning the bread was distributed among the people. The attend-
ants led the girl out to the stream, where they bathed her, rubbed her
body with wormwood leaves, placed a clean garment on her, and hung
about her neck a string of short cylindrical sections of angelica to im-
part a pleasing odor. The restriction of diet to vegetal foods continued
for an indefinite period. Some girls refrained from meat for as long as a
year, and the informant’s mother did so for nearly two years.
The Yuki dead were buried in a sitting posture facing the east,
with the knees drawn up to the chest, the body being wound with
rope and placed in a large basket, which was lowered into the grave.
The Huchnom are said to have burned those who died away from
home, and to have carried the bones and ashes back home for burial.
No food was deposited with the dead. The relatives, and any others
who felt great sorrow, threw some articles of value into the grave, and
about six months or a year later, if the deceased person were a man of
prominence, there occurred a ceremony in which much property was
burned. This was not to be done too soon after the burial, because in
that case the dead man’s eyes would burst.
Those who handled a corpse purified themselves by bathing and
rubbing wormwood leaves and angelica over their bodies. Names of
the dead were not spoken, except under penalty of severe punishment
at the hands of the outraged relatives; but if a name involved some
commonly used word, that word could be spoken when necessary,
the speaker uttering the deprecatory exclamation “Hai!” The soul or
“breath” was said to ascend to mit (“high”), where dwelt the “creator,”
Taikó-mol.
The basis of the shamanistic cult lay in dreams. The frequent oc-
currence of dreams or trances, in which a youth beheld certain spir-
its of the wilds, was certain proof that he was destined to become a
medicine-man. When a boy showed evidence of this disposition to
9
The North American Indian: Volume 14
dream, it was customary that his parents send for a shaman to cure
him; the medicine-man, however, would inform them that he could
not be cured, that the only remedy was to make him a shaman. More
often boys were deliberately thrown into a condition approximat-
ing unconsciousness in order to encourage dreams. Whenever it be-
came desirable to increase the number of embryonic medicine-men,
the shamans held a dance (lámsh-wok, shaman dance) for the purpose
of ascertaining what youths were fitted for the profession. During its
progress they grasped the selected youth by the hair, whirled him rap-
idly round and round until he was dizzy, and then held his face toward
the sun. Overcome by vertigo and blinded by the glare, the youth fell
as if unconscious, a condition which they regarded as a trance and
therefore favorable to visitation by the spirits. Blood appeared to flow
from all the orifices of the body.
Among the supernaturals that conferred shamanistic powers were
the bearded dwarfs called múmâdl-no’m (“hunting tribe”), and úk-átu
n
t
(“water people”). Bodies of water inhabited by the latter were regard-
ed as very dangerous and were avoided. Besides these, all animals were
believed to possess the ability to become preternatural at will.
In order to develop and mature the power conferred by the spir-
its seen in his dreams, the shamans sang over the youth, either in the
ceremonial house or, if the weather were favorable, in a brush shelter
erected for the purpose. Now and then the novice himself sang the
songs given to him by the spirits, but most of the time he lay motion-
less and speechless, as if in a trance. This cultivation of his power by
singing continued for a considerable time, even as long as a year, and
at the end of that period he was a full-fledged shaman, ready to accept
patients.
An informant related the experience of his grandfather.
He was a persistent deer-hunter, but he had been very unlucky.
One day, having hunted a long time without success, he heard a voice,
“Wait!” He looked about, but seeing no one, went on. Again he heard
the voice call, “Wait!” He stopped with his back against a pine and
nocked an arrow on the string. He faced a clump of manzanita. Out of
it came two old men. Their beards were long and bushy, but their stat-
ure was that of young boys. Their bows were blood-stained, and tied to
them were many deer-tails, which constantly twitched as if alive. They
pretended not to see him, keeping their faces turned aside and occa-
10
The North American Indian: Volume 14
sionally looking upward. Said one: “Well, brother, we have been out
since early morning, and have seen no deer. I do not see why we con-
tinue to hunt.” The other replied, “Well, brother, since we have seen
nothing, I think we may as well go back home.” With that they rose
and disappeared into the manzanita brush. As the hunter gazed after
them, there came a sharp crack like the explosion of a gun, and a puff
of something like smoke. Down he fell, unconscious. When he woke,
his bow and arrows and bag of pinole were gone, his body was covered
with blood. When he returned home, the shamans were called in to
cure him, and they decided that he must become a medicine-man. He
did so, and his special work was giving good luck to unsuccessful hunt-
ers, though he sometimes also cured the sick.
When a man dreamed of a bear, his spirit was taken by the bear
to its cave and there instructed in its songs and other secrets. He then
became a bear-shaman. Such men are said to have made a practice of
secretly dressing in bear-skins and going about in search of an opportu-
nity to kill. Sometimes a man would see a handsome, tattooed woman
with a burden-basket on her back, and would attempt to seduce her;
but she would prove to be a bear-woman, and would destroy him. If
this statement is not purely imaginative, it probably means that a man
would disguise himself as a woman and at a favorable opportunity
would kill an unsuspecting victim.
Yuki culture exhibits a deeper religious feeling than is com-
monly found in the tribes of northern California, outside of the ex-
treme northwest. Their religion centers about the cult of Taikó-mol,
for whom they had the greatest veneration, addressing him as “father
above.” This feeling is responsible for their present marked fondness
for church services, in which there is much repetition of the phrase
“our father in heaven.” Before each meal they used to pray: “Our fa-
ther, take care of us. This is your food that we are going to eat. Keep
our hearts good and take care of us.” Many of them still preserve this
custom.
There were three societies with functions that may be styled
religious. The first was the society into which youths were initiated
through a course of religious and physical training. This course, which
may be called an extended ceremony, was termed Taikómol-wóknum,
and the initiates were Taikómol-woknúmchi. It has already been dis-
cussed as the principal phase in Yuki boyhood life.
11
The North American Indian: Volume 14
The second was the society of shamans, who in addition to the
initiation rites of new shamans and the usual processes of treating sick-
ness, performed, for the benefit of those who were ill of a particularly
baffling complaint, a ceremony in which the creator, Taikó-mol, was
personated. The ceremony was very like that in which the Kato broke
the spell of Nághai-cho. The mythical character could be personated
only by a man who was Taikómol-woknúmchi, and his costume was
a befeathered garment and a knitted cap fitted over a coarse-meshed
willow cap with feathers of various kinds stuck into it. On each side
of the doorway in the house that sheltered the patient stood another
man, who whirled a bullroarer. The masker danced in the presence of
the sick man, and the bullroarers were whirled, in the hope of throw-
ing the sufferer into a trance, in which condition the medicine-men
could grasp the sickness.
The third society was that which had charge of the ceremony
called Hudlkílul-wóknum (“spirit dance-at”), the origin of which is
explained in this fashion: Among the many creations of Taikó-mol
were hudlkílul (spirits), which were to perform dances for the pleas-
ure of the people. But the sudden appearance and disappearance of
these apparitions so frightened the people that many fell sick and died;
and the others begged Taikó-mol to remove them. So he said that he
would let the people dress in imitation of these beings, and themselves
perform the dance; but he warned them not to indulge in it too fre-
quently, lest bad luck result.
When a performance of this so-called ghost dance was to be given,
a few members of the society, from three to five, went secretly into
the hills. The caretaker of the ceremonial house, who lived close by,
but not in it, cleared out the structure in preparation for the dance.
After dark the singers of the society assembled in the house, and soon
from different directions came the shouting and howling performers.
The caretaker climbed to the roof and summoned the people, who
quickly assembled, and soon the ghosts, having met outside the vil-
lage, came toward the assembly house. They stopped and went back
on their trail, and then advanced again. Four times they paused and
retreated before actually entering the house. Another member of the
society stood inside the doorway, and as they entered he said to each,
“Place your right foot here.” And each one set his left foot in the spot
indicated. If any failed to do the opposite of what he was told to do,
12
The North American Indian: Volume 14
his relatives had to pay a fine. So, obeying contrariwise the commands
of this official, the ghosts proceeded to a place behind the fire, where
a long hollow section of a half-log lay partially buried. On this they
all stood and stamped with their feet, continuing the yells to which
they had been giving voice ever since they approached the village. The
singer too had been singing constantly from the time their shouts were
first heard in the hills. These ghost dancers wore a circlet of upright
manzanita or laurel leaves about the head, and a deerskin breechcloth.
The body, legs, and arms were painted with alternate rings of white
and black, the cheeks were either white or black. In single-file they
moved once about the fireplace, in which a very small fire burned, and
then kneeled in a circle, facing the fire, and repeated a mass of unintel-
ligible gibberish. At this point the singer ceased. After they had finished
their incoherent jargon, the singer resumed, the ghosts rose and ran,
single-file, to the drum and danced on it, still shouting, and then ran
repeatedly back and forth beside the fire, first on one side, then on
the other. Again they danced on the drum. And thus they passed the
entire night, constantly uttering cries resembling the howl of a coyote.
Just before daylight a great fire was built up, and while the ghosts still
ran about, everybody took a sweat, after which the ghosts returned to
the hills; and not until then were the people permitted to leave the
ceremonial house.
This all was repeated the following night, and sometimes the cer-
emony ended after two or three such nights, or it might develop into
a test of endurance between two tribes or bands. In that case the rival
ghosts remained in the house during the day without sleeping, and
while the local dancers, the challengers, performed during the first
four nights, the others sat among the spectators and participated in the
sweating. Then the visiting, or challenged, ghosts gave their perform-
ance an equal number of nights, or until either they or their rivals were
compelled by fatigue to desist and acknowledge defeat.
This dance was performed for the benefit of any person suffering
from the effect of having seen a spirit. When such a thing happened,
the unfortunate one either fell in a trance on the spot, or more com-
monly came home and lay down very ill. This misfortune was thought
to be the punishment of those who doubted the existence of spirits.
The patient was laid out in the ceremonial house with his feet toward
the door and his head toward the central post. Then when the ghosts
13
The North American Indian: Volume 14
came, usually four, they danced in pairs, two on each side of the fire,
and in changing places they stepped across the patient’s body. If in the
course of the dancing, the patient was seized with a fit of trembling,
this was taken to signify that, as before he had been frightened by a
spirit, so now he was again frightened by the spirit dancers, and would
soon recover. The dancing thereupon ceased, and a medicine-man was
summoned to follow the usual course of treatment. If after two or
three nights of dancing the patient still lay motionless and apathetic,
the dancers informed his friends that there was no use in continuing
the ceremony, for he would surely die.
This spirit dance was known also to the Little Lake Pomo, the
Stony Creek Wintun, the Huchnom, and the Kato, but not to the
Wailaki.
2
Young men were initiated into the spirit society by a course of
training in the ceremonial house under an aged instructor. Their train-
ing required several successive but brief terms, usually in the spring.
The training classes of Taikómol-wóknum, of the shamans, and of the
spirit society were held in the single assembly house, but not simul-
taneously. One class held its session and disbanded for a time, to give
place to another. Thus the ceremonial house was in use practically all
summer.
The cult of Taikó-mol and the spirit dance evidently were derived
from some outside source; for only certain divisions of the Yuki prac-
tised them. It is extremely improbable that if they were original with
the Yuki, they would not have been practised by all the Yuki divisions
living in close proximity. The groups that possessed the greatest vari-
ety of myth, dances, and songs were the Eden Valley band (Witukom-
nom) and the band at the south side of Round valley (Odlkátno’m).
Others, such as the Ukomnom, who lived but a few miles from the
Odlkátno’m, and the Sukshultatanom on Hull creek, had no dance and
no ceremony except the acorn singing.
This Lá
n
l-ha
n
p (“acorn song”) was the single ancient ceremony of
the Yuki, excepting the puberty rites and the more or less personal
rites of shamans. It was extremely simple. The people assembled in the
ceremonial house, the fire was completely extinguished, and all stood
2 This is plainly the ghost dance, known to most, if not all, of the Pomo.
14
The North American Indian: Volume 14
in a promiscuous throng and sang, standing in one spot and shaking the
body rhythmically, while the arms were held bent at the elbows, and
hands were clenched. For the greater part the songs were wordless, but
some of them expressed such deprecatory sentiments as this: “Well,
we have not much help, but perhaps one branch will have a load of
acorns, anyway.” After a song and a dance they sat down, and the men
lit their pipes by means of their fire-drills. Soon the singing and danc-
ing were resumed, and this alternation continued throughout the night.
The ceremony was a prayer for a good crop of acorns. It is said that old
men were particularly fond of it as an opportunity to caress women
in the dark.
Kópu-wok (“feather dance”) was performed in exactly the same
manner as by the Wailaki, and in fact in their company. Questioned
as to the origin of this dance, the informant said that the Eden Valley
Yuki and the Potter Valley Pomo always had it, and from them it ex-
tended as far as the south side of Round valley, but no farther. In other
words, so far as the Yuki are concerned, the dance is of Pomo origin.
“The Yuki”
From
The North American Indian: Volume 14
by Edwards S. Curtis
All Rights Reserved. For Personal Usage Only
www.worldwisdom.com
Dostları ilə paylaş: |