Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano) and cousin Kim Marcus (Serrano-Cahuilla) were remembering how, when they were kids, they’d sit and listen to their Elders sharing Native American cultural stories. Now they’re both Elders themselves, sharing stories and songs with new generations.
Today we’re honoring the Elders’ role in sharing cultural knowledge that holds vital information for us in the present, and takes us into continuity in the future.
From the Very Start …
The Cahuilla Creation Story teaches everyone’s place in the world, the rules for living well, and also how to be resilient, anthropologist Lowell Bean reflected in a 1970s tape-recorded production.1
“An important idea that the [Creation Story] … tells us, is that people must be aware that the circumstances of everyday life are often unstable and unpredictable, and that people must always be prepared for the unexpected hardship and loss,” he said.
“It prepares people, too, for a very important idea — that good and bad can exist in almost anything.” This led the Cahuilla to experiment, to discover what the good in things can be, Lowell Bean said.
“I think that explains why they knew so much about their environment,” he said. “You look at the Cahuilla plant life, for example. They knew it intimately, they knew so much about … efficacious uses of plants it boggles the mind.”
[Consider how, for example, in older times, people knew how to remove poisonous cyanide from chokecherry pits before grinding them into nutritious and tasty food. Or that steaming creosote would help cure a sore throat. Hundreds of plants have hundreds of uses.]
White sage, qas'ily (Cahuilla), qáṣil (Luiseño), khapshīkh (Chumash dialects), qaarqc (Serrano) (Murkland Photo)
The Creation Story also teaches how to face death, whether it’s one’s own death or the death of others, Lowell Bean said. Ceremonial singers would recite the story over several nights at an annual Cahuilla winter mourning ceremony called the núkill. The Cahuilla Creation Story tells how the first núkill was for Creator Múkat.
The Serrano traditional mourning ceremony at Morongo Reservation came in autumn when the bighorn sheep constellation (Orion’s belt) was overhead in the night sky, Ernest Siva explains in this video. The ceremony hosts shared food, goods, rituals, games, and songs with invited guests. At the end of the week life-sized dolls (for those who had died) were burned to honor and help the souls’ journey to the Land of the Dead.
Although the traditional weeklong mourning ceremonies are no longer held, singing at night wakes continues today, as the Elders have taught.
Our Elder, Ernest Siva, shared this in 2005 about his Elders:2
Honoring our Elders
By ERNEST SIVA, President, Dorothy Ramon Learning Center
“It is our pleasure to honor our Elders … Many of us have been touched and influenced in a profound way by someone in our family. Sometimes, someone outside the family may have carried this torch. It may not have been necessarily an elderly person, but the effect was the same. It was someone we looked up to.
Traditionally, Atucenim (the Elders) were highly esteemed. Careful attention was paid to them. What they said, and how they said it, was of great importance. This is why the language is so important to us today, just as it was then. I often quote my great-grandfather, Lamsa' (Francisco Morongo). That is, I repeat his words as my mother and aunts taught me, using his language and expressions. So it was with the oral tradition: Listen and repeat what you heard. How sure am I about what Lamsa' said? By the sheer repetition of the different individuals telling what he said, and my faith in their word.
Wayta' Yawa' (Always believe) is our guiding principle. This is crucial to the efficacy of the oral tradition. That is why telling a deliberate lie was a taboo for the people and a great deal of ridicule was attached to the perpetrator. Jokes were made about lying.
Without the Elders, there was no one to ask. My mother (Katherine Ramon) would often say, “'Atucenim qaym qatti, puyuum rrewq (The Elders are not here, they are all gone).” She had no one to consult with. Everyone in turn had their Elders. I remember many times a visitor would drop by to seek her advice. Sometimes they sought traditional information, other times even legal advice might be the issue. She did not have legal training, but was well-informed and aware of the outside world in general.
Aunt Dot (Dorothy Ramon) became our Elder in her later years. She was particularly intent on helping us with the language. Thanks to Dr. Eric Elliott, friend and collaborator, she was able to write a book, Wayta' Yawa' (Always Believe) (2000). She continues to teach us. …
Atucenim have come and gone, but their memory lives on in our language. Elders living today bear a slightly different role. Many of our Elders don’t speak the language as it once was spoken. However, their memories and opinions still are highly respected. They kindle in us a respect for one another and our homeland.”
Visit with an Elder on Dec. 5:
Thank you!
The Learning Center saves and shares Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.
News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center welcomes your EMAIL. Thanks from Center leaders Ernest and June Siva, and Editor Pat Murkland, November 15, 2022.
Subscribe to the weekly News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center. It’s free.
“Stories from the Spirit World: The Myths and Legends of Native Americans,” radio program audio recording on the Cahuilla Creation Story, production created by Everett Frost, Voices International, recorded on Morongo Reservation circa 1979, and distributed by National Public Radio and Pacifica Program Service.
Ernest H. Siva, “Honoring our Elders,” Heritage Keepers newsletter, Dec. 2005, Vol. 2, number 4, © Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, Inc., pages 1-2.