Step into any of Dorothy Ramon’s Serrano stories, and you’re transported into a beautiful cultural way of looking at — and listening to — the world. Nothing is too big and, as Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano), president of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, shares in a song about ants and their insect predator, nothing is too small to be excluded.
Artwork of rattlesnake by Morongo Reservation School student displayed at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s 2020 Native Voices Poetry Festival.
Dorothy Ramon:
Rattlesnakes Listening to the Ground
“Pam tum hinyim yȇyȇynam tewva' kiikam 'aamen tervac kwana' tum hiiti' terr hawayt, tum hiiti' 'amatunga' peenyiktti'.
Those animals that live on the ground, the earth would always tell them things about how to do things.
Keymu' 'uviht: 'anin key.
They talked about this long ago, and so I’m telling about it now.
Tewva' kiikam yȇyȇynam. 'Apamkwim tum hiiti' 'enan.
Those are the animals that live on the ground. They knew about the future.
Tervac kwenevu' teer.
The land would tell them things.
Keym ki' 'anin key. 'Ama' 'ayee'.
They would talk about this, and so I am talking about this now. That’s all.” (1)
Illustration by Morongo School student at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s 2020 Native Voices Poetry Festival.
Dorothy Ramon:
What my Dad Said About the Ocean
“ 'Uviht nena' tengk werrawerra'n.
Long ago my father would talk like that.
'Amatunga' 'amay tuuk mamc hiiti' qwarr'kow kwenevu' 'ama' mit hiit.
At night he would hear something making noise.
‘Mit aaa … xhiit meempt 'ani' qwarraq,’ keyvu'. Puchuk qwarraq, ngeyȇye'n tengk.
‘I guess the ocean is making noise,’ he said. It would make noise and roar like that.
'Ama' mutu' pana' ngeyȇye'n chevȇk 'ama'.
It still roars like that.
'Ama' kwan hiit 'ama' naveryuch 'ama' pernafc. 'Ani' qwaarraq hawayt tengk.
It is like an earthquake. It always makes noise like that.
Chenaarnar'n xhiit parhervit pernafc. Tewa'nkin 'atuuk.
That holy thing is alive. He referred to it as 'atuuk ‘night’ (‘night noise’).
'Ama' 'ayee'. That’s all.” (2)
Notes
1. Ramon, Dorothy, and Eric Elliott, 2000, Wayta’ Yawa’: Always Believe. Malki Museum Press, Banning, California, p. 218, reading no. 194.
2. P. 188, reading no. 161.
Ernest Siva: A Bird Song
Dorothy Ramon and the Learning Center
Dorothy Ramon (Carolyn Horsman Photo)
Dorothy Ramon was an Elder knowledgable in traditional ways and recognized as the last primary speaker of the Serrano language, that is, the last person who thought and dreamed in Serrano first, before English. In her final years before her passing in 2002, she worked tirelessly with linguist Eric Elliott and helped save the region’s own Serrano language and much cultural knowledge.
Family members Carolyn Horsman and Ernest Siva read Dorothy Ramon’s stories in Serrano and English at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s February 2020 Native Voices Poetry Festival. (Carlos Puma Photo)
Her nephew, Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano), has led the 501(c)3 nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center since 2003 to carry on and expand her work to include all Native American nations of Southern California. The use of her name honors and represents all the Native American elders, brought up knowing their languages and cultures, who save and share cultural knowledge. The Center saves and shares Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. Join us at dorothyramon.org and Dorothy Ramon Learning Center on Facebook.
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Thank you! Pat Murkland, Editor. November 18, 2020.