If you’re a newcomer to Southern California, maybe the term “wash” doesn’t make sense when someone directs you past a “wash,” and it’s a dry, dusty ditch.
But at times, the River reclaims its riverbed.
For example: We got caught on the wrong side of the San Gorgonio River in the fall when flash floods carrying debris and mud from our 2020 fires came crashing through the canyons and roared through the Banning area and Morongo Reservation.
We were talking afterward with Georgiana Sanchez (Chumash/O’odham (Tohono and Akimal)), who grew up around Morongo Reservation, and she remembered how her father taught her as a child to never, ever linger in a wash. No matter how dry and dusty a wash might seem, she said, her father taught her that a flash flood does come in a deadly flash.
When it rains, the River also returns.
Usually this wash is a road. (June Siva Photo)
Amid our 2023 New Year’s series of soaking and flooding winter rainstorms, Native American Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano), president of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, sings a little bit of a traditional bird song about the rain, and recalls how reservation life in older days meant waiting out the San Gorgonio River.
He and his wife, June, are living this lifestyle now:
They did venture to the riverside to see whether they could safely cross. But they saw they need to wait a little longer.
Where the river meets the road on Jan. 11, 2023. (June Siva Photo)
May you all stay warm, dry, and safe while our landscapes get rain.
We’re looking forward to seeing you soon. This year we’re celebrating the 501c3 nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s 20th anniversary of saving and sharing Southern California Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.
Thanks, as always, for reading, sharing, and subscribing to our free online newsletter, News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, from Center leaders Ernest and June Siva, and Editor Pat Murkland. We value your ideas: Please EMAIL. January 11, 2023.