be ie and Meaning: ffornia Indian Storytelling ‘Yoshie Fujimoto Kateada ‘Coastal Miwok Cultural Change Professor Arthur Scott ‘Nowember 21,2011Fujimoto Kateada I “Silver Gray Fox made something by singing nothingness into mist, which took more than @ million years. Afler another million years of singing, the must jellod and the texture tuned to a type of donghs, from the dough, Silver made our home land of what is wow northeastern California. Then Silver and Coyote danced upon the new land stretching it in all directions." (Wilson, 11) ‘The ertation stories of the California Indians are magical and sometimes fantastical. They speak of nothingness becoming substance and of amazing creatures with the power to create and change the world. Lehose this topic bocause Lam interested in the power of storytelling. I have always enjoyed listening to stories, and wheu I was growing up story books always gave me a place to gain both, penpeclive aad reliel. Stories area very powerful way to ensure the passage of wisdom from one sgencration tothe next. They teach us lessons and help us to know that we are not alone. ‘The Native American oral tradition is rich in stories, but in our own cullure the emphasis is on facts. We depend on Jarge textbooks to lay out the human made rules of the world around us. For this reason, Tam also. interested in what we lose by serving up “wisdom!” in this way. My title reflects the core of what Native storytelling embodies, Magic gives ws a window into the unknown: i ets us glimpse parts ofthe word that we never knew existed, and in doing so it helps us to undemtend the world mare filly. ‘The stories ofthe Minvoks, and olher tibes, are not mere ancedotes; they hold deep cultural significance and meaning. These wo elements combined make vp a metaphor for California India Storytelling. One native creation story goes like this, When the earl w ig created Kwaw (Silver Gray Fox) was working to make different parts of the world and{fa"ka’ta (Old Cayotc) was being mischievous. In this story there is a great deal of conflict the nwo characters. Silver could ereate things but Coyote could only change things. Even if Silver created something perfect Coyote would change it because he was jealous and vain. Against Silver's wishes Coyote named a valley Mice Valley and that is what it has been called ever since, Silver was so preoccupied with keeping track of Coyote7 7 Fujimoto Kateada 2 ‘and creating things that he forgot to make a canyon for the Pit River. ‘the river needed to run through that ‘area or the people would Krave no salmon to eat; so Silver asked Big Bass to make a canyon. Big Bass ‘worked hard, he rammed into the solid rock with his cad in order to make a passage for the siver and ‘eventually he ereated a canyon (Wilson, 115). This story addresses the ever present theme of chan Coyote, the troublemaker, could change anything he wished. Change, whether good or bad, fs constant. (Oar lives are often brilt around sdaptations to the inevitability of ehange. Coyote represents the twoublemaker that change is in our Lives. Another story teils of the ereation of humans: Weis: Wek (Faleou) asks his father how to make people. His father replies saying that he cannot tell Wek-Wek, and so Wek-Wek should ask his ‘grandfather (Coyote Man). So he goes to ask his grandfather, and his grandfather tells him that it will take a long time to create people because he must also create everything they will need in oner to live. Wek-Wek persists telling his grandfather that be really wants (o create people, so his grandfather explains that they must catch three different birds. A urkey buzzard, a raven,and acrow. He alse explains thatin order to ealch the birds, they must pretend to be dead, so his grandfather lies ina field pretending. Soon the turkey buzzard comes, and shortly after the other two birds come because they think that the turkey buzzard has found food. Just when ey coms close enough to eat, Coyote Man jumps up and catches the three birds. ‘Thea they take feathers From each of the birds and jouracy all-over the land picking out, places for Indian villages ta be. At each site they piek three feathers: one for the chief, one for the head woman, and one for the poor. They also give each place a naene. Then, the next day, each of the feathers ‘comes to lifes people. Then the grandfather tells Wek-Wek that they also must change. This is whea his prandfathee became coyote and Wek-Wek became a falcon (Mersiam, $2) Many of the Miwok creation stories speak of Coyole-man or Coyote as the ereator (Mersiam, 18). Some stories explain the creation of the “first peoples” who became the rocks, trees and animals (Merriam, 18). These beings existed befoce the humans were created. Miwok stories also explain where natural phenomena such as: thunder, lightning and rainbows, come from (Merriam, 17). Because MiwokFujimoto Kateada 3 Sories reflect om tie creation of the natural world they help faster respect for nature, The Miwoks believe that animals are actually wiser than people (Seott). This is reflected in thair stories where animals not only existed before people, they created them. In the native tradition, “The myths are related by the old people after the first zaias of the winter season, usually in ceremonial roundhouses and always at night by the dim light of 2 small flickering fire.” (Merriam, 15). This is a beautiful example of the importance of valuing the wisdom of elders. In our culture we tend to shun old age, We coc itas a stage of decreased productivity, and declining skills. But in the Native tradition, old age is a sage to be sespected and treasured, Qur elders cun offer us insight and personal experience that is ineredibly valuable, Also, in our culture we place a huge amount of value ‘on progress and new technology, and this can prevent us from raining the perspective of history. If we [keep maving forward without any regard for our past we arc more likely to repeat the mistakes that have already been made. Another difference is that the native storytelling jection is primarily oral (Merriam, 15). Our culture differs greatly in this respect; we do not ening as much as we do talking. Masy of our problems could be resolved by listenin Par ening tothe world around us. Iwe were to actually listen and pay, Monk (reverse the destructive path we are currently headed dows{, he native sigs arc also vpr‘magical and mysterious (Merriam, 17). In our culture we tend to be afraid of mystery or events -eannet be logically explained The world is full of things that arc not easily rationalized, Therefore, it seems a very valuable tool to be able to cmbrace this uncertainty and let go of one’s need to understand absolutely evecything about everything ‘The California Indian cultare is sill growing and changing, therefore having a creation tory ives both a sense of place and a feeling of continuity, between one’s life and the lives of one’s ancestors. ‘That said the difficult reality is that many parts of the Miwok (as well as other California Indian) culture have been lost, or are just now being restored. This meaas that several generations were deprived of the culture, and pieces of the culture were lost forever (Lathin, 10). The Miwoks are curreatly in the processFujimoto Kateada 4 of re-generating their culture and language (Anglin). In researching this topic | learned that much of the Miwok languaue was lost as a rsull ofthe missions and other European efforts to assimilate the Indians (Anglin). Ithad not previously occurred to me how inteseonnected language and storytelling are. Also, even if you are able preserve stories, Ihad not considered how tedious i isto then translate those stories. Because the native culture is so diferent from our culture, and the language is so different from English, itis difficult to verify whether or not the stories are being translated correct! ‘you retain the meaning, something else is still lost if you do-yot, ‘one’s past is not an easy task, but itis being bravely undertake thin, 21). Bven then, if fe; something like the Gand a fecling of continsity with fy the Miwwok people. In researching this topic [noticed that when reading Miwok stories Tam a mirror of our culture in that I am uncomfortable with the uncertainty. [want to know why things bappened or how everything, ties together in the end, ‘The native way of storytelling is much more fluid and open ended, much more like life, 1 dhink that it a valuable Lesson to lear that we cannot hyve contra ing. Uncertainty isa fect of life. ‘These stories also teach tous be ia the they remind ws that sometimes itis less important what the outcome is and more impofeapt t be present now. Additionally, L hhave always loved reading but researching this topic made me reflect on why [love i Ithink tbat stories ‘re unique and powerfl because while they ofr us relief trom the real world, they simultaneously offer us valuable insight about i. Researching the native tradition of storytelling has made me think about how our cultae does and doesnot incorporate slorytelling. We don't usvally tke the time to sit round a fre andtell stories. Thwve are lucky our elders read sorics tous or tellus stories when we are young. However, many of the stories in our eurure do.not have the dept and Listory of those in the Miwok culture. Stories have the power to teach us so much, and they give us a way to comnect meaningfally with others. I believe that we should tell moze stories,Fujimoto Katcada $ And what about one’s own story? In researching this topic I came across a talk by Greg Saris, entitled “e-storying Place.” It is a discussion on the intrinsic power ofthe stories that we tell ourselves, and how these stories ean help us ta ereste 4 better world. In this talk, Sarris says “Stories case kill six rmillion Jews or stories can change the world.” Tf stories are pawerful enough to cause that kind of evastation, then they ere pawerfil enough to create a better world, Saris also says that “Stocis are the things we bogin with, they are what we are emotionlly.” He says that emotion rules our actions. Ta fact, offen our conscious thoughts rule our actions far less than pure emotion daes. So, stories have the power to change our actions as well es our thoughts, ‘Thezefore. to fix the problems that are in our word today. ve have to go deeper than justour conscious thoughts. We have to change the stories we tell ourselves Like the Miwok, we neod t tel stores about the fmaportance of respect for those tht are different from us, and about respect forthe world around us. Greg Saris also speaks about the importance of rebuilding a sease of place, anid how stories are a vital part of that process. If we ean start (o incorporate all of our stories into one collective human story, than we cau it0ve forward together. Sarris says that we must “re-create au ethic and esthetic of place”; ‘We must re-create it hecause as he says “We can’t go back. We're all here now”-We cannot bring back Nin ee ees a eu eve Necan te ctinga sews sry inl ply esa oe nee stor dr ong a Se okay nw i ike rust do, whatever our personal story is, we must bring its magic and aieaning tothe table, As Greg Sartis says in closing. “let's start finding: a way that we can all be home ance again.”Works Cited Anglin, Temette. "Coastal Miwok Cultural Change.” Domininiean University of California, San Rafzel. 17 Oct. 2011, Lecture, Luthin, Herbert W. Surviving dhrowgh the Days: Translations of Native California Stories and Songs : a California Indian Reader, Berkeley: University of California, 2002, Print Merriam, C. Hort. The Darwn of the World: Myths and Tales of the MEwok Indians of California. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1993. Print Saris, Greg, "Re-storying Place.” Speech, 18 Nov. 2011. Youtube.com. | Nov. 2011, Web. 18 Nov. 2011. shutpzih “ww youtube, cou Watchy=GCPXoe VyEFE>. Scott, Arthur K. "Coastal Mivvok Cultural Change.” Domininican University of California, San Rafael. Wilson, Darryl Babe. The Morning the Sun Went down. Berkeley, CA: Heyday, 1998. Print