CALIFORNIA'S NATIVE PEOPLE

THE CENTRAL REGION

Religion

Distribution - peoples in the San Francisco Bay, Sacramento and northern San Joaquin valleys and adjacent Sierra Nevada hill areas.
Main Features - secret societies of learned women and men; cycles of rites and ceremonies (curing, singing, dancing); elaborately costumed society members represented transformed divinities, ghosts, and/or spirits; goals included initiation of young, "world renewal," first-fruits, curing
Comments - in some areas it coexisted with a lower ranking society whose members impersonated the spirits of the dead

Distribution - peoples of south-central and southern California
Main Features - ingestion of Datura (a plant with dramatic hallucinogenic properties) by young men as part of puberty rituals; by shamans in order to gain access to supernatural power
Comments - 2 major religious subsystems developed out of this cult: the Chingichngish among the Luiseño-Juaneñeo, Gabrielino, and Ipai-Tipai speaking groups; the ?antap religion among the Chumash

Distribution - centered on the delta of the Kaweah River in the San Joaquin Valley and adjacent Sierra foothills
Main Features - quest for supernatural power by establishing a personal one-on-one, private relationship with a spirit helper, one of the First People. Helper acquired through the use of drugs, or induced through fasting and night-bathing or it might come unsought. Helper favors its human with powers and dream visitations; acquisition of a talisman, a physical representation of the helper
Comments - open to all, women and men alike

For additional information on the Central Region,
please select a topic most applicable to your interests:

Languages | Subsistence | Settlement Patterns | Sociopolitical Organization | Religion

Northwest Coast | Northeast | Central Coast and Central Valley
East of the Sierra Divide | Interior Desert | Southern Coastal

To comment on this page please send email to Chuck Smith at crsmith@cabrillo.cc.ca.us.

Page last updated: 23 August 1999