Chemehuevi

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Chemehuevi
Southern Paiute
people

The Chemehuevi (

federally recognized tribes
:

Some Chemehuevi are also part of the

Luiseño people
.

Name

"Chemehuevi" has multiple interpretations. It is considered to either be a Mojave term meaning "those who play with fish;"[8] or a Quechan word meaning "nose-in-the-air-like-a-roadrunner."[9] The Chemehuevi call themselves Nüwüvi ("The People", singular Nüwü)[10][11] or Tantáwats, meaning "Southern Men."[9]

Language

Their language, Chemehuevi, is a

Greg Anderson and K. David Harrison
interviewed and recorded one of the last 3 remaining speakers.

In 2015, the Siwavaats Junior College in Havasu Lake, California, was established to teach children the language. A Chemehuevi dictionary with 2,500 words was expected to become available in 2016.[15]

History and traditional culture

McKinley Fisher, a Chemehuevi man employed by the Indian Service at Colorado Agency, Arizona in 1957.

The Chemehuevi were originally a desert tribe among the

Great Basin Indians. Among others they are cousins of the Kawaiisu.[16]

The most comprehensive collection of Chemehuevi history, culture and mythology was gathered by Carobeth Laird (1895–1983) and her second husband, George Laird, one of the last Chemehuevi to have been raised in the traditional culture. Carobeth Laird, a linguist and ethnographer, wrote a comprehensive account of the culture and language as George Laird remembered it, and published their collaborative efforts in her 1976 The Chemehuevis, the first – and, to date, only – ethnography of the Chemehuevi traditional culture.

Describing the Chemehuevi as she knew them, and presenting the texture of traditional life amongst the people, Carobeth Laird writes:

The Chemehuevi character is made up of polarities which are complementary rather than contradictory. They are loquacious yet capable of silence; gregarious yet so close to the earth that single families or even men alone might live and travel for long periods away from other human beings; proud, yet capable of a gentle self-ridicule. They are conservative to a degree, yet insatiably curious and ready to inquire into and even to adopt new ways: to visit all tribes, whether friends or enemies; to speak strange tongues, sing strange songs, and marry strange wives.[17]

The Chemehuevi made intricately coiled baskets using a three-rod foundation of willow. Traditionally, the majority of weaving was completed with split willow, and darker patterns were made with devil's claw and yucca, among other materials.[18] This traditional style of basketmaking is currently practiced by a small group of weavers.[19]

Population

Chemehuevi boy by Edward S. Curtis

Estimates for the

Alfred L. Kroeber estimated the combined 1770 population of the Chemehuevi, Koso, and Kawaiisu as 1,500. The combined estimate in 1910 dropped to 500.[20] An Indian agent reported the Chemehuevi population in 1875 to be 350.[21] Kroeber estimated U.S. census data put the Chemehuevi population in 1910 as 355.[22]
Population as of 2016 is in the thousands.

Bands

  • Howaits (Hokwaits, lived in the Ivanpah Mountains, called Ivanpah Mountain Group)
  • Kauyaichits (lived in the area of
    Ash Meadows
    , called Ash Meadows Group)
  • Mokwats (lived in the
    Kingston Mountains
    , called Kingston Mountain Group)
  • Moviats (Movweats, lived on Cottonwood Island, called Cottonwood Island Group)
  • Palonies ((in Spanish) "the bald-headed", traveled to the area north of Los Angeles)
  • Shivawach (one group of them lived at
    Twentynine Palms
    , the second one in Chemehuevi Valley)
  • Tümplsagavatsits (Timpashauwagotsits, lived in the Providence Mountains, therefore called Providence Mountain Group)
  • Yagats (lived in the Amargosa Valley and along the Amargosa River, called Amargosa River Group)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "2010 Census CPH-T-6. American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2010" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2014.
  2. ^ " Northern Paiute - Religion and Expressive Culture ". Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  3. ISBN 978-0-295-80582-5
    .
  4. ^ "California Indians and Their Reservations". San Diego State University. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009.
  5. ^ "Chemehuevi Indian Tribe". Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  6. ^ Pritzker 24
  7. ^ Planetpalmsprings.com
  8. ^ Chemehuevi Indian Tribe Archived 22 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  9. ^ a b Pritzker 23
  10. ^ "History". Chemehuevi Indian Tribe. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
  11. ^ Elzinga, Dirk. "An Online Chemehuevi Dictionary". Archived from the original on 5 December 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
  12. ^ Margaret L. Press, Chemehuevi: A Grammar and Lexicon, University of California Press, 1979
  13. ^ Mary Hanks Molino, Oral History (in Chemehuevi), sound recording at http://www.chemehuevilanguage.org
  14. ^ "Ute-Southern Paiute". Ethnologue. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
  15. ^ Baird, Kevin (27 July 2015). "Learning the language: The tribe is working to have more children learn Chemehuevi as few adults speak it fluently". Havasu News-Herald. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  16. ^ Laird 1976
  17. ^ Laird, p. 4
  18. ^ Kania, John J. (Winter 2007). "Bread for Baskets: The Ammann Collection of Chemehuevi Basketry" (PDF). SCV History.
  19. ^ "Mary 'Weegie' Claw Chemehuevi and Kawaiisu basketry". Alliance for California Traditional Arts. 2020.
  20. ^ Kroeber (1925:883)
  21. ^ Clemmer and Stewart (1986:539)
  22. ^ Leland (1986:612)

References

  • Clemmer, Richard O., and Omer C. Stewart. 1986. "Treaties, Reservations, and Claims". In Great Basin, edited by Warren L. d'Azevedo, pp. 525–557. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, vol. 11. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  • Grant, Bruce. 2000. Concise Encyclopedia of the American Indian. 3rd ed. Wings Books, New York.
  • Kroeber, A. L.
    1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C.
  • Laird, Carobeth. 1976. The Chemehuevis. Malki Museum Press, Banning, California.
  • Leland, Joy. 1986. "Population". In Great Basin, edited by Warren L. d'Azevedo, pp. 608–619. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, vol. 11. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
  • Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
    ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chemehuevi.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chemehuevi&oldid=1217323483"