Bay Miwok

infobox ethnic group
group = Bay Miwok People


caption = "Mount Diablo, is in the homeland of the
Bay Miwok, and figures in their legends and myths.
poptime = 1770: "1,700" 1850: "not known"
1880: "not known"
popplace = California:
"Contra Costa County"
langs = Utian:
Bay Miwok ("Saclan")
rels = Shamanism: Kuksu:
Miwok mythology
related= Miwok
*Valley & Sierra Miwok
*Coast Miwok
*Lake Miwok

The Bay Miwok refers to a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok a Native American people in Northern California who lived in Contra Costa County.

Culture

The Bay Miwok lived by hunting and gathering, and lived in small bands without centralized political authority. They spoke "Bay Miwok" also known as "Saclan". They were skilled at basketry.

Religion

The original Bay Miwok people world view included Shamanism, one form this took was the Kuksu religion that was evident in Central and Northern California, which included elaborate acting and dancing ceremonies in traditional costume, an annual mourning ceremony, puberty rites of passage, shamanic intervention with the spirit world and an all-male society that met in subterranean dance rooms.Kroeber, 1907, Vol. 4 #6, sections titled "Shamanism", "Public Ceremonies", "Ceremonial Structures and Paraphernalia", and "Mythology and Beliefs"; Kroeber 1925.] [ [http://www.maidu.com/maidu/maiduculture/kuksu.html The Kuksu Cult paraphrased from Kroeber.] ] Kuksu was shared with other indigenous ethnic groups of Central California, such as their neighbors the Ohlone, also Maidu, Pomo, Esselen, and northernmost Yokuts. However Kroeber observed less "specialized cosmogony" in the Miwok, which he termed one of the "southern Kuksu-dancing groups", in comparison to the Maidu and other northern California tribes. [Kroeber, 1925:445: "A less specialized type of cosmogony is therefore indicated for the southern Kuksu-dancing groups. [1. If, as seems probable, the southerly Kuksu tribes (the Miwok, Costanoans, Esselen, and northernmost Yokuts) had no real society in connection with their Kuksu ceremonies, the distinctness of their mythology appears less surprising.] ".]

Traditional Narratives

The myths, legends, tales, and histories of the Bay Miwok followed the general cultural pattern of Central California.

Mythology

Bay Miwok mythology and narratives were similar to other natives of Central and Northern California. The Bay Miwok believed in animal and human spirits, and saw the animal spirits as their ancestors. Coyote was seen as their ancestor and creator god. In their case the earth began with Mount Diablo.Forester, 2006.]

Authentic Villages

There are five authenticated tribes or bands with villages of the same name:Forester, 2006.] Milliken, 1995]
* "At present-day City of Lafayette and/or Walnut Creek:" Saclan.
**Saclan territory extended through the hills east of present day City of Oakland, Rossmoor, Lafayette, Moraga, and Walnut Creek.
* "At Present-day City of Concord:" Chupcan.
* "At Mt. Diablo and along Marsh Creek:" Volvon (also spelled Wolwon, Bolbon, and Zuicun).
* "At San Joaquin River (east of Antioch):" Julpon.
* "At Present-day City of Danville or Walnut Creek, on San Ramon Creek:" Tatcan.

Additional Bay Miwok bands:
* "Near present-day City of Pittsburg:" Ompin .
* "East of present-day City of Oakland, San Leandro:" Jalquin (possibly the same tribe as the Yrgins).
* "At Present-day City of Hayward and Castro Valley:" Yrigins ( possibly same tribe as the Jalquin).
* "East of the Lower San Joaquin River in Contra Costa County:" Tammukan", a Cholovone village (thought to be either Miwok, or more probably Yokuts). [http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/miwok_occupation_1908.pdf]

History

Documentation of Miwok peoples dates back as early as 1579 by a priest on a ship under the command of Francis Drake. Identification and references to the Bay Miwok tribes exists from California Mission records as early as 1794.

Spanish-American Franciscans set up Catholic missions in the Bay Area in the 1770s, but did not reach the Bay Miwok territory until 1794. Beginning in 1794, the Bay Miwoks began to migrate to the Mission San Francisco de Asís (of San Francisco), or Mission San José de Guadalupe (of San Jose). Mission records assist in substantiating native genealogical persistence. The first baptisms and emigration to the missions of each tribe were:
*In 1794, 17 Saclans were baptized at the San Francisco Mission.
*In 1799-1705, Yrigins were baptized at the San Jose Mission.
*In 1801-1803, Jalquins were baptized at the San Francisco Mission.
*In 1804, the first large group of Tatcan baptized and moved to the San Francisco Mission.
*In 1805, 44 Volvon were baptized at the San Jose Mission.
*In 1810, 146 Chupcan were baptized at the San Francisco Mission.
*In 1811, 103 Julpon were baptized at the San Jose Mission.
*In 1811, 99 Ompin were baptized at the San Jose Mission.

A total of 447 baptisms of Bay Miwok occurred, between the years 1794 and 1827. [Levy 1978:401.]

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. "(See Population of Native California.)" Alfred L. Kroeber [Kroeber 1925:883] suggested that the 1770 population of the Plains and Sierra Miwok, probably also including with them the Bay Miwok, was 9,000. Richard Levy estimated 19,500 for all five Eastern Miwok groups as a whole and 1,700 specifically for the Bay Miwok. [Levy, 1978:401-402.]

Kroeber put the combined population of the Eastern Miwok, including the Bay Miwok, in 1910 as 700.

Present day

Descendents of the Bay Miwok from the Mission San Francisco and Mission San Jose, are members of the "Muwekma Ohlone Tribe" of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of: "all of the known surviving Native American lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara and San Jose" and who descend from members of the historic Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County. [http://www.muwekma.org/news/index.html Muwekma Ohlone Indian Tribal Web site, Informational Background] .]

Notable Miwokans

* 1801 – "Liberato Culpecse", born Jalquin, baptized at the Mission San Francisco in 1801, one of the main ancestors of the present day Muwekma Tribal community. [Muwekma Ohlone Indian Tribal Web site, A Brief History.]

External links

* [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/california/miwokindianhist.htm Access Genealogy: Indian Tribal records, Miwok Indian Tribe]
* [http://www.californiaprehistory.com/tribmap.html Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770] (map after Kroeber)

Notes

References

* Anderson, Beverely J. "Mini History of Contra Costa County."
* Bohakel, Charles A. "The Indians of Contra Costa County The Costanoan and Yokuts Indians."
* Emanuels, George. "California Indians, An Illustrated Guide."
* Forester, Maria [http://www.cccoe.net/miwokproject/index.html "The Bay Miwok of Contra Costa County"] . Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
* Kroeber, Alfred L. 1907. "The Religion of the Indians of California", "University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology" 4:#6. Berkeley, sections titled "Shamanism", "Public Ceremonies", "Ceremonial Structures and Paraphernalia", and "Mythology and Beliefs"; available at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/ca/ric Sacred Texts Online]
* Kroeber, Alfred L. 1925. "Handbook of the Indians of California". Washington, D.C: "Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin" No. 78. (Chapter 30, The Miwok); available at [http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/kroeber/ Yosemite Online Library] .
* Levy, Richard. 1978. "Eastern Miwok", in "Handbook of North American Indians", vol. 8 (California). William C. Sturtevant, and Robert F. Heizer, eds. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. ISBN 0-16-004578-9 / 0160045754, pages 398-413.
* Milliken, Randall. "A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1910" Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication, 1995. ISBN 0-87919-132-5 (alk. paper)
* [http://www.theschoolbell.com/history/early/native.html "Native American History", East Contra Costa Historical Society & Museum Web site] . Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
* Tullus, Margo Diane. "Diablo's Children, The History of Contra Costa County."