#chemehuevi

[old-powwow-days]

AMBER MORNINGSTAR, 2019 | NAOMI, 2017 | JULIA, 2018

by Cara Romero as part of her First American Girls series

[cryptidghost]

Just found out that the Colorado River Indian Tribes gave legal personhood to the Colorado River! Let's keep this moving!

Indigenous Nations Extend Legal Personhood to the Colorado River – Intercontinental Cry

The Colorado River Indian Tribes took a key step in Indigenous environmental law by designating the Colorado River — the life source for mil

[todaysdocument]

A young woman of Japanese ancestry arrives at the Poston incarceration camp, 5/17/1942. 

This camp was built on the land of the Colorado River Indian Tribes over the objection of the Tribal Council, who did not want to perpetrate the same injustices they faced. 

Series: Central Photographic File of the War Relocation Authority, 1942 - 1945

Record Group 210: Records of the War Relocation Authority, 1941 - 1989

Image description: A young woman using crutches sits on the edge of the bed of an ambulance, which really just looks like a large van with a mattress in it. It is nighttime. A man is standing outside the ambulance.

[bossymarmalade]

-  Cara Romero (Chemehuevi, b. 1977), “Water Memory” (2015)

[macmanx]

Havasu

Cara Romero, 2022

"Havasu" features Chemehuevi Tribal member Sheridan Silversmith suspended weightless in the waters of our Tribe's Colorado River homelands. "Havasu" means place of the blue-green waters. The lesser known story that goes untold in American History is that our Tribe, like many Tribes in the U.S. were flooded out of our ancestral valley when the U.S. Government declared eminent domain over our reservation lands. This image tells a twin history: it pays homage to the violent historic flooding of tribal lands to construct federal dams, yet has a serenity as she floats through the water in free fall suggesting an effortless surrender to the power of Mother Nature. It visualizes the powerful and intimate connections we feel with the element water and the memories it holds. A feeling of peace and embrace and of memory. Sheridan is wearing a cottonwood bark skirt and olivella shell necklace by artist Leah Mata-Fragua.

[thebigkelu]

Chemehuevi mother and child  - Curtis - 1907

The Chemehuevi are an indigenous people of the Great Basin. They are the southernmost branch of Southern Paiute.

[scriptmyth]

i'm trying to research on my own as well, but i was hoping you could help me out! i'm writing something that includes a sentient genius-loci-type manifestation of the mojave desert. do you know of any mythologies/stories that specifically feature or describe the mojave desert? thank you!!

Hello!

Your best bet is the Kachina of the Hopi people. Almost anything can have its own spirit, and that spirit can be prayed to. There aren’t any true genius-type manifestations, and in many Native American cultures the Western perspective of “good” and “evil” don’t exist - spirits and gods are morally grey, and they may bless or curse you in turns. In this regard, one may pray to a Kachina for something specific to happen (in your case, protection against something), but this may typically involve a ritualistic sacrifice in order to appease the Kachina and convince them your wishes are worth fulfilling.

You can read more about them here, here, and here. One cultural note I would like to make is that because Kachina are considered spirits/gods, their physical likenesses - masks, dolls, etc - may not be looked upon casually.

Another Hopi myth would be that of Pahana, who you can read about here and here.  The Hopi share the Spider Grandmother myth with the neighboring Navajo; she is known in Hopi as Kokyangwuti, and in Navajo as Na'ashjé'íí Asdzáá (Spider Woman).

The Navajo do not seem to have any particular genius-type spirit or god, and the closest I could find was the Holy People, known in Navajo as Diyin Dineʼé. They’re a type of Yéi, and one of the most popular is the rainbow yéi, although I was unable to find anything specifically mentioning them.

The Chemehuevi have the Coyote, named Sinawava, who was a trickster god - as seen in other tribes’ mythologies - but for them also a benefactor and teacher of the people. You can read more about him here.Carobeth Laird helped write down the majority of Chemehuevi myths, which you can read here.

And, finally, here are some of the general things we found:

Surviving Through the Days: Translations of Native California Stories and Songs, A California Indian Reader (JSTORand Project Muse)

Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest (Here)

Indian Myths of South Central California by A.L. Kroeber (Here)

Western Shoshone myths (Here)

Mojave Desert (Here)

-the Chorus

[old-powwow-days]

NDN SUMMER, 2023 by Cara Romero

Being invited to work on a show alongside California artists for the Wheelwright Museum inspired me to think about the state of our cultural landscape and our survivance. Made in collaboration with Leah Mata-Fragua and our daughters Naomi Whitehorse and Crickett Tiger, this image gives broad strokes to ideas and issues that are part of being California Natives today. With the Coastal regalia made by Leah and a Chemehuevi basket from the Coe—the aesthetics offer the viewer insight into the shared fiber and shell traditions of the landscapes. The photograph also confronts the impacts of gold, climate change, wildfires, gaming, and tribal enrollment. So much has changed in our lifetimes yet we survive.