Hupa Indian Tribe

[Okwes]

Hupa Indian Tribe

Part 1 of 2

Hupa. An Athabascan tribe formerly occupying the valley of Trinity river, California from south fork to its junction with the Klamath, including Hupa valley. They were first mentioned by Gibbs in 1852; a military post was established in their territory in 1855 and maintained until 1892; and a reservation 12 miles square, including nearly all the Hupa habitat, was set apart in Aug. 1864. The population in 1888 was given as 650; in 1900, 430; in 1905, 412. They are at present self-supporting, depending on agriculture and stock raising. When they first came in contact with the whites, in 1850, the Hupa were all under the control of a chief called Ahrookoos by the Yurok, whose authority is said to have extended to other peoples southward along Trinity river. The position of chief depended on the possession of wealth, which usually remained in the family, causing the chieftainship to descend from father to son. In feasts and dances a division of the Hupa into two parts is
manifest, but this division seems to have no validity outside of religious matters.

The tribe occupied the following permanent villages: Cheindekhotding, Djishtangading, Haslinding, Honsading, Howungkut, Kinchuwhikut, Medilding,
Miskut, Takimilding, Tlelding, Toltsasding, and Tsewenalding. Powers ave Chailkutkaituh, Wissomanchuh, and Misketoiitok, which have not been identified with any of the foregoing; Gibbs , on information furnished by the Yurok, gave Wangullewutlekauh, Wangullewatt, Sehachpeya, and ( Tashuanta,Sokeakeit (Sokchit), and Meyemma.

The houses of the Hupa were built of cedar slabs set on end, the walls being 4 ft high on the sides and rising to more than 6 ft at the ends to accommodate the slope of the roof, inclosing a place about 20 ft square, the central part of which was excavated to form the principal chamber, which was about 12 ft square and 5 ft deep. The entrance was a hole 18 or 20 in. in diameter and about a foot above the ground. This was the storehouse for the family goods and the sleeping place of the women. The men occupied sweat houses at night. The Hupa depended for food on the deer and elk of the mountains, the salmon and lamprey of the river, and the acorns and other vegetal foods growing plentifully about them. They are noted for the beautiful twined baskets produced by the women and the fine pipes and implements executed by the men. The yew bows they used to make, only about 3 ft long, strengthened with sinew fastened to the back with sturgeon glue, were effective up to 75
yards and could inflict serious wound at 100 yards.



Their arrows, made of syringa shoots wound with sinew, into which foreshafts, of juneberry wood were inserted feathered with three split hawk feathers and pointed with sharp heads of obsidian, flint, bone, or iron, sometimes passed entirely through a deer. The hunter, disguised in the skin of the deer or elk, the odor of his body removed by ablution and smoking with green fir boughs, simulated so perfectly the movements of the animal in order to get within bowshot that a panther sometimes pounced upon his back, but withdrew when he felt the sharp pins that, for the very purpose of warding off such an attack, were thrust through the man's hair gathered in a bunch at the back of the neck.

The Hupa took deer also with snares of a strong rope made from the fiber of the iris, or chased them into the water with dogs and pursued them in canoes. Meat was roasted before the fire or on the coals or incased in the stomach and buried in the ashes until cooked, or was boiled in water-tight baskets by dropping in hot stones. Meat and fish were preserved by smoking. Salmon were caught in latticed weirs stretched across the river or in seines or poundnets, or were speared with barbs that detached but were made fast to the pole by lines. Dried acorns were ground into flour, leached in a pit to extract the bitter taste, and boiled into a mush.

The men wore ordinarily a breechclout of deerskin or of skins of small animals joined together, and leggings of painted deerskin with the seam in front hidden by a fringe that hung from the top, which was turned down at the knee. Moccasins of deerskin with soles of elk hide were sometimes worn. The dance robes of the men were made of two deerskins sewn together along one side, the necks meeting over the left shoulder and the tails nearly touching the ground. Panther skins were sometimes used. The hair was tied into two clubs, one hanging down on each side of the head, or into one which hung behind. Bands of deerskin, sometimes ornamented with wood peckers' crests, were worn about the head in dances, and occasionally feathers or feathered darts were stuck in the hair. The nose was not pierced, but in the ears were often worn dentalium shells with tassels of woodpeckers' feathers. A quiver of handsome skin filled with arrows was a part of gala dress, and one of plain
buckskin or a skin pouch or sack of netting was carried as a pocket for small articles.

Women wore a skirt of deerskin reaching to the knees, with a long, thick fringe hanging below and a short fringe at the waist. When soiled it was washed with the soap plant. At the opening of the skirt in front an apron was worn underneath. The skirts worn in dances were ornamented with strings of shell beads, pieces of abalone shell, and Hakes of obsidian fastened to the upper and of shells of pine nuts inserted at intervals in the lower fringe. The apron for common wear was made of long strands of pine-nut shells and braided leaves attached to a belt. The dance aprons had strands of shells and pendants cut from abalone shells. Small dentalium and olivella shells, pine-nut shells, and small black fruits were strung for necklaces. A robe of deerskin or of wildcat fur was worn with the hair next to the body as a protection against the cold and in rainy weather with the hair side out. The head covering was a cap of fine basket work, which protected the forehead from the
carrying strap whereby burdens and baby baskets were borne. Women, except widows, wore their hair long and tied in queues that hung down in front of the ears, and were ornamented with strips of mink skin, sometimes covered with woodpeckers' crests, and shell pendants, and sometimes perfumed with stems of yerba buena. From their ears hung pendants of abalone shell attached to twine. All adult women were tattooed with vertical black marks on the chin and sometimes curved marks were added at the corners of the mouth.

The imagination of the Hupa has peopled the region east, west, south, and above with mortals known as Kihunai. The underworld is the abode of the dead. Their creator or culture hero, Yimantuwingyai, dwells with Kihunai across the ocean toward the north. A salmon feast is held by the southern division in the spring and an acorn feast by the northern division in the fall. They formerly celebrated three dances each year: the spring dance, the white-deerskin dance, and the jumping dance. They have a large and varied folklore and many very interesting medicine formulas.





WOMAN'S SKIRT
Buckskin fringed with glass trade beads and abalone shells
Hupa or Yurok
Klamath River area, California

NOTES FROM "THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN" BY ES CURTIS

VOLUME-13 THE HUPA

LANGUAGE: Athapascan

LOCATION: California, Hupa valley,Trinity river in Humboldt county

DRESS: Men wore a deerskin loincloth and deerskin moccasins with elk hide soles. Women wore a knee length skirt of deerskin, slit at the front and ornamented and a bowl shaped cap..

DWELLINGS: The dwelling was a rectangular structure, made of cedar posts and poles and split cedar planks. The roof was truncated.



The above gravures are HUPA HOUSE and HUPA MAN

RELIGION /CEREMONIES: Hupa religious practices are founded on the belief that ages ago the earth was inhabited by a race of preternaturals in human form. All ceremonials, and innumerable acts of everyday life, are attended by the muttered repetition of myths, usually quite brief, accounting for the origin of the myth or act.The principal ceremonies were the Jumping Dance and the White Deerskin Dance to guard the public heath and help crops.

QUOTES FROM "THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN": "The Hupa, a shoot from that wide-wandering stock, the Athapascan, are unique among California Indians in that they occupy a reservation which includes within its boundaries nearly all of the land that they once controlled."



The above gravures are HUPA WOMAN and WATCHING FOR SALMON

"In material culture the Hupa far surpass the Indians of central and northern California. We here pass into a specialized cultural area of northwestern California, which shows marked similarities to that of the North Pacific coast, with great stress laid on the acquisition of wealth as the necessary and only basis of rank. Woodworking becomes of importance, salmon is a food not less staple than acorns, slavery in a modified form is an institution, ceremonial life is highly developed."



The above gravures are HUPA PURSES AND MONEY and HUPA WOMAN SHAMAN

"With their high regard for wealth the Hupa had a system of valuation more exact than that of other California Indians, except the other tribes of the northwest area. The longer dentalia,"tinkyehit"(four piece), passed for five dollars each in early trade."Hiketukuthwe", shorter by a mere fraction of an inch, were worth about a third as much. "Chwolohit"(five piece) were equal to a dollar each, and "hostanhit" (six piece) were less than two inches long and valued at twenty-five to fifty cents each, according to the ability of the trader. The shells were strung on cords, point to point and base to base, and spirally wound with narrow strips of fish-skin. From the base of those at the ends of the strings a little tuft of red woodpecker-feathers protruded. As the strings were uniformly about two feet in length, it follows the the number of dentalia per string varied according to the size of the shells."



BASKET
32.3 cm dia.
Hupa orYurok, early 20th century

This basket was made using the half-twist overlay technique, a typical method employed by the peoples of the Klamath River area.



Many Hupa shamans were women, and among their neighbors, the Yurok and the Karok, as well as among the more distant Wiyot on the coast, male shamans were rare. Hupa shamans acquired the power to cure disease by dreaming and dancing. They were credited with the ability to inflict mysterious sickness by sorcery, and only they could relieve the victim of such magic.



Each summer a substantial structure of this kind is thrown across the river, the southern and the northern division of the tribe alternating. The weir remains in place until the spring freshets carry it away. A fisherman stands on each of several platforms erected below an equal number of openings in the weir, and lowers and draws his dip net at random. As the construction of a weir is a communal undertaking, the catch is divided each evening according to the requirements of the various families.



Because of the dearth of redwood in their territory, the Hupa purchased all their canoes from the neighboring Yurok.



As the run of spring salmon occurs at a season when the river is too high for the construction of a weir, they are taken in dip nets from platforms erected above favorable eddies.



The Jumping Dance was an annual ceremony for averting pestilence. The head dress worn by the dancers was a wide band of deerskin with rows of red woodpecker crests and a narrow edging of white deer hair sewn on it. A deerskin robe was worn as a kilt, and each performer displayed all the shells and beads he possessed or could borrow. In the right hand was carried a straw stuffed cylinder with a slit like opening from end to end, and object the significance of which is unknown to the modern Hupa.



This is an excellent example of the gala costume of Hupa women. The deerskin skirt is worn about the hips and meets in front, where the opening is covered by a similar garment. Both are fringed and heavily beaded, and the strands of the apron are ornamented with the shells of pine nuts.



DENTALIUM NECKLACE AND ELKHORN PURSES
Elk antler and dentalium shell beads
Hupa
Klamath River area, California, North America

Dentalium shells were imported from the Nootka of Vancouver Island, and were considered a great treasure among the Klamath River peoples.

Elders Corner

The elders of the Hoopa Valley Tribe have always played an integral role in the overall community atmosphere and wellness of the families of the valley. Historically the Hupa people considered all relatives a member of the family, and it was the role of the oldest people to care for the young children while the adults a nd older children performed the day-to-day activities that were required to make the family units flourish. Elders were responsible for passing on the rich oral history, language, and tradition to the younger generations. Many of the younger generations were taught to respect the advice and wisdom of the elders of our community, and that tradition continues today. In modern days the elders play a much similar role in our culture. They are looked to for advise in traditional matters that appear in our Tribal Court system, and in both economic and environmental development planning through a Cultural Committee. They still play a vital part in the individual
families throughout the valley in both caring for the young children as well as preparing them for young adulthood.



Minnie McWilliams

Hoopa Tribal member Minnie McWilliams, age 87 has been a lifetime resident of the Hoopa Valley and despite hardship, said her life has been very good. Minnie was born on January 1, 1916 to the late Ned and Louisa Jackson. She had 6 siblings- three brothers and three sisters, two of whom (Jimmy Jackson, and Charlotte Colegrove) are still living in Hoopa.

Despite being raised in Hoopa, Minnie still claims her Redwood Creek Tribe, from her mother’s side. Minnie attended the Indian boarding school in Hoopa until she was 11 years old. She then moved to Riverside, California, where she attended high school at the Sherman Institute. That’s where Minnie became interested in cosmetology. She said she and her friends would always do each other’s hair in the beauty parlor at Sherman. Upon graduating high school, she took her board exam in Los Angeles. After working as a cosmetologist for several years, Minnie decided to come home to help take care of her father.

“My father was blind,” explained Minnie. “We (brothers and sisters) used to take him to the doctor in Eureka to try to help him get his sight back.” Soon after the move Minnie decided to go back to work. The Hoopa native went from making people look beautiful as a cosmetologist, to welding at a shipyard in Eureka. Minnie said welding isn’t just a man’s job, and she took great pride in her work. “I would show off my work to some of the men there,” said Minnie.

While working as a welder Minnie became pregnant and was forced to quit, something she did not want to do. Minnie moved back to Hoopa to take care of her daughter. She said she was staying at home almost all the way to the top of Bald Hill. When her daughter was only three months old, she grew very ill. Minnie took her to the hospital, but said it was too late. Her daughter had passed on.

The Hoopa elder had a total of eight children in her lifetime, but now has only one left- her son Arthur Jones, who was raised in Hoopa as well. “I always wanted kids,” said Minnie “and now I have a lot of grand kids. It makes me happy visiting with them.” The kind-hearted woman has nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, with two more on the way. Minnie, who was named after her aunt, was proud to say that one of her great-granddaughters is named after her.

Family was and is the most sacred thing in Minnie’s life. She spoke of when her mother Louisa, was still living. “My mother was beautiful. She had long, curly hair and she always looked beautiful,” Minnie described. Despite her father’s blindness, Minnie recalled his kind heart. She said he used to walk out of the shed when she was little, and he would cut kindling and wood and bring it into the house to keep the family warm.

Minnie also spoke of her grandmother, the late Mary Ann Jackson, a woman she described as “a little woman with a lot of love.” She also reminisced about a friend and classmate Ruby Jarnaghan, and the late Boots Masten.

Kindness is a perfect word to describe Minnie. She has even sent money to help feed children in need from other countries. “If I see somebody that needs help, I help them,” she said.

Traditional Village Sites


Tish-Tang


Fish-On


Hostler Field



Among the Wildlife

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[Okwes]

Life Protectors

Hupa Indian Tribe

Part 2 of 2

Tribal History

The People of Hoopa Valley are one of California's first cultures. The first American trappers and gold miners entered Hoopa in 1828. They came up the Trinity River into the rich valley which has always been the center of the Hupa World, the place where the trails return. Legends say this is where the people came into being. Our treaty was signed providing the whole Hoopa Valley as a reservation. In 1876 an exective order was signed acknowledging this treaty. Since first European contact the cultural and traditions remain to this day.



In 1864, a Peace and friendship Treaty was negotiated with the United States. In 1896, the Department of the interior began preparing a land allotment list and in 1909 a Proclamation was handed down by President Theodore Roosevelt.This list was not completed and approved until 1923. The Hupa People successfully avoided the physical destruction of their valley homeland, and in modern times created one of the first successful Self-Goverance Tribal structures in the nation.

Our traditional language belongs to the Athabascan Language family, which relates us to other peoples in the region and, more remotely, to the Athabascans from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada, as well as to the Navajos and Apaches Tribes of the Southwest. Our traditional way of life was based on the semiannual king salmon runs that still occur on the Trinity River, which flows through the center of the Hoopa Valley Reservation. In addition, we made use of other indigenous foods, especially acorns. Both these resources remain important as ceremonial foods. Today some 2500 Hupa people live on the Hoopa Valley Reservation, in the heart of our traditional territory.



The Hupa people traditionally occupied lands in the far northwestern corner of California. The boundaries of the reservation were established by Executive Order on June 23, 1876 pursuant to the Congressional Act of April 3, 1864. The boundaries were expanded by Executive Order in 1891 to connect the old Klamath River (Yurok) Reservation to the Hoopa Valley Reservation. Further confirmation of the ownership by the Hupa Tribe of the Hoopa Valley Reservation came on October 31, 1988 with President Ronald Regan's signature on Public Law 100-580, the Hoopa/Yurok Settlement Act.

The Hupa People have occupied their lands since time immemorial, and the past century has really been the shortest in our history. However up until the late 1800's there is little or no written record on the rich history and culture that is now the Hoopa Valley Tribe. Much of the tradition and lore that still exists today has been passed along between generations via an extensive oral tradition. The ceremonies and traditions continue in the similar manners as they have since the beginning, and will continue in this custom.



Brush Dance (healing & purifying dance) 1970s Hoopa



Hupa baby carrier and cradle

Information on the Local Northwest Tribes

The Little River is the boarder between the homelands of the Wiyot and Yurok peoples. Other Tribes remaining today in this region are the Karuk, Hupa, and Tolowa Tribes. While sharing a similar cultural framework, each of these Tribes had a wholly distinct Tribal language. In California, the Tolowa lived along the extreme northern coast, from the southwestern corner of Oregon to approximately fifteen miles south of Crescent City. The Yurok lived along the coast, from this point south to just below Trinidad Bay, and up the Klamath River, extending about 45 miles and somewhat past the junction with the Trinity River as well as a short distance south along the Trinity. The Wiyot lived south along the coast from Trinidad past Eureka to Ferndale, encompassing Arcata and Humboldt Bays, the lower Mad River, and the lower Eel River. The Karuk lived on Klamath above Yurok territory further up river to beyond Happy Camp, and along the Salmon River; the Hupa inhabited the Trinity
just before the junction with the Klamath, especially through the long north-south section called Hoopa Valley and south to Grouse Creek. The Chilula and Whilkut were smaller groups that inhabited interior valleys associated with Redwood Creek and the Mad River.

The natural environment, the rivers, mountains and oceans forged the cultural backbone of these people. Living on the abundance of foods, such as acorns, salmon, deer meat and berries life here was remarkably untouched by contact with western society until the discovery of gold in 1849. The quest for gold did not last long and these peoples live in one of the few areas that remain cultural intact and for the most part were separated from the influence of America until the early 1900’s. These Tribes have a connection to their homelands, language and ceremonies that, unfortunately, is not the norm for a majority of Native peoples.

RELIGION AND CEREMONIES

The religion of the local people was based on individual effort through ritual cleanliness and ceremonies including the entire tribe. The Tribes of this region practice the annual World Renewal Ceremonies, such as the Karuk Pikyavish, the Tolowa Nee-dash, the Hupa and Yurok White Deerskin Dance and most Tribes perform the Sacred Jump Dance. The purpose of the rituals is to renew the world or “firm the earth”, as one tribe described it. This ceremony includes songs and dances that have been preserved for countless generations. Most of these rituals are considered to have connection with medicine. Medicine included not only that which was administered to cure sickness, but anything; root, herb, stick, or bark that is used to promote both physical and spiritual health. The Brush Dance is a both a social event and a healing ceremony in which the People of the local Tribes dance, sing, make medicine and pray to bless a particular sick child or infant. The dance takes place in
the Brush Dance pit, and it involves men, boys and young girls. The herbal healing ceremony includes singing, chanting, rhythmic movement and jumping center. The spectators, seated on benches around the pit, also pray and help in the spiritual treatment of the child.

BASKETRY

Indian people from this region excelled in basketry. Weaving and use of baskets has always been a main element of the cultures of California tribes. Our baskets are of the twined, woven type and are tight enough that they could hold water for cooking. These tribes make a wide variety of baskets from daily use such as Baby baskets, collecting vessels, food bowls, cooking items, ceremonial items and we also made basket caps, which were worn by both women and also men if open weave .

GAMBLING & STICK GAME



Sticks used in Hupa guessing game

Gambling was the most popular recreational activity for Local Native people. Men would gamble each evening in the sweathouse, which served as their lodgings (men and women slept separately). In the most popular game, players would hide sticks, one specially marked, behind their backs. The opponents would attempt to guess which hand held the marked stick. Gambling, like many activities, was spiritually based and being “lucky” was more a reflection of the quality of your character than an association with random chance. Our peoples also played an endurance and strength game in which men used sticks to try to throw a "tossel" (two wooden blocks attached by a cord) across opposing goal lines despite the very physical interference of the other team.



Basket for storing acorns, which were a staple food for the Hupa and Yurok

Hupa and Yurok Culture and Basketry

“I wish a long life for the woman who always has a basket in her hands.”

THE AREA

The Hupa and the Yurok live in the coastal mountains of Northern California between what is now Eureka and Crescent city. The Hupa Valley is 8 miles long and the Trinity River runs through it to join the Klamath River at the base of the valley. The river is a large part of their culture. They still think in the traditional “upstream” and “downstream” directions. The Hupa Valley is very isolated and creates a place where the past and the present meet. Even though the Hupa people have jobs now and they have forgotten their language they still have baskets and the materials to make them all around their houses.

In the Hupa Valley is a plentiful area. In the valley there are cottonwood, willow, alder, manzanita, pine, yew, Douglas fir and oak trees. As for the fauna, salmon, eels, sturgeons, trout, otters, hawks, eagles, elk, deer, grizzlies and small brown bears are found in the area. Of this the Hupa usually ate acorns, deer and salmon, all of which were very plentiful.

LIFE IN A HUPA VILLAGE

In the center of the Hupa Valley stood the Takimildin, which means “place of the acorn feast.” The spiritual leader was chosen at that site, which was the spiritual center of the valley. It was also the site of three Hupa ceremonies. The villages in the valley were each made up of a family group. Therefore people in the same village never married each other. Within a village everyone worked toward a common goal of keeping the village running smoothly. Even distant cousins were spoken of and treated as brothers and sisters.

Each family built a xonta. The xonta was a 20-foot structure that was partially underground. The women and the young slept in the xonta at night. Also it was used to store food, tools and clothes. The structure was made of cedar boards and a small round door on the right of the front of the xonta kept the bears out. Inside there was a sunken pit in the center where the fire burned. The men slept in the taikyow, or sweathouse. After dinner the men would retire to the sweathouse to smoke, talk and sleep.

The babies in the village were watched by many members of the village, but mostly by the mother. When the baby was no longer nursing the grandparents took over primary care of the child and taught him or her the ways of the village and the beliefs of the tribe.

Each age group of within the Hupa had duties to the village, the family and the valley. At age 9 children were separated, the boys went with the men and the girls went with the women. The boys learned to gather firewood, hunt and fish. When learning to hunt they started with small game and as the got better they moved up to larger prey. The Hupa also used dogs to hunt. When the dogs were not being used to hunt they were used to guard the women and children from bears. The boys also learned to prepare the animal skins to be used for clothes, robes, leggings, quivers and pouches. Fishing was another vital skill that young boys learned. The Hupa used traps, nets, baskets, harpoons, hook and line methods and bows and arrows. The boys also learned how to make hunting tools.

The young girls learned what plants could be eaten, used as medicines and woven with. They were taught to gather fruits and nuts, care for children, make clothes and tools, and how to make baskets. The women were also responsible for preparing food, such as acorns, an involved process. Acorns had to be ground and soaked to leach the bitterness out of them. The women also prepared the game that was brought back from the hunts and dried it for use in the winter.

Some of the women in the tribe were trained to be doctors. They trained for many years to learn how to diagnose, gather the appropriate plants and treat illnesses.

Yurok were costal people and culturally very similar to the Hupa. Although they spoke different languages they traded goods that could only be gathered or made in their respective areas. The Yurok traded seaweed, ocean fish and dugout redwood canoes with the Hupa. Also the Yurok and Karok, who live north of the Hupa, attended Hupa ceremonies.

CEREMONIES AND RITUALS

There were many rituals and ceremonies around the issue of pregnancy and childbirth. When a woman was pregnant she would not eat any meat. This made for a smaller child and therefore an easier childbirth. Also, when woman gave birth, she would give birth in a shelter called a mintc. The woman would stay in the mintc for ten days. After ten days some of baby’s hair would be burned signifying that the baby was no longer a spirit.

When a girl became a woman the flower dance was performed. The girl spent ten days purifying herself by fasting, praying and bathing. The men of the village sang and danced for her and the women reminded her of her new responsibilities. After the ten days she was an adult in the village.

When a man from another village wanted to marry a woman of the village, the man offered her father a payment for her. If her father accepted then they were married. For the marriage feast the girl’s village brought many gifts to the man’s village. The feast went on for three days. On the last day the groom’s family gave gifts to the woman’s family.

When a death occurred the grave was guarded for five days. The relatives of the deceased cut their hair short to show their grief and a widow would cut her hair very short. Once the person had died no one spoke his or her name. It was considered an insult to speak the name, so people would refer to the one who had passed away in indirect ways. A child might refer to a parent who had passed away as “the one I resemble.”

Large ceremonies were held for the first salmon and the first eel of the year. In the fall the Hupa built a dam across the Trinity River for fishing. Anyone who helped build the dam could fish off of it.

At the first acorn ceremony the medicine woman and up to five other women prayed for good fortune, good health and a large acorn crop. This ceremony also involved a great feast and a celebration where many different games were played. The women played dice games with mussel shells. The men played a guessing game with sticks. The strongest men played “sticks” which is a cross between hockey and wrestling. The men also wrestled and had archery contests.

BASKETRY

Weaving a basket was a very time consuming but incredibly important process. Gathering materials was done almost year round depending on when was the best time to harvest different materials. The Hupa planted hazelnut around their houses to make harvesting easier and to ensure that they had this important element. Hazelnut was harvested in April and May. Each year the women burned the ground where they planted the hazelnut to ensure that it grew in straight. Sour grass and straw grass are greenish yellow. They were picked from April to June. The best sour grass and straw grass were picked from a spot in the shade because they were moister and less bleached by the sun. Conifer roots were used for the weft. The conifers that roots were harvested form were coastal redwoods, juniper, digger pine, willow, cottonwood, red alder and spruce. These could be dug anytime, but were often dug in March. Maidenhair fern were harvested form the coast between June and October. Woodwardia
fern is like maidenhair fern and is found in moist shady soil. It is often picked in the fall and winter. White alder bark was used for red dye.

The weaving is always done clockwise and the materials have to be kept damp while they are being woven with. To weave the basket two hazelnut sticks are lined up butt ends together. They are wrapped together to make one long stick. This is repeated with four more sticks that are place parallel to the first two. Then six more sticks are prepared in the same fashion and placed perpendicular to the first set. This creates a square base for the basket. Then the twining is done by weaving another material around the “spokes” in a clockwise direction. Additional spokes are added as the basket grows. At the end the spokes still poking up past the basket are simply cut to be flush with the last twining. The weave is tight enough to keep from unraveling.

As for the designs on the baskets, old traditional designs are encouraged. These are not too elaborate, they contain good spacing and have large areas of one color. One favorite design is of flint or an “oblique parallelogram”To add designs different color rods were woven around the spokes. Some of these different color rods could be collected while others were dyed using natural dyes. White bear grass tips could be used for white or yellow designs. Maidenhair ferns are used for black designs. Oregon grape root and lichen were used to make a yellow dye. Alder bark and giant fern were used to make reddish brown dyes.



Open weave workbasket from Hupa group in Northern California, dated to pre 1950's. In good condition, with modern rim repair.



Hupa cultural leader Captain John is pictured seated in center under the regalia used in the White Deerskin Dance

Since time immemorial, the Natinixwe (pronounced Nah-tin-o-whey) now known as the Hupa people, have lived along the Trinity River in Northern California. There were 13 villages along seven miles of the heart of Hoopa Valley, home to about 1000 Hupa who lived there in cedar plank houses, or xontas. These homes were built for comfort and not defense - they remained cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and were the site of much of the daily Hupa activities. They were also used by the women and children as sleeping quarters, while the men slept next door in the sweathouse. During the day, the men and boys over the age of ten would go hunting and fishing (deer, elk, salmon, trout and sturgeon), while the women gathered berries, bark and roots and made baskets for their daily use. The Trinity River and the surrounding hills provided an abundance of food and resources which left much time for spiritual matters.



Acorn Cooking Basket and Associated Items

The large basket was used for making a thick acorn soup. Acorns were pounded using a stone pestle like the one pictured. The resulting flour was then leeched to remove the bitter tanic acid, and added to water until the soup was the consistency of mush. Hot stones were then stirred in to cook the mixture. The wooden paddle, usually made from yew, was used to keep the stones from burning the soup or the basket.

The paddle was designed for comfortable use, but also reflected the personality of the carver. Each paddle had its own design and style, depending on who fashioned it

Although Sir Francis Drake landed 30 miles west of Hoopa (in Trinidad Bay) in 1579, it was not until 1828 that the Hupa were first approached by Europeans. For twenty years they traded furs until the time of the Gold Rush, when a new type of white man arrived, with little respect for Hupa land or people. As had happened in all the other states, the white settlers wanted to have the Hupa moved, but there was no place to relocate them. In 1851, Redick McKee signed a treaty with the Yurok, Kurok and Hupa tribes which was meant to provide safety from encroachment, and guarantee land rights in the form of a reservation. This treaty however, was one of 18 signed that year and never ratified by Congress.

I n 1858, a Yurok agent overheard some men in a saloon describing a large group of armed men moving downriver from Weaverville and towards the Hupa villages. While he was able to turn them back that time, the Hupa became worried about their safety and began petitioning for a fort as well as gathering their own weapons. A command post named Fort Gaston was built in 1858 but it did not take long for the government to question Hupa loyalty and attempt to take action to ensure it. One September night in 1863, the villagers were surrounded in their sleep and were forced to surrender the following morning. They remained prisoners at Fort Gaston for a year, when the Hupa declared a war that the Federal troops could not win. The Hupa employed a brilliant strategy to keep violence from their valley; they gave aid to neighboring tribes and employed them as mercenaries to defend themselves from the forces that attacked them, but maintained peace in the valley by their apparent
cooperation. By this constant support of allied forces and resistance to open warfare in the Hoopa Valley, they were eventually able to withstand the attacks of the government troops and force them into a stalemate. So, on August 12, 1864 the Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed between the Hupa and the U.S. government. Hupa demands were met; they were guaranteed a reservation that comprised about ninety percent of their original homeland, and secured amnesty for all those who had fought in the war.

Once the Hupa's physical safety was guaranteed, they faced a more insidious threat; the attempted disruption of their cultural heritage. Government agents had little respect for the rich cultural and spiritual life the Hupa had developed over the span of their existence. Some aspects of the new culture were accepted readily, like the move from a hunting and gathering based subsistence system to a primarily agricultural one. Other aspects of the new culture met with resistance - the Hupa strove to maintain their traditions at a time when Federal policy was the eradication of indigenous culture and complete assimilation into the "mainstream" society.

1891 - President Harrison signed an executive order which would join the Hupa and Yurok reservations. The troops soon moved off Hupa/Yurok lands and the boarding school they had been built to assimilate the Hupa could be converted into a regular school and additional housing.

1911 - The formation of the first modern Hupa Tribal Council.

1918 - Under the Dawes Act, the first allotments of land were distributed for farming.

1933 - The formation of the first formal tribal council which was officially recognized when the Hupa established a constitution and by-laws.

1950's - A time of much greater financial prosperity thanks to timber. Hoopa Valley had seven saw mills, and distributed the income on a per capita basis to the whole tribe. While logging still goes on today, only areas that are not visible from the valley are cleared, and there has been a great effort to replant the felled trees.

1988 - Thanks to a massive tribal effort, with members protesting in Sacramento as well as Washington, D.C., the Hupa were finally recognized as a Sovereign Territory by the federal government. The treaty, which was was signed by Ronald Reagan also put an end to the union of the Hupa and Yurok reservations, which was causing strain around lumber issues. Every year in the second week of August, this day is celebrated as Sovereign Day.

Today- the Sovereign Tribal council today resembles the ancient tribal government in structure and function. Long-term goals include the development of the local economy by using the rich natural resources of tribal land without upsetting the delicate balance of nature.

Over the last century and a half, the Hupa people have undergone a radical transition- but through it all they have maintained a strong sense of cultural identity which survives today. They have incorporated aspects of the new outside culture without losing sight of their heritage.



The Hoopa Valley Tribal Fisheries Department is responsible for the monitoring and reporting of the Fishery for the entire Trinty River Basin. Through funding the the Bureau of Reclamation, BIA Compact, and National Marine Fisheries Service, the various monitoring activities include fish tagging, weir operations, juvenile outmigrant trapping, screw trap monitoring, creel census, and net harvest monitoring. Much of the data gathered through these monitoring activities is used to estimate future anadromous runs in order to determine allocation between the ocean fishery, Tribal fisheries, and the sports fishery.



Healing Waters

The pictures from this and all future issues will be uploaded to Yahoo..
This is mainly for those who get the digest version which doesn't have any pictures.
ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/TA_DreamCatcher/photos

www.hoopa-nsn.gov/culture/history.htm

[Johnathaseita]

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