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Project Willow Lesson: Weh Hai Ge Ge A (Washoe Tradition) Materials:
Objectives:
Background: In traditional Washoe life, the gathering of pinenuts from the Piņon Pine signaled the approach of winter. Washoe traveled in groups into the pinenut foothills to harvest this important winter food. Pinenuts were sometimes eaten raw, but more commonly, were ground into flour for making soup. Pinenut gathering typically took place for about three weeks, beginning in late September. Each household might collect up to 600 pounds of nuts! According to the Washoe scholar, Warren L. D'Azevedo, as the time for harvesting pinenuts neared: . . . each major family unit held harvesting privileges on strips of land from which others were excluded from picking unless permission had been granted, or in the case of usufruct rights claimed by ties of kinship and marriage. When the crop was ripe, each family held brief propitiatory rites before going to the groves. However, this also was done collectively at large assemblies of people from which families would proceed to their traditional plots. Cones were knocked from the trees with hooked poles by men, while woman and children gathered them into conical burden baskets or spread them out to dry. This lesson explores the importance of the pinenut harvest to the Washoe, and introduces children to a few of the more common Washoe legends. Because the Washoe had no written language, the passing of information from one generation to the next was accomplished, in large part, through storytelling. Before You Begin This Lesson:
Activity: Part I - The Pine Nut Harvest 1. Begin the lesson by asking students to generate a class list of "signs" that winter is approaching northwest Nevada (the list might include: colder nights, shorter days, leaves turning color, animals collecting food for the winter, summer plants dieing off, deer migrating from the mountains, etc.). 2. Explain that the Washoe had learned to read all of these signs. The approach of winter was a time of harvesting a food source that was central to surviving the winter months. 3. Pass out one Piņon pine cone to each group of 3 students. Explain that the Washoe used only the seeds from this pine cone for food. Each nut had to be shelled before eating. 4. Point out how strong this small cone is, and how difficult it is to remove only one nut. (The nuts are hidden deep inside the cone -- often difficult to see.) 5. Ask the class to brainstorm possible techniques that might make it easier to dislodge the nuts from the cone. (You might want to point out that each family would collect several hundred pounds of pinenuts for winter!) 6. To better understand the importance of the Piņon pinenut, read the following passage from Wa She Shu: A Washoe Tribal History, pages 11 - 12: When the pine nuts ripened, the deu bay u (leader) called a special ceremony. He sent out a runner who carried a knotted buck-skin rope to all the Washoe camps. The runner avoided eating salt so that he would have a strong voice and be able to run long distances without tiring. Each knot in the rope represented one day; if there were five knots, the gathering would begin in five days. When the people arrived at the Pine Nut Hills, the goom sa bye (ceremony) began. The Washoe held the goom sa bye, which usually lasted four or five days, to give thanks to the Maker. Throughout the gathering, the different groups shared plentiful food. During the daytime, the groups played many games, including footraces, hand games, and ballgames. In the evenings, men and women joined in dances. During the dances, they carried the tools they would use to pick and prepare the tah gum (pine nuts). On the fourth day, the deu bay u (leader) prayed to give thanks to the Maker for the tah gum (pine nuts) and the other foods he had provided. In this prayer, the deu bay u (leader) also asked the people to have kind thoughts, share the food with each other, and leave some food for the Maker who had given it to them. The goom sa bye ceremony) ended with a symbolic cleansing; the Washoe went to a stream and bathed to show that they had cleaned their spirits as well as their bodies. When the goom sa bye (ceremony) ended, the Washoe began picking tah gum (pine nuts). Sometimes they collected tah gum for a month to six weeks, using a long pole with a curved or hooked tip to knock down the cones. They gathered the cones in burden baskets, carried them back to camp, and prepared them for eating. Some tah gum were stored in pits lined with stone or grass, where they could be kept through the winter. If one year's harvest was poor, tah gum stored in the ground the previous year could provided food for the people. Before a family cooked any of the newly gathered crop, they prayed that the nuts would be good and would not make anyone sick. Tah gum could be prepared in several ways. Because the cones were filled with pitch, they were roasted in slow fires. When the heat opened the cones, the Washoe picked the nuts from them. Then the Washoe cooked some of the tah gum with hot coals in winnowing baskets. They cracked and removed the shells, using a portable metate or dim git and a mano or gom-mum. After they cracked the shells, the Washoe sifted the kernels from them in the same winnowing baskets. Finally, they ground the tah gum into flour. This flour, which formed an essential part of the Washoe diet, was made into soup, Sometimes the Washoe cooked pine nuts in long troughs dug along the sandy banks of the river. When the fire was hot, they placed the nuts in the pit. Ten to twenty burden baskets of nuts could be cooked in one of these troughs. 7. The Washoe Coloring Book includes illustrations for the burden basket, cooking basket, and winnowing tray. You may want to show your students these illustrations. 8. As you collect the 10 Piņon pine cones, have the class imagine how difficult the actual collection of pine nuts must have been for the Washoe. It is interesting to note that despite the difficulty, the Washoe approached the harvest not as a burden but instead, as a celebration. Part II - Washoe Tales 9. Explain that winter was a time of quiet isolation for the ancient Washoe. It was in this setting that stories were shared among the tribal members. 10. Ask students why they think story telling was so important to the Washoe (Because the Washoe had no written language, storytelling was a way to pass on important information from generation to generation.) 11. Read the following passage from page 28 of Wa She Shu: A Washo Tribal History: Washo children learned a great deal about their people, their land, and their culture by listening to legends. The old people of the tribe told the stories, which they had heard from their parents and grandparents. Some legends explained how the Washo had come to the earth. The creation legends, however, made up only one part of Washo tradition. Other stories preserved important events in Washo history, described the geography of the area, provided entertainment, and helped to teach the young. As the stories passed from generation to generation, young Washo learned the same lessons their parents had. The stories, which were told before everyone went to sleep, often illustrated wise and unwise behavior. In most cases, the storytellers used animal characters. Using animal figures, which held the children's interest, the narrator could teach a lesson without irritating or offending anyone. Legends taught young Washo many things they would need to know when they grew up. The tales explained the different kinds of food in Washo territory and showed the children how these foods were found and prepared. The stories taught the young people how to identify various medicines, find their sources, and prepare them. They listed remedies for insect bites and other illness. The legends also enumerated the features of Washo land. Listening to them, the children grew familiar with the lakes, streams, mountains, and valleys in Washo territory. Through the legends, young Washo learned to respect the land and all that lived within it. 12. Now it is time to share 4 Washoe stories from Wa She Shu: A Washoe Tribal History. Read each story out loud to your class, followed up with a brief discussion concerning the purpose or meaning this story might have had to the ancient Washoe. I. PAWS vs. HANDS: A Creation Story Several legends explain how the Washo were created, how they came to their land, and why they were few in number. One legend tells why people were created with hands instead of paws: Once, the coyote and the lizard argued about what people should be like. The coyote said that the people could dig in the ground for food with paws like his. The lizard disagreed, saying that people should have fingers like his. They argued and argued. Finally, the coyote chased the lizard into a crack in a rock. The lizard stayed there, still saying that people should have hands. The coyote was furious; he decided to make a fire by the rock to drive the lizard out. The rock got hotter and hotter, and smoke filled the area. When the lizard spat on the rock, it made a sizzling noise. The coyote laughed, thinking that the lizard was being roasted, but the lizard wasn't dead. Finally the lizard won the argument and the people have hands, but even today the lizard is black and blue underneath because he was smoked in the coyote's fire. II. HOW LAKES WERE CREATED This legend attempts to explain how lakes were created. Like many Washoe legends, it describes the features of the land. This story begins in the area south of Lake Tahoe, where the town of Meyers, California, now stands: Pawetsile (the weasel) had just killed a deer. He told his brother, the mischievous one, to fetch some water from Lake Tahoe while he built a fire. When Damollale (the squirrel) reached the lake, he saw a young water baby combing her long, beautiful hair. Looking at the water baby sitting on Cave Rock, he thought, "My brother always wanted long, beautiful hair like that." The water baby, who knew what he was thinking, said to him, "If you try to take my hair, the lake will swallow you." Then squirrel began to wrestle with the water baby. They rolled around the lake to the place on the south shore where the Little Truckee runs into the lake. There, weasel killed the water baby. that is why the creek is always red. When squirrel killed the water baby, the lake began to boil. As squirrel started up the mountain to escape, he pulled a strand of hair from the water baby's scalp. The lake advanced behind him; each time he plucked a hair it rose up and then receded. Finally squirrel reached Job's Peak, where his brother was. Weasel told him to give the water baby's hair back to the lake before the water swallowed them. Squirrel protested, "But I thought you wanted her hair." since by this time the water had reached their necks, weasel insisted that this brother throw the hair back. Finally, he convinced his younger brother, who did what he was told. Then the lake returned to its original bed, but as it retreated, it left water in all the depressions in the area. That is why there are many small lakes in the mountains near Lake Tahoe. III. MONSTERS Many Washo legends tell of monsters. Often, these monsters preyed on foolish individual s who acted improperly and did not heed the warnings of their people. Through these stories, the young learned to respect the wisdom of their elders; they also learned the proper ways to behave. One monster, Hanuh wui-wui was part animal and part human. He had a human head, chest and arms, joined to an animal body, with four hoofed feet. His name came from the grunting sound he made as he ran: "Hanuh-wui! Hanuh-wui!" The monster preyed on people who thought they were having a good time when they were actually neglecting their duty: Often young parents left their children with grandparents and went to a meeting place to play games. They played cards until the small hours of the morning. The children's grandmother, an old woman, heard the noise of the monster approaching: "Hanuh-wui! Hanuh-wui!" She ran to the meeting place to warn the people that she heard the monster. The young people, however, laughed at her, telling her that she was old and her hearing was bad. She tried to explain to the reckless young people that if they did not return to care for the children, they would die soon. Failing to convince them, she returned to her home and the several young children in her care. Hearing the sound of the monster, "Hanuh-wui! Hanuh-wui!", the young people said the old woman was playing tricks on them. For a moment, all was quiet. Then the young people laughed and continued their games. Suddenly the door burst open and Hanuh wui-wui appeared. As the people turned to look at the open door, Hanuh wui-wui said, "Geh-tu-gui-ow-eti, " which means, "Black out." When all the people died, the monster searched for others in the neighborhood, intending to kill them as well. Meanwhile, the old woman had abandoned her home, running out into the sagebrush with the young children in her arms. She ran to the area near Double Springs Flat. The old woman found the largest sagebrush and pulled it out of the ground, leaving a big hole. She placed the children in this hole and climbed in after them, pulling the sagebrush over them by the roots. When she reached the bottom of the hold, she twisted her cane into the roots and laid the cane across the hold. Inside the hole, the woman and the children could hear the monster approaching, "Hanuh-wui! Hanuh-wui!" Testing each of his senses, he said, "Wah-geng-mugelic-got-tum-ooh-ech," which means, "It tastes as if the people are right down here." Grabbing the sagebrush, he pulled and pulled, but the cane at the bottom anchored the roots, and he could not pull the sagebrush up. Frustrated by this failure, he began to pull up all the other sagebrush in the area. Finally he had cleared an area about five hundred yards around the sagebrush that hid the woman and the children. Sometimes he went further outside the five-hundred-yard radius, tearing out all the sagebrush in the area except the one in the middle. Trying to catch the old woman by surprise, he dashed back to the central sagebrush. Back and forth he ran. The old woman, wise in her ways, waited for him. Finally, after some time, she undid her cane when she heard him approach. When the monster grabbed the sagebrush and pulled with all his might, the brush slipped out easily since the cane no longer held it. Hanuh wui-wui, who had not expected this fell backwards and killed himself. Then the woman took the children back to their camp. Even today, in an area in the midst of the Washo allotments about fifteen miles south of Gardnerville, Nevada, there is a place on the Double Springs Flat where one large sagebrush looms above the rest. The area is no longer completely bare, since the sagebrush has grown back over the years, but the one large sagebrush stands above everything in a six-hundred-yard radius. Listening to this legend, children learned the responsibilities that they would have as parents. They learned not to neglect their children or mock their elders. IV. RECALLING AN EVENT This story is an example of a legend that told of an important event in Washoe history. Wel mel ti in Washo Valley recalls a tragic landslide in their area. They lived at the foot of the mountains, using a spring near present-day Bower's Mansion and travelling to Lake Tahoe on mountain trails. Slide Mountain, which looms above the valley on the west, figures in Washo legends. Tradition says that many years ago, long before the white man came, the sky became dark and the earth shook. When the mountain tumbled down, many Washo who lived at its base were buried beneath sand and dirt. The survivors left the area, which has been taboo to the Washo ever since. Closure: 1. After reading all four stories, ask students to think about which of the stories created the strongest visual image in their minds. 2. Pass out a sheet of plane white paper to each student. Instruct them to illustrate an event from one of the four stories. Their illustration does not need to be a work of art, but should be drawn with enough detail that anyone in the room could tell from which of the four stories the illustration is based. Evaluation: Be sure to collect all student illustrations. You should be able to judge from which story the illustration was based. Students who can not demonstrate that they listened carefully to the stories should be graded appropriately. Option: You may want to expand this lesson into a creative writing activity, where students develop their own legend or story to explain an event or "thing" in their lives. |
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