The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians is a

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also * Chumash traditional ...

, an

indigenous people of California The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...

, in Santa Barbara.Pritzker 122 Their name for themselves is Samala. The locality of Santa Ynez is referred to as ''’alaxulapu'' in Chumashan language.

Government

The Santa Ynez Band is headquartered in

Santa Ynez, California Santa Ynez (; Spanish for "St. Agnes") is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California. The town of Santa Ynez is one of the communities of the Santa Ynez Valley. It features the Santa Ynez Airport ...

. They are governed by a democratically elected, five-member tribal council. Their current tribal administration is as follows: * Chairman: Kenneth Kahn * Vice-chairman: Mike Lopez * Secretary/Treasurer: Maxine Littlejohn * Business Committee Member: Gary Pace * Business Committee Member: Raul Armenta

Reservation

The Santa Ynez Indian Reservation () is the only Chumash reservation. It was 127-acres large and was established on 27 December 1901. Beginning in 1979, the tribe established a housing program and began improving the infrastructure on the reservation.

Samala Chumash language

The last native speaker of the Samala Chumash language, also called Ineseño, died in 1965. As of 2010, there has been a renaissance of Chumash pride and identity, including efforts to revive Samala and other

Chumash languages Chumashan was a family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people, from the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu, neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and ca ...

. In the early 1900s linguist/ethnographer

John P. Harrington John Peabody Harrington (April 29, 1884 – October 21, 1961) was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the indigenous peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which h ...

worked with Maria Solares, one of the last fluent speakers of Samala. He created manuscripts containing information on Chumash language, culture, and traditions. Dr. Richard Applegate, who received a PhD in linguistics from

U.C. Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

, used these manuscripts to write an extensive grammar of Samala and compile a dictionary of the language, which was released in 2008. Dr. Applegate and Nakia Zavalla, the Cultural Director for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash and a direct descendant of Maria Solares, have begun an effort to revitalize the language. Applegate began teaching Samala in 2003, and Zavalla has spearheaded an immersion-based language apprentice program. As of 2008, Applegate had five language apprentices; however, none had yet reached full fluency. An online Samala Chumash tutorial is available.

Economic development

The Santa Ynez Band owns and operates the

Chumash Casino Resort The Chumash Casino Resort is owned and operated by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians. Chumash is located near Santa Ynez Airport, in the Santa Ynez Indian Reservation, about east of Solvang, California. History Opened in its presen ...

, as well as the Chumash Cafe, the Creekside Buffet, The Willows restaurant, and Root 246, (formerly the third largest employer in Solvang, 105, until its closure in 2021) all in Santa Ynez, California.

Education

The reservation is served by the

College Elementary School District A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a University system, constituent part of one. A college may be a academic degree, degree-awarding Tertiary education, tertiary educational institution, a part of a coll ...

and

Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians * Native American tribes in California Federally recognized tribes in the United States Organizations based in Santa Barbara County, California Santa Ynez Valley Native American language revitalization