Achomawi traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the
Achomawi
Achomawi (also Achumawi, Ajumawi and Ahjumawi), are the northerly nine (out of eleven) bands of the Pit River tribe of Palaihnihan Native Americans who live in what is now northeastern California in the United States. These 5 autonomous bands ...
people of the
Pit River
The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range.
The longest tributary of the Sacr ...
basin of Northeastern California.
Achomawi oral literature reflects the group's position at the junction of cultural influences from central California, the Great Basin, the Plateau, and the Northwest Coast regions of aboriginal North America.
See also
*
Traditional narratives (Native California)
The traditional narratives of Native California are the folklore and mythology of the native people of California.
For many historic nations of California, there is only a fragmentary record of their traditions.
Spanish missions in California f ...
Achomawi narratives
* Angulo, Jaime de, and Lucy S. Freeland. 1931. "Two Achumawi Tales". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 44:125-136. (Collected from Mary Martin.)
* Curtis, Edward S. 1907-1930. ''The North American Indian''. 20 vols. Plimpton Press, Norwood, Massachusetts. (Creation myth collected from Henry Wool, vol. 13, pp. 206-210.)
* Dixon, Roland B. 1905. "The Mythology of the Shasta-Achomawi". ''American Anthropologist'' 7:607-612. (Comparative notes.)
* Dixon, Roland B. 1908. "Achomawi and Atsugewi Tales". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 21:159-177. (Twelve myths collected in 1900 and 1903.)
* Dixon, Roland B. 1909. "Achomawi Myths". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 22:283-287. (Five myths collected by
Jeremiah Curtin
Jeremiah Curtin (6 September 1835 – 14 December 1906) was an American ethnographer, folklorist, and translator. Curtin had an abiding interest in languages and was conversant with several. From 1883 to 1891 he was employed by the Bureau of Am ...
.)
* Gifford, Edward Winslow, and Gwendoline Harris Block. 1930. ''California Indian Nights''. Arthur H. Clark, Glendale, California. (Four previously published narratives, pp. 84-85, 134, 158, 285)
* Judson, Katharine Berry. 1912. ''Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest''. A. C. McClurg, Chicago. (A version of the creation myth, p. 16)
* Kroeber, A. L. 1925. ''Handbook of the Indians of California''. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C. (Comparative comments on myths, p. 315)
* Margolin, Malcolm. 1993. ''The Way We Lived: California Indian Stories, Songs, and Reminiscences''. First edition 1981. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California. (One myth from Curtin, pp. 118-119.)
* Olmsted, David L. 1977. "Loon, Coyote, and Fox (Ajumawi)". In ''Northern Californian Texts'', edited by Victor Golla and Shirley Silver, pp. 66-70. International Journal of American Linguistics Native American Texts Series No. 2(2). University of Chicago Press.
* Powers, Stephen. 1877. ''Tribes of California''. Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. 3. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Reprinted with an introduction by Robert F. Heizer in 1976, University of California Press, Berkeley. (Two narratives, pp. 272-273)
External links
"Achomawi and Atsugewi Tales"by Roland B. Dixon (1908)
by Roland B. Dixon (1909)
''Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest''by Katharine Berry Judson (1912)
''The North American Indian''by
Edward S. Curtis
Edward Sherriff Curtis (February 19, 1868 – October 19, 1952) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American people. Sometimes referred to as the "Shadow Catcher", Curtis travele ...
(1924)
{{Populations of Native California Groups
Traditional narratives (Native California)