Atsugewi traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and
oral histories
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
preserved by the
Atsugewi
The Atsugewi are Native Americans residing in northeastern California, United States. Their traditional lands are near Mount Shasta, specifically the Pit River drainage on Burney, Hat, and Dixie Valley or Horse Creeks. They are closely related ...
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.
Atsugewi oral literature reflects the transitional position of Atsugewi culture between
Central California
Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California, which includes Los Angeles, and south of Northern California, which includes San Francisco. It includes the northern portion of the San J ...
, Northwest Coast, Plateau, and
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
regions.
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 ...
.)
On-Line Examples of Atsugewi Narratives
"Achomawi and Atsugewi Tales"by Roland B. Dixon (1908)
Sources for Atsugewi Narratives
* Dixon, Roland B. 1908. "Achomawi and Atsugewi Tales". ''Journal of American Folklore'' 21:159-177.(Two myths collected in 1900 and 1903.)
* Luthin, Herbert W. 2002. ''Surviving through the Days: A California Indian Reader''. University of California Press, Berkeley. (Two narratives recorded in 1996 and 1931, pp. 59–61, 139–151.)
* Swann, Brian. 1994. ''Coming to Light: Contemporary Translations of the Native Literatures of North America''. Random House, New York. ("Silver-Gray Fox Creates Another World," recorded by Susan Brandenstein in the early 1930s, pp. 737–748.)
* Walters, Diane. 1977. "Coyote and Moon Woman (Apwarukeyi)". In ''Northern Californian Texts'', edited by Victor Golla and Shirley Silver, pp. 147–157. International Journal of American Linguistics Native American Texts Series No. 2(2). University of Chicago Press.
{{Populations of Native California Groups
Traditional narratives (Native California)
Folklore