Yana traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the

Yana people The Yana were a group of Native Americans indigenous to Northern California in the central Sierra Nevada, on the western side of the range. Their lands, prior to encroachment by white settlers, bordered the Pit and Feather rivers. They were ...

of the eastern

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

and foothills of northeastern California. Yana oral literature belongs primarily to the central California tradition, but it also shows influences from the Great Basin and Plateau cultural provinces. (''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 Yana Narratives

"Yana Texts"
by

Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sa ...

(1910)

Sources for Yana Narratives

* Bright, William. 1993. ''A Coyote Reader''. University of California Press, Berkeley. (Narrative based on Sapir 1910, pp. 105-117.) * Curtin, Jeremiah. 1898. ''Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind''. Little, Brown, Boston. (Reprinted in 1995 as "Creation Myths of America.") (13 Yana myths, including Theft of Fire, with commentaries.) * Gifford, Edward Winslow, and Gwendoline Harris Block. 1930. ''California Indian Nights''. Arthur H. Clark, Glendale, California. (Four previously published narratives, pp. 129-132, 198-201, 216-218, 235-237.) * Kroeber, A. L. 1925. ''Handbook of the Indians of California''. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C. (Brief notes, p. 341.) * Luthin, Herbert W. 2002. ''Surviving through the Days: A California Indian Reader''. University of California Press, Berkeley. (A Yahi narrative collected from Ishi by Edward Sapir in 1915, pp. 152-177.) * Sapir, Edward. 1910. "Yana Texts". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 9:1-235. Berkeley. (Myths and other texts, including Theft of Fire, Loon Woman, and Bear and Fawns, collected by Dixon in 1900 and by Sapir in 1910, with some comparative notes.) * Sapir, Edward. 1923. "Text Analyses of Three Yana Dialects". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 20:263-294. Berkeley. (Central Yana and Yahi narratives, pp. 266-267, 283-285.) * Swann, Brian. 1994. ''Coming to Light: Contemporary Translations of the Native Literatures of North America''. Random House, New York. ("Dragonfly Woman" and "Rolling Skull," recorded from Betty Brown and Sam Batwi by Edward Sapir in 1907, pp. 717-736.)