| Maidu |
|---|
| Total population |
|
<200 [1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| United States of America (CA) |
| Languages |
| English, Maidu |
| Religions |
| Christianity (incl. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Maiduan (also Maidun, Pujunan) is a small endangered language family of northeastern California. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings syncretistic forms), other |
The Maidu are a group of Native Americans who are living in Northern California. Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs often while melding practices of various schools of thought Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. They are living in the central Sierra Nevada, in the drainage area of the Feather and American Rivers. The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U This article treats the river in California For other uses see Feather River (disambiguation The Feather River is a principal tributary of American River ( Río de los Americanos in the Mexican period located in the US state of California, has a prominent place in United States history for
The name Maidu means "person". For more information on the languages of the Maidu, see Maiduan languages. Maiduan (also Maidun, Pujunan) is a small endangered language family of northeastern California.
Contents |
Local divisions
There are three subcategories of Maidu:
- The Nisenan or Southern Maidu occupied the whole of the American, Bear and Yuba River Yuba River drainages. The Nisenan, also known as the Southern Maidu and Valley Maidu are one of many native groups of the Central Valley. The Bear River is a River in the Sierra Nevadas in California. The Yuba River is an important River in California and a major Tributary of the Feather River, which is a tributary of the Sacramento River
- The Northeastern or Mountain Maidu, also known as Yamonee Maidu, lived on the upper North and Middle forks of the Feather River.
- The Konkow or Northwestern Maidu lived below the high Sierra, in the South, Middle, North and West branches of the Feather River, on the Upper Butte and Chico Creeks, and in the Sacramento Valley along the lower course of those streams. The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta in the U
Population
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California. Estimates of the Native Californian population have varied substantially both with respect to California's pre-contact count and for changes during subsequent periods ) Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) estimated the 1770 population of the Maidu (including the Konkow and Nisenan) as 9,000. Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11 1876&ndashOctober 5 1960 was one of the most influential figures in American Anthropology in the first half of the twentieth Year 1770 ( MDCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Friday Sherburne F. Cook (1976:179) raised this figure slightly, to 9,500. Sherburne Friend Cook was a physiologist by training and served as professor and chairman of the department of physiology at the University of California Berkeley.
Kroeber reported the population of the Maidu in 1910 as 1,100. Year 1910 ( MCMX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The 1930 census counted only 93. Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Culture
The Maidu were hunters and gatherers. A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild Foraging and Hunting
The Maidu were exemplary basket makers, weaving highly detailed and useful baskets in sizes ranging from thimble-sized to huge ones ten or more feet in diameter. Basket weaving (also basketry, basket making, or basketmaking) is the process of Weaving unspun Vegetable Fibers into The stitches on some of these baskets are so fine that you need a magnifying glass to see them. In addition to closely woven, watertight baskets for cooking, they made large storage baskets, bowls, shallow trays, traps, cradles, hats and seed beaters. To make these baskets they used dozens of different kinds of wild plant stems, barks, roots and leaves. Some of the more common were fern roots, red bark of the redbud, white willow twigs and tule roots, hazel twigs, yucca leaves, brown marsh grass roots and sedge roots. By combining these different kinds of plants, they were able to make geometric designs on their baskets in red, black, white, brown or tan.
Subsistence
Although the Maidu were hunters and gatherers and did not farm, like many other California tribes they practiced grooming of their gathering grounds, with fire as a primary tool for this purpose, and tended local groves of oak trees to maximize production of acorns, which was their principal dietary staple. The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of Trees and Shrubs in the Genus Quercus (from Latin The acorn is the nut of the Oak tree (genera Quercus, Lithocarpus and Cyclobalanopsis, in the This article is primarily about the human diet For a discussion of animal diets see List of feeding behaviours. A staple food is a Food that forms the basis of a Traditional diet. The abundance of acorns made it possible for the Maidu to store large quantities for harder times, and they used their basket-making skills to construct above-ground acorn granaries. A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or Animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries Pottery is the most
Besides acorns, which provided dietary starch and fat, the Maidu lived in an environment rich in plant and animal life, much of it edible, and they supplemented their acorn diet with edible roots (for which they were nick-named "Digger Indians" by European immigrants), fish from the many streams and rivers, and other plant and animal species. Starch, CAS # 9005-25-8 Chemical formula (C6H10O5n is a Polysaccharide Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water Root vegetables are plant roots used as Vegetables Other underground plants are often erroneously called root vegetables
Housing
Maidu housing, especially higher in the hills and the mountains, was largely semi-underground. These underground houses were sizable, circular structures twenty to forty feet in diameter, whose floors were as much as three feet below ground level. Underground living refers simply to living below the ground's surface whether in naturally occurring caves or in built structures Once the floor of the house was dug, a pole and log framework was built, upon which a heavy layer of earth was placed. With a central fire in the house, this made for good warmth in the winter. For summer dwelling, a different structure was built from cut branches tied together and fastened to sapling posts, then covered with brush and dirt. The summer shelters were built with the principal opening facing east to catch the rising sun, and to escape the heat of the afternoon.
Social organization
They lived in small villages with no centralized political organization. Leaders were typically selected from the pool of men who headed the local Kuksu cult, but generally did not exercise day-to-day authority, being primarily responsible for settling internal disputes, and negotiating over matters arising between villages. Kuksu, also called the Kuksu Cult, was a Shamanistic religion in Northern California practiced in different degrees by many Native American people
Religion
The primary religious tradition of the Maidu revolved around the Kuksu cult, which was a central California religious cult system based on a male secret society and characterized by the Kuksu or "big head" dances. Besides the Maidu, this cult system was also followed by the Pomo and the Patwin among the Wintun. The Pomo people are a linguistic branch of Native American people of Northern California. The Patwin (also Patween, Southern Wintu) are a Wintun people native to the area of Northern California. Wintun (also Wintuan, Wintoon) is the name generally given to a group of related Native American tribes who lived in Northern California, including
Languages
The Maidu spoke a language held by some authorities to be of the Penutian linguistic stock. Penutian is a proposed grouping of language families that includes many Native American languages of western North America, predominantly spoken at one While all Maidu spoke a form of this language, the grammar, syntax and vocabulary differed sufficiently that Maidu separated by large distances or by geographic features that discouraged travel might actually speak nearly mutually unintelligible dialects of the tongue.
There were four principal divisions of the language: Northeastern Maidu, Yamonee Maidu (known simply as Maidu); Southern Maidu or Nisenan; Northwestern Maidu or Konkow; and Valley Maidu or Chico. Maidu (also Northeastern Maidu, Mountain Maidu) is a severely endangered Maiduan language spoken by Maidu peoples traditionally Nisenan (or alternatively Southern Maidu Neeshenam Nishinam Pujuni or Wapumni is a nearly extinct Maiduan language spoken by the Nisenan (or Southern Maidu The Konkow language (also called Northwestern Maidu &mdash or Koyoongk'awi, as it is called in the language itself is a part of the Maiduan language group Chico (also Valley Maidu) is an extinct Maiduan language formerly spoken by Maidu peoples who lived in Northern California between Sacramento and
U. S. recognition
- Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe of the Enterprise Rancheria
- Greenville Rancheria of Maidu Indians
- Mechoopda Maidu Tribe of the Chico Rancheria
- Mooretown Rancheria of Concow Maidu
- Round Valley Indian Community of the Round Valley Indian Reservation
- Shingle Springs Rancheria of Miwok Indians
- Susanville Indian Rancheria
- Tyme Maidu Tribe of the Berry Creek Rancheria
- United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria
Non-federally recognized tribes
- Honey Lake Maidu Tribe
- KonKow Valley Band of Maidu Indians
- Strawberry Valley Rancheria
- Tsi Akim Maidu Tribe of Taylorsville Rancheria
- United Maidu Nation
Contemporary artists
- Dalbert Castro - Nisenan
- Frank Day - Konkow
- Harry Fonseca - Nisenan
- Judith Lowry - Mt. Enterprise Rancheria is the landbase for the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe located near Oroville California. The Mechoopda is a Native American Tribe located in northern California. Harry Fonseca (1946– 28 December 2006) was an American artist Maidu
- Frank Tuttle - Concow Maidu
Traditional narratives
Stories of the Trickster Coyote were particularly prominent. In Mythology, and in the study of Folklore and Religion, a trickster is a God, Goddess, spirit, man woman or anthropomorphic Some have found the Maidu Coyote tales to be exceptionally funny and very bawdy. Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to vulgar
Bibliography
- Cook, Sherburne F. 1976. The Conflict between the California Indian and White Civilization. University of California Press, Berkeley.
- Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D. C.
- Heizer, Robert F. 1966. Languages, Territories, and Names of California Indian Tribes. University of California Press, Berkeley.
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