THE ENERGETICS OF
SUBSISTENCE-ASSURANCE RITUAL IN NATIVE CALIFORNIA
Sean Swezey
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Tribes and Territories of California Indians
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE IDEATIONAL CONTEXT
THE OPERATIONAL CONTEXT
THE FUNCTIONAL CONTEXT
FIGURES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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4
INTRODUCTION
Within the ecologically diverse natural environments of aboriginal
California, variable methods of resource exploitation characterized native
cultural groups. Kroeber (1925: 523-526), Beals and Hester (1960: 73-83),
Baumhoff (1963), and others have commented upon the diversity of hunting,
gathering, fishing, and flood-plain agriculture subsistence techniques and
strategies which integrated human populations into stable ecological systems.
Within these systems, natural complexity of food resources established the
general nature of California resource technology:
"The California Indian, then, secured his variety of
foods by techniques that were closely interrelated,
or where diverse, connected by innumerable transitions.
Few of the processes involved high skill or long
experience for their successful application, none
entailed serious danger, material exposure, or even
strenuous effort. A little modification, and each
process was capable of successful employment on some
other class of food objects. Thus the activities
called upon were distinguished by patience, simplicity,
and crude adaptability rather than by intense endeavor
and accurate specialization; and their outcome tended
to manifold distribution and approximate balance in
place of high yields or concentration along particular
but detached lines" (Kroeber, 1925: 525).
In proposing models of human populations in solar energy-based
systems, Odum typifies cultural response of hunting and gathering peoples:
to . . culture in such a system must include a great
knowledge of species properties, of seasonal cycles,
and of the network in which he is embedded. Medicinal
herbs, poisons, building materials, and animal products
are available in great biochemical diversity, but in
small quantities, so that considerable gathering energies
are required?? (1971: 105).
Several interactive ecological and energetic factors were operative
in determining subsistence patterns in native California. The transitional
adaptability of subsistence technology, when applied to a biological diversity
- 5 -
6
of resources such as acorns, pinyon nuts, mesquite beans, herbaceous seed
and root plants, fish, and game animals, precluded major input or direction
of energy by native societies into the ecosystems of which they were an integral
part. The low-level energetic potential of subsistence techniques thus
prevented major disruption through over-exploitation of environmental resources.
It has been proposed that the broad application of a basic inventory of
methods simultaneously conferred a great degree of ecological efficiency
upon native economies (Kroeber, 1925: 524-525; Jones, 1951: 89).
Adaptation of hunting and gathering strategies to the complexities of resource
diversity in California (in particular, emphasis on the acorn economy)
appears to have been sufficiently advanced to have supported aboriginal
populations of greater density than native North American agriculturalists,
and perhaps discouraged the acceptance of cultivated crops which were
suitable to California climates (Heizer, 1958: 20- 21).
However, a correlative hypothesis concerning the interaction of
cultural and environmental factors in promoting the extractive efficiency of
native economies must also be considered. An essential aspect of the
diversity of major aboriginal food resources was the highly seasonal nature
of their abundance. Efficient maintenance of an abundant and storable
resource base required accurate organization and direction of maximum
human energy potentials into subsistence pursuits at appropriate, and
often critical seasonal intervals, when, for example, acorns and other tree
crops ripened, herbaceous annuals matured, salmon runs began, and deer,
antelope, or rabbit populations reached maximum density.
Whereas the broad adaptation of material technology to the efficient
exploitation of food resources has been discussed and documented at
length in the ethnographic literature, the importance of ideational systems
such as world view and ritual in response to environmental systems of
native California has received little attention, due to the generally non-
analytic nature of much of the ethnographic data. 1 The large volume of
ethnographic information does provide evidence that various aspects of
world view and ritual behavior functioned to organize and adapt human
cultures to the ecological permutations of subsistence in California. The
present study is aimed at an examination of a specialized aspect of the
relationship between world view and environment: the functions of specific
ritual specialists (such as shamans, secret society headmen, ceremonial
leaders, and formulists) in aboriginal systems of resource utilization.
An energetic systems approach, based on the analysis and
reconstruction of an energy flow complex in native societies involving ritual
regulation of gathering, fishing, and hunting activities, indicates a central
1 Notable exceptions are more recent examinations of culture-environment
interaction in Native California by White (1963) and Bean (1972).
7
role of the ritual specialist in organizing subsistence behavior. Ritual
personalities occupied a distinct, modular position within native societies,
reinforced by world view and operating in the context of stereotypic ceremony
which attributed social power to those individuals who internalized or ritually
mediated the supernatural forces of nature. This potential for organization
and regulation of subsistence energetics (especially of high level input by
communal groups in response to seasonal availability of resources) was a
significant factor in economic activity.
The hypothesis that adaptation of relatively unspecialized hunting
and gathering societies to the ecological conditions of the California environment
included a system of ritual "control" functions over subsistence behavior,
requires consideration of specific questions concerning important areas of
ethnographic data:
(1) The Ideational Context:
What features of world view in native
California supported and socially sanctioned an
ecologically manipulative role of shamans and
other ritual specialists? How did belief in
supernatural or ceremonial modes of control over
natural process reinforce the overt, socially
structured regulatory powers of ritual leaders?
(2) The Operational Context:
What were the cultural and environmental contexts
in which these ritual control functions were
performed? What aspects of rituals concerned
with the acquisition of plant foods, fish, and
game animals defined them as regulatory or
managerial mechanisms?
(3) The Functional Context:
How may the functional role of the supernatural
or ritual specialist be modeled to provide quali-
fication of his position in aboriginal California
societies with respect to subsistence energetics?
Did the ritual direction of large-scale productive
behavior serve to organize large groups at important
seasonal intervals, and facilitate distribution of
food resources? Was the energetic structure
of subsistence ritual adaptive to the variable
availability of food resources in California
environments ?
8
The analysis of the ideational and operational aspects of world view
and ritual, which established a special complex of regulatory roles assumed
by shamans and other ritual specialists in native California, provides basie
perspectives concerning special adaptations of cultural systems to
environmental pressures. An energetics model of ritually enforced control
mechanisms directly relating to subsistence further emphasizes the general
principles by which hunting and gathering societies maintained effective
channels of energy transfer between food resources and human populations.
Ritual regulation of environmental relationships in widespread cultural
contexts, may have been a uniquely unifying response by native populations
to the biological and energetic complexities of subsistence in California.
The Ideational Context: World View and the Ritual Specialist in Environmental
Relations.
Of preliminary importance to understanding the regulation of
ecological and energetic systems by shamans and other ritual specialists is
a general discussion of those aspects of world view which ideologically
supported ritual control mechanisms. In establishing the central position
of the ceremonial personality within the complex of environment-culture
interactions, several concepts relating to the cognitive organization of the
native world require brief review: (1) the natural world was composed
of supernatural, spirit-beings who controlled environmental process;
(2) man was an integral part of the natural system, and was held accountable
for the propriety of his actions toward the animate world; and (3) the abstract
supernatural "power" and favor of spirit forces could be acquired and
internalized by shamans, or otherwise mediated and obtained, for the benefit
or the entire community, by the activities of ritualists in public ceremonies
designed to insure the continued availability and abundance of natural
resources. The integration of these concepts, common to world view systems
of native California, provides the philosophical basis by which ritual
systematized land-man relationships.
All native peoples of California manifested some fundamental belief
in the, animistic nature of the world. A basic theme of animism as a
religious concept proposes that all biotic and abiotic phenomena are controlled
by spirit forces possessing supernatural power and intelligence. The
"spirit" world, as dichotomously distinct from the empirical reality of the
"physical" world, was composed of an ordered assemblage of animate
beings largely invisible in the normal activities of daily life:
"Everything in this world talks, just as we
are now, the trees, the rocks, everything. But
we can't understand them, just as the white people
9
do not understand Indians " (Nomlaki informant; in
Goldschmidt, 1951: 348).
"Who's tending this sun, moon? Who moves
them around? There must be somebody to look
after this world..." (Nisenan informant; in Beals,
1933: 380).
Mythological traditions concerning the origins of human culture
established the basis for the animate composition of the universe. In the
beginning, superhuman beings (often animal culture-hero characters)
inhabited the first world, ultimately creating men, women and the natural
resources for their sustinence, while designating the cultural practices
(technological and ritual) by which people could live and maintain proper
balance with an animate natural environment. Plants, animals, mountains,
springs, wind, rain, clouds, thunder, and numerous other entities comprised
a mythically empowered system of supernatural agency, also capable of
human rationality and emotion in reacting to the actions of men:
"An Indian trapper in Nevada found his traps
empty except one which held a large coyote. When
the trapper was abou t to shoot, the coyote told
him to stop and said in Paiute: 'My friend, we as
people have found it necessary to warn you against
trapping us, taking from our bodies our skins, and
selling them for your happiness... "' (Owens Valley
Paiute informant; in Steward, 1933: 310).
Within a supernaturally animate world, where natural process was
governed by spirit -controllers of powerful dimensions, man and his culture
were properly viewed as a small subsystem in an infinitely larger complex
of interacting forces. As an integral part of nature, man played an important
role in the supernatural causality of the world. The degree of ritual attention
paid to the natural environment by its human inhabitants integrated and
stabilized the relationships between the supernatural and "normal" dimensions
of existence. The idealized ecosystem was a set of "feedback" interactions
between man and supernatural forces, such Ciat proper ritual conduct
toward natural resources, for example, insured positive response from spirits
who controlled the abundance or availability of animal and plant foods.
This concept of reciprocity of natural process is exemplified in the wide-
spread belief that the animate spirit of hunted animals (either an omniscient
species-representative or a super-human "master of animals") must be
ritually assuaged to provide abundant game. Drucker has noted the
commonality of this concept in Northwestern California.
10
"The spirit of the animal, salmon, deer , or
whatever it might be, was induced to allow him-
self to be captured by performance of the proper
ritual. Only if the flesh were properly handled
'with respect' ... as informants say, would the
spirit resume animal form and allow himself to
be taken again" (Drucker, 1937a: 260).
A further example is found among the Southern Maidu in rabbit-hunting ritual:
"The head hunter and the other hunters planned
the hunt. It was necessary for them to speak in
a whisper lest the rabbits hear them. When the
first rabbit was killed, the head hunter picked it
up, and pressing it tenderly against his chest,
petted it and spoke soft words to it. All hunters
sighed while he was going through this performance"
(Faye, 1923: 40).
Thus, native world view implied that man was held strictly accountable
for his behavior toward the natural world by supernatural sanction. If he
did not give sufficient ritual support or respect to the animate forces of
nature, he was upsetting the idealized system of interactions upon which the
stability of the world depended. The resultant "negative feedback" from the
spirit world in response to human negligence, which might be manifest in
floods, earthquakes, disease, failure of food resources, and other potentially
harmful phenomena, served to remind man of the ultimate homeostatic
principles involved in the operation of the universe.
Within in a world of wilful supernatural forces, native world view
incorporated the corollary premise of shamanistic power:
".?.namely, the belief that certain men, through
communication with the animate supernatural world,
had the power to accomplish what was contrary to,
or rather above, the events of daily, ordinary
experience, which the latter, in so far as they
were distinguished from the happenings caused by
supernatural agencies, were of natural, meaningless,
and as it were, accidental origin" (Kroeber, 1907:
319).
Shamanism may be succinctly defined as the special, individual control of
supernatural process through a personally acquired power of direct communication
11
with the spirit world. In California, the shaman was universally regarded
as an individual who possessed an inordinate amount of supernatural power,
which allowed him to have communication with and control over forces in
the natural world, usually for benevolent social ends. While most persons
might hope to acquire "luck" in daily pursuits through customary personal
observances of material offering, prayer, and ritual restriction, the social
and religious prominence of the shaman stemmed from his continuous
relationship with personal "guardian" spirits, who communicated to him
the methods by which he could effect cures of disease, manipulate climatic
conditions, or control the availability of plant foods and game animals.
The variable nature of this "guardian spirit, " and the means by
which it was acquired by the shaman have been previously summarized by
Kroeber (1907: 327-334), Spier (1930: 245-265), and Park (1938: 75-88).
In most cases, the shaman's spirit allies were animals; mammals, birds,
reptiles, or fish, but often abiotic entities such as mountains, springs,
clouds, or thunder served this purpose as well. Power might also be secured
from anthropomorphic dwarfs, culture-hero characters of mythology,
spirits of the dead or, as peculiar to Northwestern groups, special
intrusive "pains" controlled within the body of the shaman. Acquisition of
these spirit powers was everywhere a personal activity of the shaman,
potentially accomplished within several broad categories of cultural practice:
dreams, in which the supernatural form appears and establishes a dialogue
with the shaman-to-be; involuntary visions, in which the shaman receives
power in a conscious or semi-conscious state through a sudden encounter
with a supernatural apparition; the vision quest, whereby the prospective
shaman deliberately seeks communication with supernatural forces in isolated
locations; or inheritance of power, techniques, or paraphernalia from
another shaman, usually an immediate relation.
Within the complex of beliefs surrounding spirit sources and methods
of acquiring supernatural powers, several philosophical concepts basic to
shamanism in native California emerge. As previously discussed, the shaman
possessed supernormal abilities, based on special communicative or control
relationships with spirit forces encountered in dreams or visions, and Is
in all societies differentiated from the community at large as a religious
or ritual specialist by virtue of his supernatural power. Relationships with
these special supernatural forces were strictly the prerogative of the shaman,
who alone might acquire and use them (Benedict, 1923: 68). Finally, in
obtaining his supernatural ability, the shaman internalized the powers
attributed to his guardian spirits, and was ipso facto regarded as a
supernatural controller of process in the natural world.
12
As a culturally patterned embodiment of supernatural ability, the
shaman occupied a unique position in native world view; his presence acted
as a "control device" between the reciprocally functioning realms of normal
and supernatural existence. The ritual obligations and activity of the shaman
were undertaken to avert supernatural catastrophe and insure the stability
and positive operation of interactions in the animate world. Although Kroeber
(1922: 299) has remarked that shamanistic practice in California was more
narrowly concerned with the causation, prevention andprediction of disease
and death than elsewhere in native North America, influence upon ecological
factors and the availability of natural resources was also largely attributed
to shamanistic powers of integration and control, as among -the Southern
Maidu:
"O'cpe or ho'cpe are a kind of doctors...
They neither cure nor direct dances, but 'sing
for luck. ' In spring in the dark dance house,
they sing night after night to make acorns, seeds,
fish, ducks grow in abundance" (Nisenan informant;
in Kroeber, 1929: 275).
and the Cahuilla:
"He (the shaman) was able to 'create' food. When
there was a scarcity of food, or when there was a
prediction of scarcity, the puul (shaman) drew a
miniature food-producing tree such as an oak from
his hand during a public performance, thereby
magically ensuring that the season's acorn crop
would be plentiful" (Bean, 1972: 111).
The idealized principles of shamanistic power appear to have been further
conceptually enlarged into a basic mechanism for the effective control over
the complexity and uncertainty of the external world (i. e. the ecosystem) as
reflected in DuBois' remarks concerning Wintu shamans:
"The shamans as a sociological factor must
not be minimized too much. In their hands lay
the transmission and molding of speculative
thought... Their reputation for knowing all that
transpired exerted a deterring influence..
They were called upon to predict the outcome of
hunts, to restrain inclement weather, and in different
ways allowed to direct and shape social undertakings"
(1935: 118).
13
The interrelated elements of animism and shamanism in native
world view have been briefly reviewed to preface the idea that the socially-
sanctioned prerogatives and powers of shamans were a potential means
of structuring social and economic activity. With particular reference
to the idealized supernatural role of the shaman in determining the avail-
ability of natural resources, and the directive influence he exerted over
the community by virtue of his supernatural ability, the shaman, as will
be seen, often organized and ritually regulated important aspects of
subsistence activity. However, in addition to the shaman, a large and
culturally varied group of non-shamanistic personalities with specific
regulatory powers over subsistence behavior must also be considered.
By virtue of their institutionalized powers to initiate and enforce ritual
behavior and place restrictions upon collection and/or consumption of
food resources during periods of maximum seasonal availability, headmen,
chiefs, formulists, and other personalities entered into ritual management
systems, deriving cognitive support similar to that of the shaman. As
"ritual specialists" responsible for mediation of nonempirical forces
in public ceremonies (i.e. periodic rituals of the "first harvest" type)
or in the actual direction of subsistence activities in ritual contexts,
these individuals were also largely regarded as integrative forces
who had socially defined regulatory powers.
Thus, of basic interest to the following discussion are the
ceremonial duties assigned to both shamans and other ritualists which
overtly structured the human ecology and energetics of subsistence in
native California. The data to be presented indicate the extreme
variability of the cultural and environmental situations in which this
ritual organization took place. It will be noted that ritual regulation of
subsistence activity in native California functioned at three main levels
of organization:
(1) the activities of the shaman alone as the exclusive
regulating force,
(2) the activities of the non-shamanistic specialist, such
as the Cahuilla net, the Yuma kwoxot, the salmon formulist
of Northwestern California, or the Washo rabbit boss, who
may similarly direct subsistence activity in ritual contexts; or,
(3) the co-operative efforts of shamans and other ritualists
in the organization of economic behavior.
It has been previously postulated that native cultures regarded
ritual as a means of maintaining "balance" in an animate universe. The
ritual organization of subsistence, involving the regulation of large-scale
14
economic activities by specific ritual functionaries, was perhaps the basic
process by which energetic equilibrium between human populations and
resources was achieved.
The Operational Context: First Fruits Rites for Acorns and other Plant Foods;
Formulism and other First-Fish Rites; Hunting Ritual.
In quantifying population-environment relations in native California,
Baumhoff (1963: 161) has remarked that within the great diversity of food
resources utilized by aboriginal peoples, acorns, salmon, and large game
animals may be characterized as those resources which were procured and
stored in sufficient quantities to be considered "ecological determinants."
With this appraisal in mind, examples (for which sufficiently detailed
ethnographic data are available) of first-fruits rites for acorns and several
other plant foods of regional importance, salmon ritual, and hunting
ceremony will be briefly described. Particular attention will be paid to
the organizational role assumed by the central ritualist (s) in each case.
First Fruits Rites for Acorns and other Plant Foods: Some Selected Examples
The acorn is generally regarded as having been the basic
staple of native populations in California; oak species of the genus
Quercus are widely distributed across the state In all but high altitude
and desert regions, and Lithocarpus dbmniflora is found throughout
the Coast Ranges north of Santa Barbara, most abundantly in Mendocino
and Humboldt counties. Within areas of dense distribution, the oak
provided a prodigious potential resource for exploitation. But the
annual acorn crop presented a major energetic problem to aboriginal
groups, in that it matured over a brief, two to three week interval in
October or November, when the necessity for harvest was critical.
Within this limited period of abundant potential yteld, maximum
community energies were necessarily directed toward gathering
pursuits, which might include large population movements over consid-
erable distances to harvest and transport the acorns. Optimal quantities
of acorns were collected before they fell from the trees, and the entire
harvest lasted a variable number of days or weeks, depending upon the
size of the groups and the resource at hand. Synchrony of rapid,
efficient gathering activity with the onset of the mature crop was
essential; as natural competition from numerous birds, mammals, and
insects, and the potentially destructive effects of rainfall or frost
were ever-present factors which might reduce the harvest (Wolf, 1945: 19).
The organization of the community for the collection and
distribution of acorns was often the ritual prerogative of the shaman, and
15
the importance of his role is exemplified in Maidu society of North Central
California. Among the foothill Maidu, the huku, or secret society
headman, who according to Dixon (1905: 267, 272) was an extremely
influential shaman and political leader, located the most favorable
sites for acorn gathering, announced them to the public, and negotiated
payment for the crop if the trees belonged to another village (Kroeber,
1925: 74). A similar function was assigned to the Valley Maidu
Kuksu headman (yeponi), and the details of ritual involved are recorded
by Voegelin (1942: 175). The yeponi located and tested acorns for
ripeness, then returned and informed the community of their availability.
His wife then went out to the productive site and secured one pack-basketful
of acorns. Within six days, she dried and prepared two baskets of acorn
mush, and took them to secret society members in the assembly house
where the. mush was prayed over and ritually consumed. After this
ceremeny, the entire community was allowed to gather the acorn crop.
Premature harvest or eating of acorns before the rite was strictly
forbidden by ritual (and therefore supernatural) sanction. Among
Mountain Maidu groups, the ritual eating of acorns appears to have been a
public rite after the initial period of gathering. A large amount of acorn
soup was prepared from the first crop collected, over which a shaman
prayed, then distributed portions to all present. After this ritual
consumption, each family was allowed to cook and use its own acorn mush
separately, an activity which had previously been forbidden. In these
Maidu examnples, the shaman appears to have assumed major control over
the schedule of harvest activities, including the times and places at which
the acorns were to be collected, distributed, and consumed.
In the context of the Kuksu dance cycle, Central Miwok groups
also ritualized the acorn harvest, but'the'ritualist of note was not the
shaman, but iather the secret society "chief" (hayapo), who was the
head of the dancers and dance organization, and owned the costumes
necessary for the impersonation performances. As such, the hayapo
was the most powerful political and ceremonial figure in the community,
possessing assistants and messengers through whom instructions for
subsistence activities during celebrations were made known to the
public. Among smaller groups, the hayapo himself might deliver
these instructional orations from the dance house, detailing the various
tasks and behavior to be followed by the community (Gifford, 1955:
263-265). "Little time" ceremonies, known as "uwetu" (from
uwe--"to eat") were celebrated over four days of gathering activity in the
fall. Before the first acorns could be eaten, the "yahuha" (a Kuksu
ceremony described by Gifford, 1955: 293-294) dance was always
organized and danced around a basket of mush in the ceremonial house.
After this dance, the acorns might be processed and used by the
community at large.
16
Also coinciding with autumnal conditions of acorn resources
was the Bear Dance ritual of Yokuts and Western Mono tribes. This
ceremony marked the end of the acorn harvest and the ritual first-
use of acorns by specific moieties (Gayton, 1946: 257; 1948a: 39-40,
120-121). Central Foothills Yokuts, for example, performed the
ceremony under the supervision of both shamans and moiety chiefs,
the shamans performing the dance ritual, and the moiety chief calling
together the community members involved. Gayton (1930: 410) has
previously commented that "orderly social activity" was maintained
by a combination of: L) the traditional legal authority of the chief; and,
(2) the belief in the supernatural abilities of the shaman to enforce adherence
to ritual behavior. The regulation of subsistence activity by the bear dance
ceremony appears to be no exception. The acorn crop would be gathered
and stored by the people of one moiety (in this case the Bear lineages
were ritually associated with the acorn), and after a shamanistic
performance, the chief supervised a feast where acorns were prepared
and served to other members of the community. The Bear lineages,
having accomplished the successful harvest, were also allowed to partake
of the acorns, which had been otherwise previously forbidden. A similar
ceremonial practice is mentioned for the Western Mono by Gayton (1948b:
283) and Aginsky (1943: 3S8-399, 403). In establishing and enforcing
traditional economic duties of specific lineages, to be accomplished
before the entire moiety could utilize gathered resources, Yokuts and
Western Mono shamans and chiefs performed a functional role, which
ostensibly encouraged efficient harvesting, preparation, and distribution
of acorn resources.
In Southern California, ritual regulation of the acorn harvest
was developed around a central, social and ceremonial pragmatist
(corresponding to a "chief') with well-defined economic powers; and the
shamans, who provided supernatural support to the harvest procedure.
The Cabuilla termed this chief the "net," and as a ceremonial leader,
he was responsible for the maintenance of ritual conduct, and for the
care of the sacred bundle (maiswat) and the ceremonial house (kis9amna?a),
the latter in which he lived in aboriginal times (Strong, 1929: 106; Bean,
1972: 104-105). Bean (1972: 113) has also noted that the net was usually
also a shaman, belonging to an interactive association of other supernaturally
oriented individuals who acted as community leaders. The net presided
at all ceremonies, scheduled their occurrence, and maintained the oral
tradition of songs and legends. Most significant, however, were the
ritualized economic powers of the office. Based on his precise knowledge
of community resource areas, he directed food gathering quests,
determining when and where various crops were to be procured, and
storing goods collected from community members for future distribution
and use. The basis of his organizational power was the administration of the
17
first-fruits ritual for vegetable products, of which the acorn rite was
most important. When the acorns were considered ready for collection
and preparation, the net sent a representative to gather a small amount,
which was brought back to the ceremonial house and consumed in
ritual portions by members of various lineages (Bean, 1972: 143-144).
In the "old days, " it was customary for the net himself to eat the first
product (Strong, 1929: 106). The accompanying ceremony, for which
participants brought additional food to be shared by all, lasted three
days and nights, and included singing by men and women, and dancing
by shamans (pavalam) to ensure continuing positive response from
supernatural forces in control of food (Drucker, 1937b: 41). The
supernatural abilities of the puvalam were utilized to "create" an
abundant crop of acorns and restrain unfavorable climatic conditions.
Collection of acorns prior to completion of the entire first-fruits ritual
would cause sickness or death by supernatural agency, and observance
of this restriction was socially enforced. The ceremony completed,
the net declared the gathering season "open"' and advised community
members as to the practical details of the harvest.
Of further note concerns data presented by White (1963: 123) on
the Luiseno "tchumul tushnakut, "1 a ritual chief who supervised the
gathering and distribution of vegetal resources from collectively-owned
areas with the assistance of specifically empowered shaman (pul). White
quotes Fr. Boscana on this aspect of subsistence organization:
"The captain (chief) was authorized to decide
upon... the hunting of game and the collection of
grain... .they had a pul.. . who knew. . .the time to
celebrate the feasts. In the same manner was made
known the time to collect grain and to hunt; but
he who advised the captain, was one originally
endowed with the power of providing their game,
herbs, etc... on such occasions, all turned out
in quest of food--men, women, boys, and girls. ..
the greater part of their acquisitions was deposited
with the captain; who took care of the same for the
feast, . . "
The collection of acorns was undertaken according to this
procedure. Men and women, as well as the shamans, danced for several
nights in the ceremonial house for the first-fruits (Drucker, 1937b:
41). Distribution of the acorns to the community by the tchumu' tushnakut
took place over a protracted time period after completion of the harvest
rite. As sickness would result if any acorns were eaten before the
ceremony, the pul was held socially responsible for the performance of
his supernatural duties, and his abilities were deemed a "property belonging
to the rancheria as a whole."
This brief summary of several regulatory rites is by no
means a complete survey of acorn ritual in California, but serves
rather to emphasize the more detailed ethnographic examples concerning
the central position of ritual specialists in the direction of work on the
fall harvest. But as additional examples of tree-crop ritual, the
similarities of restricted seasonal abundance, staple importance,
and pronounced ritual regulation, necessarily include the fall pinyon
pine-nut harvest of the Washo and Serrano as cultural and ecological
analogs of the elsewhere more prevalent acorn rite. The pinyon pine
(Pinus monophylla) is distributed widely over the east slope of the
Sierra Nevada, and the nutswere a more common food for the Washo than
the acorn (Kroeber, 1925: 572). The production and harvest of the
pinyon pine-nut in autumn was of critical importance to Washo winter
survival. Downs (1961: 382) emphasizes the crucial nature of the seasonal
crop in relating an old Washo informant's account of the four-day, first
pinyon-nut ritual, regulated by a ritualist of definite shamanistic caste:
"This prayer-fella (Captain Jim) lived at
Double Springs all year round. He would have a
dream telling him to have a meeting. He was what
you would call a religious man. He would get
someone he could trust and send out a long,
tanned string of hide with knots in it. For
everyday until the meeting there was aknot so the
people would know how many days they had until
the meeting.
"All the men came and hunted for four days,
and all the women would start gathering pine-nut.
They would hang up the game to let it dry.
"The prayer wouldn't eat meat during those
four days, but he could drink cold water and
some lady would cook him pine nut. Every night
they would have a dance. 2 On the fourth day
everybody would bring the food they had and put
it in front of the prayer, and then he would
pick some man who was just (fair) and the food was
divided a little before sunrise. If you have a small
2 Identified by Steward ( 1939: 415-416) as the "circle dance,"
commonly performed to ensure abundance of seed plants, pinyon
nuts, rabbits, deer, and spring rains.
19
family you get less, if you have a big family you
get more.
"Then the prayer makes a prayer something like
this: 'Our father I dream that we must take a
bath and then paint. Even the childrens... (We must)
wash away the bad habits so we won't get sick from
the food we have in front of us'!
"Then everybody go to the river.. .no matter if
there was a little ice on the water, and take a bath.
If they was not near the river, they bathed the kids from
baskets at Double Springs. The prayer, he prayed
for pine nut, rabbit, and deer. "
The pinyon-nut harvest was accomplished in Southern California typically
under the ritual supervision of an hereditary chief and his ritual assistant. Serrano
groups (the eastern-most of which depended upon the pinyon nut as a substitute for the
acorn) possessed a ceremonial leader (kika) who like the Cahuilla net, lived in the
ceremonial house and kept the "sacred bundle" from which his ritual authority
stemmed. He was also a nominal owner of the wild-food tracts of the community,
over which his authority extended (Drucker, 1937b: 28). His ritual assistant
(paha) had direct personal powers to conduct tribal ceremonies, and act as a
messenger from the kika to the community (Kroeber, 1925: 618). The kika
accompanied the community on the seasonal collecting trip, and all individuals were
required to contribute provisions for this communal venture; the goods to be re-
distributed by the paha. The first pinyon nuts gathered were given to the kika, and
used for the annual feast which took place in the ceremonial house upon return from
a successful harvest (Benedict, 1924: 391-392).
Apart from tree crops such as Quercus sp. and Pinus monophylla which
were principle resources in their respective areas of distribution, other plant products
of regional importance were collected and distributed in ritual contexts. Several
examples of first-fruits ceremony, connected with herbaceous root and seed plants,
and mesquite bean harvests of Yuman groups on the Colorado River, provide further
perspective concerning control mechanisms in which a ritual specialist played an
important role.
In Northeastern California, important spring plant resources included the
bulbs of Calochortus sp. ( such as the star tulip and the Mariposa lily), and the roots
of "ipos," Perideridia sp. (Munz, 1968: 1012). Among the Atsugewi, springfrst-
fruits rites were held for these species when they matured (Voegelin, 1942: 176).
In May, the first rootE gathered by groups of women were sung over by the shaman,
who then examined them in order to predict the future health of the female population.
If the shaman predicted impending illness or disease, he instructed all the women
to return to the collecting grounds and dig roots for an entire day. The harvest
20
accomplished, shamans sang for half a night over the roots to ensure the general
well-being of all women in the community. Upon completion of the ceremony, each
woman was allowed to take the roots she had collected, leaving a supply for the
shaman who cooked and ate them. A variation of this ritual also occurred in which
the shaman himself dug the requisite first roots, then supervised a general community
feast to which women contributed "ipos" and men brought a late-spring fish catch.
Spring first-fruits rites, known as "witi lonu' iwis" ("little party") were
engaged in by Yokuts divisions around Tulare Lake (Chunut, Tachi, and Wowol),
and pertained primarily to berries and seeds which were "moiety-owned," as
mentioned previously for the acorn crop (Gayton, 1948a: 40). The moiety associated
with the food product would gather a supply when it first became available, and
ritually present them to the other moiety. Consumption of the collected food by the
associated lineages before the rite would cause their children to break out "with
berries all over their bodies." Reciprocal services between moieties, ritually
supe rvised by moiety chiefs, were observed for most seasonal foods requiring major
collecting efforts in the spring.  Chiefs might have informally directed the movements
of village inhabitants during the collecting season (Gatyon, 1949: 258), but as a
pervasive feature of Yokuts social organization, shamans appear to have entered into
schemes of social regulation through the use of -their supernatural abilities. The
seed growing dance, (known in Chunut as the "magic dance") was held each year by
one or two shamans "who had the ability" to perform this prophetic ritual (Gayton,
1948a: 40). In late winter or early spring, the shamans who were to perform this
dance did not consume any quantities of new seasonal food, such as tule roots or
herbaceous annuals. About the middle of February, the shamans gave individual
dance performances lasting all night and accompanied by a singer who sang songs
"about birds and animals. " During the might, a sleight-of-hand display was
performed, in which the shaman caused the seeds of food plants to appear on the floor
of the dance house by the fire, or by stamping on the ground, caused growing plants
to materialize. The plants and seeds thus "produced" might just as suddenly disappear
from view. The most significant aspect of this ritual, however, is the interplay
between the shaman and the assembled participants:
"During this display the people would query the shaman
about the crops of wild seeds for the coming season. 'Where
were the seeds going to grow?' He would point in certain
directions, or even reply that they would be prolific near a
specific person's seed-gathering place" (Gayton, 1948: 40).
In establishing a supernatural basis for the productivity of resource areas to be har-
-vested in the immediate future, the shaman ritually reinforced the eventual direction
of communal groups into these areas by moiety chiefs when spring resources became
iavailable. This interactive system of "control" functions by shamans and ritually
empowered moiety chiefs, as had been previously noted, appears to have been basic
to efficient ecological behavior in Yokuts society.
21
The organization of the first-fruits rite was a function assumed by the tribal
and spiritual leader of the Colorado River Yuma, known as the "kwoxot. I Forde
(1931: 118, 133-138) has provided a basic description of his supernatural and
social powers:
"Kwoxot can be understood by all living
creatures, by animals and plants. He can control
them, so he can drive out sickness and prevent it
from attacking people. He has the biggest powers
of any man, is strong and happy, and tells the
people what they must do to remain healthy. Kwoxot
might sometimes cure diseases, but as a rule he did
not, he used his powers to keep everybody well"
(p. 136).
Kwoxot was a voluntary position of assumed responsibilities; the source of his power
coming in dreams or visions of an ancestor or animal guardian. As a rule, super-
natural spirits conferred the full powers of a kwoxot upon one man at a time, thus
usually only one individual held this position. As an embodiment of supernatural
power in the community, the kwoxot indeed approaches shamanistic dimensions.
Significantly, he was expected to organize singings and feasts in harvest seasons and
redistribute goods provided by the community to those in need. Of the plant
collecting activities under his supervision, the harvest of the mesquite bean (Prosopis
8p) and the associated ritual were particularly important. Trippel (1889: 6) notes
that the mesquite bean was the chief article of food for the Yuma and stored in
quantity for winter use. When the bean pods ripened in early summer, large quantities
were collected at favorable locations by men, women and children, soaked in water
for several days, and the entire "sticky mass" removed and stacked in piles. The
bundles of mesquite bean were placed in a ceremonial enclosure, arranged in sets
corresponding to each district attending the feast. Games, dancing, singing, and
discussion of community affairs occupied the evenings. On the last day, participants
gathered outside the ceremonial enclosure and on a given signal, all the people
rushed in to procure their share of the harvest. The celebration completed, the
bundles were shouldered and all departed for home.
In the general examples detailed in this first section, a variety of situations
have been described in which ritual specialists, such as shamans, secret society
headmen, and ceremonial leaders such as the Cahuilla net, the Serrano kika, and the
Yuma kwoxot regulated the gathering and distribution of essential plant food resources
in the context of special, community-based and socially sanctioned ritual. In
continuing an analysis of the regulatory functions of these ritual personalities and the
systems of ritual restriction which acted to encourage the ecological efficiency of
communal subsistence activities, formulistic ritual surrounding the first-salmon
rites of Northwestern California, and first-fish ceremony elsewhere in Native
California form the next topic of discussion.
22
First-Fish Rites: Formulistic Ritual of Northwestern California and other First-
Fish Ceremony.
Fish were undoubtedly an important food resource to native Californians.
The seasonal upstream movements of anadromous fish, of which the distinct spring
salmon run was most prolific, were events of great importance to many aboriginal
subsistence economies. Stimulated by winter rains in the North Coast Ranges, and
early snow melt in the Sierra Nevada, which provided appropriate water levels and
headwater temperatures for spawning, annual or semi-annual fish resources were
available in numerous freshwater river systems of Northwestern and North Central
California (Rostlund, 1952: 20, 30). Fish of major importance were the Pacific
species Oncorynchus tschawytscha (king salmon), Oncorhynchus kisutch (silver
salmon), and the steelhead trout (Salmo giardnerri), which spawn in freshwater and
soon after birth swim out to sea to grow to maturity. After four to six years they
return to the freshwater rivers to spawn upstream (Baumhoff, 1963: 170).
The ecological significance of the seasonal spawning runs to aboriginal
resource economies lay in the fact that the runs carried fish in significant numbers
over a limited period of time, so that a concentrated, well-organized fishing effort
at the appropriate seasonal interval gave a comparatively great return. In the brief
analysis of the ritual practices surrounding freshwater fishing among particular
culture groups of Northern and Central California, the various tribes utilizing
anadromous fish resources will be divided into the two following classes:
(1)   Those groups, in North Coast Range drainages, for whom the salmon
constituted the main bulk and dietary staple in the annual food
economy, and who performed a formulistic ritual coinciding with
the onset of the spring runs. The Yurok, Karok, Hupa, and Tolowa
will be considered as examples of this class, designated as
inhabiting the "Lower Klamath province,, where salmon runs
are of the greatest annual reliability (Baumhoff, 1963: 171)^,
and      (2)   those interior groups of the Sacramento and San Joaquin drainages,
for whom the salmon was a secondary food resource of equal or
supplementary importance to other foods, and who engaged in
shamanistic or other first fish rites distinct from the formulism
of Northwestern California. The Maidu and Yokuts tribes will
be considered as brief examples from this class, designated as
inhabiting the "California provmce," where annual salmon yields
were more irregular and subject to marked cyclic fluctuations in
in quantity (Bauzboff 1963: 171).
The spring salmon run was most intensely ritualized in Northern California,
occurring at a time when winter food stores were low and maximum community
23
energies were focused upon fishing efforts. A central core of northwestern tribes
(Yurok, Karok, and Hupa) practiced the formulistic first-salmon rite, each group
undertaking one spring ceremony at a specific location. Although superficially
similiar in initial ritual procedure to the protracted series of Jumping and
Deerskin dances of the biennial World Renewal celebrations, the first-salmon
ceremonies appear to have been held independent of these public display dances
(Kroeber and Gifford, 1949: 105). The salmon ritual, among all these groups,
incorporated common features which defined them as regulatory rites. The "first"
spring salmon was always procured and ritually eaten by a priest or his assistant,
who fasted, prayed, and sweated for a prescribed period of time. Fresh salmon
were not to be consumed by the community until this ritual eating was performed,
under pain of supernaturally induced illness or death. Throughout the period of days
over which the ceremony was performed, the oral delivery of esoteric formulae,
intended to induce and renew an abundance of salmon, was the main activity of the priest
or formulist. The formulist' s supervisory position in the rite was clearly based on
his personal knowledge of the proper sequence of these narrative recitations, which
were treated as private property and considered of supernaturally creative power.
In the performance of the salmon ceremony (which was the ritual reenactment of
mythical times when immortal beings first instituted the rite), the formulist ensured
positive response from the spirit forces of the salmon, while overtly regulating the
inception of the salmon-fishing season.
The Yurok first salmon ceremony was held annually in April at Welkwau, a
small village at the mouth of the Klamath River. Although mentioned by Kroeber
(1925: 60-61), and Kroeber and Gifford (1949: 99-100), the rite is described in
Aealgl bya Yurok.informant, .Robert Spott, in Yurok Narratives (Spott and Kroeber,
1942: 171-179).  Known as "helku menekuni net pui" ("the salmon spearing from
shore"), the ritual was performed by an old formulist who lived in Welkwau. Prior
.to the rite, no salmon caught at the mouth of the river could be eaten, although other
species of fish could be caught and eaten at any time. The formulist began prepar-
ations seven days before the rite, arranging for and instructing his ritual assistant
(who was to perform the actual first eating of the salmon), and in subsequent days
cleared a path from the ceremonial house to the mouth of the river. The last day
before the ceremony, he recited several formulae, praying for the well-being of the
world and food resources. The day of the ceremony, the formulist moved to the
mouth of the river and told men fishing on the bank (for species other than salmon,
such as sturgeon and lampreys) to watch for the "first salmon. " When the species
was seen, the formulist was notified, and reciting a formula, he feigned the act of
spearing the fish with his harpoon, and allowed it to pass upriver, as the "ne' pe'
wo kewononoro' apin" ("the first salmon that goes on up to the head of the river").
The next salmon to appear was speared, and after another recitation, taken to the
ceremonial house where it was cooked and ritually consumed. The formulist prayed
the entire night in the sweathouse, and the next day officially sanctioned salmon fishing
(i.e. declared the season open) for all upstream Yurok villages.
After the performance of the Yurok first salmon rite at Welkwau, the
communal effort of dam-building at the upstream site of Kepel could begin, usually
several months later in the early summer. The elaborate 10-day ritual of building
this fish dam is described in detail by Waterman and Kroeber (1938: 49-80), Kroeber
(1925: 58-60), Erikson (1943: 277-282), and Kroeber and Gifford (1949: 81-85).
The dam structure consisted of a framework of poles, logs, and small stakes extending
across the entire course of the river, and the building of this framework required the
coordinated efforts of several hundred men from various villages to cut wood. As
many as seventy individuals worked at the dam site itself, constructing the frame-
work (Waterman and Kroeber, 1938: 54-55). At various intervals along the dam,
openings leading into a small wooden enclosure were arranged, and during the ten
days of fish collection at the structure, large quantities of salmon were harvested
and dried.3  The entire process of construction, use, and eventual dismantling of
the dam was directed by a formulist, who supervised in every way the work involved.
It has been stated that the Kepel fish dam  represents the largest mechanical enter-
prise undertaken in Northwestern California, and was clearly the Yurok's most
communal subsistence effort (Waterman and Kroeber, 1938: 78).
The Karok first salmon rite (described by Kroeber, 1925: 104-105; Roberts,
1932: 426-446; and Kroeber and Gifford, 1949: 35-47) was held in March or April
at the village of Amaikiaram on the west bank of the Klamath several miles below its
confluence with the Salmon River. The formulist and his assistant were once again (
the ceremonial officials, reciting formulae, kindling a sacred fire, and cooking the
first salmon for ritual consumption. These ritual activities were not to be witnessed,
by any other persons, and the community as a whole was obliged to leave the villageJ
and remain secluded in the surrounding hills.  Roberts (1932: 430) mentions that salmon
-fishing might occur before completion of the rite, but any fish caught were saved and
not consumed before completion of the ceremony. The ritual eating of the salmon
accomplished, the people returned to the village, and all Karok were allowed to begin
fishing and eating fresh salmon.
On the west side of t1e Trinity River, near the upstream end of Sugar Bowl
Valley, the Hupa first salmon rite was held each spring (Goddard, 1903: 78-79;
Kroeber and Gifford, 1949: 56-61). A formulist would go to a selected site before
anyone had engaged in fishing activities and recite a formula over the first salmon
3 Gibbs (1853: 146) and Wessells (1853: 64) noted that fish dams on the Klamath
were effective in obstructing the salmon run and preventing passage of fish to tribes
above these structures, presenting a constant source of complaint and dissatisfaction
among upper riverine groups.  Waterman and Kroeber (1938: 50) observe that the
Kepel fish dam was torn down after ten days of use, undoubtedly to allow the run to
proceed to upriver tribes and prevent such potential inter-group conflict over the
critically important salmon resource.
25
procured, narrating the mythical creation and journey down the river and back, and
detailing ritual restrictions to be observed in fishing matters. Having cooked and
eaten the first salmon, he prayed for an additional ten days, while he continued to
catch salmon which were smoked and dried in preparation for a feast on the last day
of the rite. During this period, as before, fishing was not permitted to the public.
On the tenth and final day, a community feast ensued and the salmon season was
declared officially "open. "4
A final example of formulistic ritual for salmon in Northwestern California,
outside the previous Klamath-Trinity focal area, is found among Tolowa groups of
the Smith River drainage (Dubois, 1932: 258-259; Drucker, 1937a: 261). At the
onset of the spring runs, a formulist performed the "ha'guCLi xa'c Renic" (salmon-
go-out-to-catch) in which he entered the sacred sweathouse or "salmon's home" and
recited prayers during a five-day fast. On the last day of the fast, the formulist
caught the first salmon, built a fire, and cooked the fish, placing it upon a basketry
tray on which were represented the roots, leaves, and fruit of all available plant foods.'
He then began a long formulistic recital, requiring several hours, describing the origins
of the world and the Salmon's primeval journey up the Smith River. The "first foods"
were divided by the formulist among the adult spectators and consumed; "After this,
everyone could catch and eat salmon; he opened the season" (Drucker, 1937a: 261).
In general, the procedures of the first salmon ritual in Northwestern
California, and the manifest control functions of the formulist in determining the proper
time for the beginning of the fishing season, are an extension of the need for careful
maintenance and harvest of this essential resource. The annual spring run of salmon
was the mainstay of native populations in this region, and the elaborate formulae and
ritual restrictions assigned to the fish resource are indicative of this dietary emphasis.
However, among other native groups outside the Northwestern culture area, where
Lsalmon was of subsidiary importance, ritual activities surrounding the spring salmon
run were of a different nature. The formulist is absent, and taking his place as the
central ritualist is the shaman or a moiety chief who derives supernatural support from
Xamanistic ritual.
4 The Hupa, as distinct from other Northwestern California groups, also performed
an organized formulistic first acorn rite, a brief description of which is included
here for comparison. Held at Takimilding on the Trinity River, the precise time
of the ceremony was determined by the autumnal conditions of the new tan-bark oak
acorn crop (Lithocarpus densiflora); "as soon as the acorns began to fall freely"
(Goddard, 1903: 80-81; Kroeber and Gifford, 1949: 56-59). In aboriginal times,
a. quantity of the first acorns was gathered and prepared by several women. The
formulist, ritually dressed im mink and deerskin, in impersonation of "Yinukatsisdai"
(master of the vegetable world), built a fire to cook the first acorn meal. The
formulist directed the ritual bathing of community members in the river, and thus
assembled, a meal of acorn soup was eaten by all. No; one of the Takimilding div-
ision was allowed to eat new acorns until the formulist initiated this feast.
26
Among the northwestern foothill Maidu, the first salmon observance was
undertaken by a shaman, who caught the first fish of the season, cooked it, and
distributed morsels of the food to all in the community. This ritual opened the fishing
season for the year.  Further detail on the structure of the ceremony, as to whether
it included the recitation of a particular formula by the shaman, is lacking (Kroeber,
1925: 437; Dixon, 1905: 198) although Voegelin (1942: 57) notes the existence of a
definite taboo against eating salmon before the rite was performed.
Yokuts and Western Mono tribes on the San Joaquin River and Yokuts divisions
on the lower Kings River held spring salmon ceremonies at their principal fishing
sites (Aginsky, 1943: 398; Gayton, 1949: 256). As previously outlined for the
Yokuts "Seed Dance" ceremony, a supernaturally prophetic ritual by shamans preceded
the first salmon rite by several weeks or months, apparently undertaken to inform the
community of resource areas to be fished in the upcoming season. In late winter,
shamans performed the "ohowis" or wishing ceremony in a specially constructed house
or behind a tule partition, upon which were hung the skins of otters and beavers,
believed to be the personal spirits of the shamans whose power was connected with
water fauna (Kroeber, 1925: 507). A magic display was performed in which fish
were made to appear in a vessel of water or to drop from the animal skins hung on the
walls of the ceremonial sturcture. While this performance continued, the shaman
called out the names of fishing camps where the people went in the spring to harvest
the salmon run (Gayton, 1948a: 121-122). When the spring salmon arrived, a chief
(the headman of the moiety ritually "responsible" for the salmon) speared, cooked, and
ate the first salmon at these supernaturally sanctioned localities, and prayed to the
salmon spirit for an abundant supply of fish. All lineages then participated in a
general salmon feast, and the season was officially opened (Gayton, 1949: 256).
The ritual regulation of spring salmon fishing, in the contest of formulistic
and other esoteric ceremony, has been briefly outlined in this section, with close
attention paid to the central ritualist of the performance and the regulatory role he
plays in the subsistence activity. Whether a formulist, shaman, or ritually obligated
moiety chief, he appears to have played an important part in the direction and focus
of communal subsistence energies at a time when potential salmon yields were highest.
The brief examples in this section reveal a remarkable similarity in form and function,
and have been presented as a cultural synopsis of the first salmon rite in native
California.
Communal Hunting Ritual: Organizational Aspects of Deer, Antelope, and Rabbit
Ceremony.
As a food resource of distinct importance throughout native California, game
animals, and the ritual surrounding their communal hunting, form the last topics of
discussion in this "operational" analysis. Deer and elk were a major secondary
resource to aboriginal economies, everywhere of lesser importance than the acorn, but
ranking higher than fish in areas without good salmon streams (Baumhoff, 1963: 167).
27
Communal deer hunting activity usually took place during the fall mating season,
when females and competing males were concentrated in large herds.
Ranging over a variety of life zones, predominately in grassland, chaparral,
woodland, and other transitional habitats, the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus
californicus) was found throughout the south Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and
southern Sierra Nevada. The Columbian black-tailed deer (O. hemionus columbianus)
occurred in a complementary northward distribution, throughout the north Coast Ranges
to the Cascades and in the Sierra Nevada southward to Lake Tahoe. The Roosevelt
elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) and Tule elk (Cervus nannodes) also inhabited
the north Coast Ranges and Central Valley respectively. Of more regional importance,
the pronghorn "antelope," Antilocapra americana, inhabited the Central Valley in
aboriginal times but by the ethnographic period, (c. 1900) was limited principally
to the marginal desertic regions of Northeastern and Southern California. Although
of smaller size than deer or elk species, the large pronghorn herds were amenable.
to surround and drive hunting techniques. Of similar regional importance in the
drier scrub and woodland areas of Northeastern and Southern California were rabbits
in the genera Lepus (jack-rabbit) and Sylvilagus (cotton-tail) which were often taken
in great quantities through large-scale cooperative drives in the fall.
The ritual organization of communal hunting for deer, antelope, and rabbits
was often the prerogative of shamans, hunting "bosses," or other ritualists whose
specific task was the direction of hunting or driving activities. Description of the
various aspects of ceremony surrounding each game resource, in selected cultural
contexts, provides further evidence of the regulatory nature of subsistence ritual.
Among the Atusgewi, the fall deer hunt was organized around a communal
sweating ritual called by the chief, followed by a singing and praying ceremony con-
ducted by a hunting shaman, at which plans for the hunt were discussed. The shaman
would tell who was to kill a deer, or guarantee that every man in the party would be
successful. When groups of hunters moved to temporary camping sites in search of
deer, the shaman accompanied them to "charm" the animals, and during the hunting
activities, he smoked his pipe and called each mountain in the vicinity by name:
"Don't hide your children (deer); give my
boys good luck; give them your children" (Voegelin,
1942: 172).
Upon return from the hunt, the shaman assembled all the hunters in one group, and
before the meat was divided, all were compelled to sweat and cleanse themselves
"under the armpits" while the shaman sang.
Western Achomawi shamans practiced a more elaborate "deer calling"
ritual in which concealed pits along deer "runways" were utilized. These trapping
28
pits, as noted by Kroeber (1925: 309), were between six and nine feet deep, and
their excavation was an arduous task. At sunup of the selected day, the shaman
would cause a brief rain to fall, then sing from behind a blind of tules stretched out
in front of the village. The deer ran and jumped (were driven?) into the pit as the
shaman "called" them, and the assembled people' killed and ate the animals thus
trapped. An informant spoke of a particular shaman who performed this ritual:
"(This doctor) had very strong power to do this;
he did it for everybody in his tribe; he got people
something to eat, this way" (Voegelin, 1942: 171). 5
Shamans of the eastern Achomawi also held a ceremony for the fall deer hunt
at which they assembled ten or more men for an all night ritual of singing and praying.
The deer doctor, who might derive his power from a weasel spirit-guardian, burned
marrow from the leg-bone of a deer in small holes in the ground, "feeding" his power
to give the hunters good luck. This shaman also accompanied the hunting party.
Wintu shamans were customarily consulted about the location of game and
as to who would be the most successful hunters of the next day's outing. The entire
night previous to the hunt, the assembled group of hunters lay on their backs in the
sweathou se, hitting their chests with slender sticks in time to the singing of the hunt
"leader" who knew the supplicatory songs the best. The shaman also sang, charming
the deer spirits and telling the hunters where to find the game (Dubois, 1935: 106;
Voegelin, 1942: 171).
Fall communal deer hunts were similarly preceded and regulated by shaman-
istic ritual among the Maidu (Voegelin, 1942: 54, 171-172). Southern and Valley
groups held a ceremony the night before the hunt, after an acorn soup dinner 'Wich the
entire community attended. Shamans or secret-society headmen prayed and sang so
that the hunters would sight game. The next day, a shaman or "luck-bringer" would
go with the hunting party, walking ahead of the hunters to "spot" the deer. The
shaman might also place "medicine" on a stick in deer tracks to give the animals
cramps in their legs, facilitating their easy capture. When the deer were discovered
feeding, the shaman would go around the herd with medicine to prevent their escape
from the surrounding hunters. For this service, he was given a share of the deer
meat (Beals, 1933: 348). After a successful hunt, the deer were brought back to
the assembly house whole, where the meat was distributed in a feast which again
included acorn soup. This hunting ritual was also practiced by northeastern mountain
Maidu groups. The shaman conducted singing, dancing, and praying the night before
5 This account appears to attribute magical compulsion, similiar to antelope charming,
to the procurement of deer in pit traps. Deer were not usually subject to "charming"
rituals. However, the driving of deer into enclosed pits is reported among the
Western Achomawi by Voegelin (1947: 51, 52). Whether or not shamans were
directly associated with drive activities of this kind is not recorded.
29
the hunt in a group ceremonial, charming the deer for the hunters both on this
occasion and during the, hunt on the following day. Before the deer meat from the
hunt could be consumed, the services of the shaman again were required for a ceremony,
as an informant stated:
"Do not eat meat, after big hunt, until somebody
prays, talks" (Voegelin, 1942: 172).
Similar shamanistic ritual concerning deer hunting is noted by Aginsky
(1943: 444-452) for the Yokuts, Western Mono, and Sierra Miwok. Deer shamans
fortold the success of hunting parties, telling hunters where to go to find game, and
often accompanying the hunting group, receiving a share of the kill for their  r
supernatural services. Group ceremonies were held both before and after hunting
activities.
In contrast, the ritual of the deer hunt in Southern California, among the
Cahuilla and Serrano, was centered around the ceremonial leaders who have been
previously described as imnportant in the organization of the acorn and pinyon pine-
nut harvest. When Cahuilla hunters killed a deer, the animal was often presented to
the net in the kis9amna?a (ceremonial house) and preparations for the deer ceremony
were begun. Food was collected by the net from all families in the village, and all
community members were invited to take part in the feast (Strong, 1929: 77; Bean,
1972: 146-147). The ceremony consisted of singing over the body of the deer, with
the manifest intent of encouraging the favor and cooperation of the animal spirit and
expressing appreciation to the deer for allowing themselves to be killed. During the
morning after the ceremony, the deer meat was distributed to the community at large.
Bean (p. 147) notes that this ritual was held frequently enough to exist as a principal
mechanism for the distribution of sizable amounts of animal meat to the community.
The Serrano practiced a similar ceremony; the kika conducted an all night
ritual in the ceremonial house whenever deer were killed, and in the morning, summoned
the people of the village to distribute the meat (Benedict, 1924: 379).
The most specialized ritual organization of hunting activity is undoubtedly
expressed in the "antelope charming" ceremonies of the Achomawi, Atsugewi, Northern
Paiute (of Surprise Valley) and the Washo, all of which are tribes who inhabited the
northeastern California desert range of Antilocapra americana in ethnographic times.
A special "antelope shaman" was in all cases the instigator of this community effort.
In winter or early spring, when large herds of pronghorn ran in open country, the
shaman would inform the people of the presence of a herd in a certain location. The
shaman might dream of the animals (which might be his spirit guardians), or send
several scouts to locate a herd nearby. Once the antelope were sighted, the construc-
tion of a sagebrush corral or a circular sagebrush rope fence, with an opening at one
end, was directed by the shaman. A charming ritual was usually next performed inside
the brush corral, the shaman leading dancing and singing of the assembled people, and
30
often falling into a trance-like state in which he allegedly experienced visions of a
successful drive. At the conclusion of this performance, the antelope herd was
driven into the corral by groups of fast runners, the entrance closed, and the surrounded
animals slaughtered and divided among the participants. The shaman usually received
the first and largest share of meat for conducting this ceremony.
- Among the Apwaruge (eastern Atsugewi) a "power man" (shaman) sang all
night to entice the antelope into a sagebrush rope surround. The next day, everyone
in the community participated in the killing of the antelope; "even women could parti-
cipate in the kill because the antelope were all doped" (Garth, 1953: 133). The
Achomawi antelope shaman smoked and passed his pipe, leading an antelope dance
before the charming ritual, which took place in the evening (Steward, 1939: 366-367).
Several informants' accounts of the antelope ceremony among the Northern
Paiute groups of Surprise Valley are presented by Kelly (1932: 83-86). Accounts
mention that the antelope shaman called together the inhabitants of 15 or 20 camps from
the surrounding areas, perhaps as many as 100 men, to assist in the drive. As many
as 200 antelope were killed in a single drive and distributed among the participants.
One informant reported:
"Just one man can charm antelope; I don't
know how he learns. He is like a doctor. He sits
with everyone in the circle and sings making music
on a doe hide (deer or antelope) that is stuffed
with clothes and tied with string. If the people
know how, they help him sing. A plain stick
(unnamed) is wrapped with any kind of braid, and
the charmer works it back and forth on the bundle.
After a long time he says, 'They (the antelope)
haven't looked at us yet. " Finally he says, 'The
deer are coming, ' and falls senseless on his drum
and visions an antelope. Finally he recovers, sits
up, says: 'We are sure to kill antelope. I see them
coming inside the corral. I see them lying there. '
"They have already placed sagebrush, root ends up,
in a big circle, about as far as from here to camp (about
a half-mile). There were many people so it didn't
take long to pile the brush. Men and women line up
in wings by an opening in the circle, the women
nearest the corral, the men at the outer ends.
"Then the fastest runner goes out, returning
when he has sighted a herd of antelope.. Then the men
go out in two parties and circle the herd and drive
them in. They close the opening of the corral and
31
stand between the piles of sagebrush that form the corral.
If an animal starts their way, they head him back.
"The fastest runner chases the antelope
around in the corral until they are tired and
frightened, when he kills a doe and throws it on top
of a sagebrush pile in the center, and then a buck. They
eat these two and then everybody get a share. Then
the headman (shaman) tells his people it is their turn
to shoot. They shoot from the circle as the animals
approach. A wife stands with each man and drags away
his kill...
"When they stop for the night, the fastest
runner guards the antelope. They set fire to that
sagebrush to frighten the animals.
"(The next day) The headman tells them to go
ahead and kill. There are so many animals that
they don't have to divide them; they never kill all of
them, some escaping. Almost everyone kills one.
Sometimes an antelope becomes so tired that it falls down and
a woman kills it. A woman might even kill two or three.
"The headman shoots too; he takes most of the
buck horns, but not the does'. They put the horns on a
pile of sagebrush in the middle of the camp circle. All
the heads are turned toward the charmer' s camp. He wants
everyone to come. They cook the heads under the ashes
and all eat, each person perhaps getting one head.
"They butcher the antelope and dry the meat on the
sagebrush bushes. Coyotes and wolves never bother it.
"When there is no sagebrush for a corral, they braid
sage-brush bark and make a fence by tying it to posts about
four feet tall. Loose strands of bark hang down the poles and
when the antelope are in the corral the people pull the braid
and the loose strands wave.
"I have done this kind of antelope hunting. In winter
the antelope are in big herds and that's the time to kill them.
This kind of hunt is called ku'a'; many camps join. They tell
everybody to come.
"It takes just one day to charm antelope (but the killing
evidently continues into the second day) (Kelly, 1932: 84-85).
The Washo antelope shaman (ai' yes kumomli) utilized his supernatural
dream-power in organizing the antelope ceremony and drive as recorded by Lowie
(1939: 324-325):
32
"The antelope chief sees some antelope in a dream.
He reflects about it and goes to the; place dreamt about in
the mountains. He sees two or three head, then he knows
his dream is true. He begins to talk to them. He does not
tell anyone as yet, but keeps his own counsel and studies the
matter himself. He continues dreaming three or four times.
Then he begins talking to the antelope, taking a pipe. He
wants to see what he can do. He looks at the antelope, he lets
them seeuAi waXkix g aXong side oi tm; t  do not rn away.
He does this two or three times. Soon he tells the people to
come together and says, 'My people, I have dreamt truly or
falsely, I don't know which. In the place I dreamt of last night,
there were forty antelope banded together. If I dreamt truly,
you'll see them there this morning. ' He sends two boys to the place
as scouts. They look for game and see ten or fifteen head
feeding there together. The boys do not let the antelope see
them. They go back and tell the chief, 'Your dream is true,
we saw the herd right there. ' That evening, he studies the
matter again while in bed. He dreams again and tells his
people, 'Well, I dreamt again last night, I dreamt right before.
I dreamt of two antelopes last night, you fellows drove them into
the corral, we all killed them, and had something to eat. ' The
old people answer: 'Yes, if you dreamt right, we'll have meat,
we'll try tomorrow to go after them."
A corral was constructed, of approximately one acre in total size, with a
chute leading to the entrance. The sagebrush was piled so high that the antelope could
not jump out. The shaman stood in back of the corral while a group of men went out
to drive the antelope in:
"He says, 'I'll stay home behind the corral.
If I dreamt right, you'll drive them in and we'll kill
them. If they get scared at you fellows, we can't help
it; but I think we'll kill them easily in the corral.'
Mhen the antelope are near, he says to the beasts: 'Don't
get scared, come on easily now, don't get discouraged,
listen to my words. We are making a home for you,
you have come a great way. ' The antelope stop and look
toward him. They are not afraid at all, but keep quiet
like sheep driven into a pen. Instead of scattering they
come into the sagebrush pen, the people close up, and the chief
bids them commence killing. "
In aboriginal times, bows and arrows and clubs were used to dispatch the an-
telope, and the largest buck was killed for the antelope shaman himself. Of the rest,
33
three or four men would divide the meat of one antelope:
"(The shaman says) I dreamt antelope for you,
I got the best one, I am satisfied. ' Nobody eats while
he is speaking. I
The antelope was divided among the people, the meat was packed home and
all had "plenty that night. "
Finally, among rituals concerned with the acquisition of game animals by
communal methods are the annual rabbit drives, which were conducted by groups in
whose geographic range these animals were a major seasonal food source. Among
tribes in which this activity was organized by a ritual specialist, the Washo and the
Cahuilla are exemplary.
The Washo "rabbit boss" was a special leader distinct from the political head-
man or antelope shaman, who set the time for the fall drive, which was held every year
in late October or November over a period of several days (Lowie, 19 39: 327). A
large group of people were organized by the boss, and up to fifteen men among them
had rabbit nets which were united into a single unit 200 yards long and four feet high,
supported by sticks six or seven feet apart. The line of nets was straight except at
the ends which curved inward in the direction of the drive-line movements. 200 Washo,
the rabbit boss among them, joined in the drive, scaring the quarry into the net where
a boy or an old man would dispatch them with a stick, or the hunters themselves would
kill them with a bow and arrow. The total kill might average between 400 and 500
rabbits a day, each man who participated obtaining three or four animals apiece. The
next day, a new location several miles distant was selected and the procedure repeated.
When all the people were heavily loaded with animals, the rabbit boss would say:
"We stop today, we have all we want today. Let us go home."
The ritual aspects of the rabbit hunt are somewhat unclear, but the rabbit
boss was apparently an hereditary position and in later ethnographic times, assumed
by an individual with supernatural powers acquired in dreams. Downs (1961: 380)
proposes that the introduction of agriculture and firearms during the historical period
sufficiently decreased antelope and deer populations to cause an associated increased
dependence upon rabbit as a major source of food. Ecological factors may thus have
facilitated a more recent transference of ritual traits from the antelope charming
complex to the rabbit drive (i. e. a "dreamer" directing the hunt). Formalized prayers
were said before the hunt by the boss, and in the period covered by the memory of the
oldest informants, dancing was often staged nightly during the rabbit drives. Downs
elicited data concerning the character of the last Washo rabbit boss:
"There was... a special leader who directed the
hunt who had dreaming power, 'Jack Wallace would dream
34
where the rabbits were and when it was time for
hunting he would send out a call. I The man
mentioned was described as the last of the real
dreamers; this power made him extremely
influential among the Washo; his descendants are
claimants for the 'chieftancyt (1961: 380).
The Cahuilla rabbit hunt was a ritually regulated activity undertaken to pro-
vide a large number of animals for various ceremonies and feasts which occurred
when rabbit populations were at high density (Bean, 1972: 147). In the fall, these
animals were hunted in the mesquite and pinyon-juniper woodlands, where herbaceous
plant resources were plentiful. Their presence was significant to Cahuilla subsistence
during the winter months when fresh vegetable resources were unavailable. The hunt
involved the cooperative effort of large numbers of men, women and children, and was
usually organized by the paxaa?9, the ritual assistant to the net (the paxaa9 might also
be a shaman) who supervised the proper arrangement of the rabbit nets into a large
arc, directed the drive movements, and organized the collection and deaning of the
game that was killed (Bean, 1972: 113)  In some instances several hundred rabbits
were collected in a single day' s activity.
The Functional Context: Model and Analysis
Throughout the preceding sections, the ideational and operational contexts of
subsistence ritual have been briefly reviewed in selected cultural settings of native
California. It has been proposed that native world view incorporated two baski
postulates which reinforced the ritual regulation of economic activity: (1) the world
of supernatural cause and effect required proper human attention and respect in the form
of prescribed ritual behavior for the continued positive response from spirits in
control of food resources, and; (2) the organization of these rituals associated with
large-scale gathering, fishing, and hunting activity was usually accomplished under
the direction of a shaman, formulist, or other specialist who functioned as a regulatory
force by, virtue of his ritualized power to control or mediate supernatural phenomena.
The general structure of the subsistence rituals previously discussed appears consistent
throughout native California: an essential food resource (an "ecological determninant")
such as acorns, salmon, or antelope, is available in a relatively concentrated supply
during a limited seasonal interval, and often requires the intensive, coordinated effort
of human groups to maximize potential yield. Economically productive individuals are
organized to collectively accomplish the subsistence activity and/or distribute the
product in a ritual context, and are often constrained from individually exploiting or
consuming the available resource until a ceremony is performed by a specific ritual
functionary. In the case of most plant food and salmon rituals, the conclusion of this
ceremony (which may last a variable number of days) commences the "resource season"t'
during which the harvest and use of the food is not further restricted. Table 1 sum-
marizes the operational contexts of subsistence ritual in native California as outlined
in the previous section.
35
Season of                                                                 Regulatory Pathways (1), (2)
Resource         Ritual        Culture Group           Ritualist (s)                      as Representeid in F igure 1
_ _ anagement
MIaidu                shaman                   restriction upon gathering activity (1), or
restriction upon consumption (2)
secret society                direction of gathering activity (1),
Central Miw ok           headman                     restriction upon consunmption (2)
acorns  fall    Yokuts - W. Mono           shanman                        restriction upon consumption
acorns      |    fall         outs - W. Mlono   |     nioietY chiief                   of stored product (2)
net                     direction of gathering activity (1),
shanman                    storage and distribution of product (2)
tehumnu' tushliakut            direction of gathering activity (1),
Luiseno               shamlan                    s storage and distribution of product (2)
religious man"                supervision of gathering activity (1),
Washo                (dreanmer)                  distr-ibution of product (2)
pinyon-pine niut   fall      |  _    _    _   _
kika                     dir ection of gathering, activity (1),
SeXrrano       l        l)aha                    storage andl distribution of product (2)
direction of gathering activity (1),
Atsugewis              shanian
distribution of product (2)
misc. root, seed             _
products        sprinb,r                                                      supe inatuiral direct ion of gathe ring activity (1),
N'okuts        moishaman ciifrestriction upon consumiption,
Yokuts             moiet chief      |       distribution of pr oduct (2)
mesquite beans   summer            Yunma                  kM -oxot                        distribution of product (2)
restr iction upon fishing activ itY,
Y urol;, K;ar ok;, lupa;l,  formulist                     direction of dam building (1),
Tolowa                                              X restriction upon consumption (2)
restriction upon fishing activitY (1),
salmon         spring            MIaidu               .shamian                       srci- uot      numln(9
restrict ion upon0 consumption (2)
supernatural dir ection of fishing activitY,
Yokuts              m nui kets chief a         restriction upon fishing activitY (1),
moiety chief       r~~iestr-ictioni upon consumiptioni (2)
Atsugewi, Achomawi,                                      supernatural supervision and
Wintu, hIaidu, Yokuts,       shanman                     direction of hunting activity (1),
W. Mlono, Sierra Mliwok                                  distribution of product (2)
deer       |   fall                                     neCahuila  net                 distr-ibution of product (2)
Serrano                 kika                            distribution of product (2)
Achoniawi, AtsugWLeui,      shaman                         direction of drive activity (1),
antelope        wiintter   N. Paiute, Washo                                           distribution of l)roduct (2)
Wshos               ral)i)it boss                    directiont of drive activity (1)
Table 1. Ritual Regulation of Large-Scale Subsistence Activity in Native California
rabbits           fall                                                                                                                             I
________________ I ____   I Cahuilla              paxaa I                           (lirection of drive activity (1)
36
It would thus appear that the subsistence rituals surrounding major food
resources specifically controlled and directed the flow of potential energy between
environment and human cultures. The control interactions of ritualists over subsis-
tence work potentials and food energies during periods of maximum resource avail-
ability may be considered as a basic "program" for efficient harvest and distribution
of major food resources.  In brief analysis, a simple diagram can be devised to
qualitatively represent the energy flow system of ritual regulation, utilizing a set of
circuitry symbols designed by Odum (1972: 38) to model energy flow in human ecolog-
ical and cultural systems. For the purposes of the proposed model, these modules
of energy "language" are defined as follows:
(1) Source. The circular symbol represents
the initial source of energy for the ecolog-
t  J  ical system, in this case, input of radiant
energy from the sun.
(2) Passive Storage. This symbol represents
"passive storage" of potential energy at
some location in the system. No new
potential energy is created, and some work
must be performed both to place this energy
t   |   in storage and to release it for subsequent
flow. This storage includes the "holding"
of restricted products until consumption is
ritually sanctioned, short-term collection
of resources for ritual redistribution, or
more protracted storages for future dis-
tribution.
(3) Heat Sink. Required according to thermo-
dynamic law; all processes of energy trans-
formation deliver potential energy into heat,
which is effectively lost for further useful
flow.
(4) Work Gate. This module represents a
a /                   point in the system where work performed
(a) allows a subsequent flow of energy (b).
It includes the energy required by communal
groups in subsistence activities, and the
organizational expenditures of the ritualist
in directing these activities and distributing
-                    products to the communityr.
37
(5) Green Plant. This symbol represents
plant food resources (acorns, pinyon nuts,
mesquite beans, etc.) which capture
/       radiant energy through photosynthesis for
production and energetic maintenance.
(6) Self Maintenance. Symbol representing
the "autocatalytic" self-sustaining units
of the system in which stored potential
energy is used for the maintenance, work,
and resupply of the unit. Heterotrophic
0      o                organisms such as salmon, deer, antelope,
rabbits, and man, which depend upon input
from lower trophic levels as energy for
maintenance and work may be considered
as examples.
(7) Ecosystem. This symbol is a combination
of (5) and (6), and represents trophic
relationships in the natural sector. Spe-
cifically, it represents energy available
from the major food resources of aboriginal
cultures, both plant and animal, which
L ID          were highly seasonal in abundance, requir-
ing communal extractive efforts for max-
imum yield, and subject to formal ritual-
ization. Flow from this module will be
considered as the concentrated, short-
term potentials represented by a mature
acorn crop, salmon run, antelope herd, etc.
(8) Switch. This symbol represents flows which
have only on and off states controlling
other flows by "switching" actions. The
availability of a major food resource has
definite on and off states, production and
concentration fluctuating with season. The
"on" state, i.e. impending to maximum
availability, is an informational flow from
the ecosystem which acts as a switching
action for regulatory activities of ritualists.
Figure 1 is a composite representation of subsistence ritual in native California
detailing the basic components and flow characteristics of examples previously discussed.
38
i
a
Cd
4-
0
Q4
Cd
z
*z
bti
0
C.)
*0
0
0
Co
0
-4
rL4
op-
PQ4
j
.-
0
C
I
39
A central, self-stimulating subsistence loop is established: between the organized
subsistence group (represented here as ten individuals, although the actual size of
ritually organized groups was often considerably larger) and a subsistence work gate.
Gathering, fishing, and hunting at productive seasonal intervals provide energy flow
which, in part, is returned back to the work gate for further subsistence activity. At
two positions along this basic feedback loop are located the regulatory gates of the
ritualist. Flow from resources may first be regulated along the subsistence energy
circuit (1) by the organizational activity of the ritualist, which may include the actual
direction or participation in the activity (e.g. the deer hunt shaman) or simply the
release of a restriction (taboo) upon the particular subsistence pursuit by the performance
of a symbolic rite (e.g. the salmon formulist). This ritual regulation of the actual
subsistence activity may act in conjunction with or mutually exclusive of a secondary
energetic restriction; (2) that the food resources must be held in passive storage until
a ritualist performs a ceremony in which the collected goods are distributed (either
immediately or over a protracted period of time), or a general restriction on the con-
sumption of a particular food item is lifted (e.g. first-fruits rites for plant foods).
The food energy having readhed individuals within the community, it may be used to
perform further food gathering activities (perhaps not regulated) completing the sub-
sistence loop originally organized by the ritual specialist, or resources may be "paid"
to the shaman or other ritualist for his services. The initial period of supervision or
restriction ends upon ritual performance and/or successful accomplishment of harvest
or hunt, and the short-term subsistence energy "program" is terminated.
The entire system of energetic regulation theoretically functions on the
principle of positive feedback, whereby the more energy supplied to the community from
the organizational and distributional efforts of the ritualist, the greater the intensity
and organization of the work directed back into subsistence activity. Through this flow
interaction, the ritualist controls the magnitude and timing of flow from essential
resources and ultimately directs the distribution of this potential energy. Occupying
a position at the convergence of many energy pathways, the subsistence ritualist
makes possible high magnitude energy flows into the system, with a relatively small
expenditure of ritual work. Dependent upon the success of the subsistence behavior he
directs, the ritualist also derives continual loop verification from community members
(in the form of food "payment" and cognitive support) as to the efficacy of his control
activities. This actual decentralization of control mechanisms toward community
members from whom energy is derived(i. e. the economic community insures energy
delivery to itself by rewarding and supporting the ritualist) is described by Odum (1972:
21-2-213) as an energetic "democracy," and was perhaps functionally basic to the noted
efficiency of ecological adaptation among native tribes of California. World view and
elaborate ritual mechanisms which supported regulatory roles of ritual specialists may
be viewed as adaptations for the introduction of feedback stability and amplification of
energy delivery in aboriginal social systems during periods of maximum productivity of
natural resources. In the various cultural manifestations of shaman, headman, for-
mulist, hunting boss, etc., the subsistence ritualist stands out as an energetic organizer
in native California, utilizing cognitive support and ritual prerogatives to stabilize and
direct input and flow of energy from important environmental resources. Ritual struc-
ture required a series of support interactions between ritualist and community which
served as the basis for a stable, dependable, energy exchange system during intervals
of concentrated availability of major food resources, and maintained a power base
adequate for the support of culturally complex and densely populated hunting and gather-
ing societies.
The energetic structure of subsistence ritual in native California was undoubt-
edly a functional response to environmental conditions at various adaptive levels.
However, the following proposals must remain largely theoretical in the fact that they
do not quantitatively emerge from the ethnographic evidence available:
(1) ,The regulation of harvest procedures for essential resources may
( have assumed a distinct conservation and management orientation,
with ritual specialists serving as short-term "environmental
\_anagers."   Heizer (1955) has previously presented evidence of
deliberate conservation practices in aboriginal North America,
noting that these practices were often "masked under guise of magic
or ritual." Bean (1972: 147) has suggested that the Cahuilla
rabbit hunt encouraged the regular "culling" of large populations of
these animals, which, if allowed to remain at maximum density,
would be potentially disruptive to new vegetation growth upon which
the Cahuilla also depended. Rostlund (1952: 16) notes that
intensive salmon fishing of native groups at run intervals (the timing
of this activity was strictly controlled by the formulist) probably
benefitted the production of Pacific salmon by preventing over-
crowding at upstream spawning beds. Ritual direction of plant food
harvests undoubtedly served to organize efficient collecting efforts
before natural competition from insects, birds, and mammals could
reduce the quantity of these resources. The strict enforcement of
of ritual restrictions concerning the exploitation of "new" resources
(particularly plant foods and salmon) maintained the subsistence
base of the community by preventing harvest of important food
resources prior to periods of maximum productivity.
(2)  Large, communal groups were organized at critical seasonal periods,
when efficient gathering, fishing, and hunting activity was energetically
crucial to the subsistence base of many groups. Ritualists called
attention to the onset of periods when specific products were available
in large supply and cooperative action was important.
(3)  Ritual organization decreased potential intra-group competition for
a seasonally limited resource (which was energetically wasteful and
41
time-consuming), rather focusing community energies toward
maximum cooperative effort by structuring the commencement of
a particular subsistence activity so that participants started large-
scale gathering, fishing, and hunting work at the same time.
(4)     Significantly, most subsistence ritual was a mechanism for decen-
tralization of energy flow and distribution of food resources to the
community, in public ceremonies held after the successful harvest
or hunt. Ritual restrictions prohibiting the consumption of resources
before the ceremony ensured the distribution of the entire supply of
collected food according to individual, family, or lineage need.
(5)     Finally, successfi-l application of socio-energetic principles of
subsistence ritual to a critically needed food resource provided
relief from psychological stress and anxiety over the availability
oi food, supporting the ideology of adherence to ritual behavior as
a, means for achieving positive response and balanced reaction from
the natural environment.
In summary, native cultures were confronted by an ecological and seasonal
diversity of natural resources which required accurate control and supervision of
subsistence energetics for the maintenance of human populations. A basic response of
aboriginal peoples to variable input of natural resources appears to have been the regu-
lation and organization of communal subsistence activities through the ritualization of
economic behavior. At intervals of seasonal availability of major food resources,
native world view reinforced a set of regulatory prerogatives undertaken by shamans,
formulists, and ceremonial leaders which served to organize the work potentials of
large cooperative groups. Energy flow from environmental resources and subsistence
work potentials were regulated by ritualists in order to facilitate the efficient harvest
and use of concentrated, short-term food yields, including seasonal products such as
acorns, salmon, and game animals. As functional mechanisms for the systematization
of human ecological relationships, world view and ritual were operative ideological
Institutions of broad adaptive importance to aboriginal societies of native California.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
List of Abbreviations of Serials
AA             American Anthropologist
AAA-M          American Anthropological Association Memoirs
AMNH-B         American Museum of Natural History Bulletin
BAE-B          Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin
SJA            Southwestern Journal of Anthropology
UC-AR          University of California Anthropological Records
UC-ASR         University of California Archaeological Survey Reports
UC-PAAE        University of California Publications in American Archaeology and
Ethnology
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1943.      Culture Element Distribution: XXIV, Central Sierra. UC-AR,
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Baumhoff, M. A.
1963.      Ecological Determinants of Aboriginal California Populations.
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