(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Indians 201: A very short overview of the Mojave Indians [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-06-08
The Mojaves (also spelled Mohave) are a Yuman-speaking tribe whose traditional homeland was along the Colorado River. The name Mojave is a corruption of their native name Aha-makave which means “beside the water.”
Note: the spelling Mojave has been officially adopted by the Fort Mojave Council and is, therefore, used here.
The Yuman-speaking people, according to their oral history, were created at Avikwame (now designated as Mount Newberry). It was here that Mastamho (also known as Mustamxo and Kumastamxo) brought forth the different people and sent them to live in the different regions along the Colorado River.
The Mojave were not an isolated people but were acquainted with other tribes, both nearby and distance. In his 1925 book Handbook of the Indians of California, A. L. Kroeber writes:
“Visits carried parties of Mohave as far as the Chumash and Yokuts. Sheer curiosity was their main motive; for the Mohave were little interested in trade. They liked to see lands; timidity did not discourage them; and they were eager to know the manners of other peoples as they were careful to hold aloof from adopting them.”
Subsistence
It has been estimated that Mojave agriculture provided about half of their subsistence. The Mojaves grew corn, beans, and cucurbits (gourd family) in the bottomlands along the river. They practiced floodwater agriculture and planted in flooded areas as the floodwaters receded. The rich silt left behind by the floodwaters meant that crop rotation and artificial fertilization were not needed.
The boundaries of Mojave fields, usually an acre or two in size, were marked with ridges of dirt or with arrow weed markers set up along the edges of the field. In his entry on the Mojave in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Michael Tsosie reports:
“The Mohave agriculturalists also strategically adapted their cultivation to the flood patterns of the Colorado River and raised double crops of corn, beans, squash, and melons.”
With regard to Mojave maize (corn), A. L. Kroeber writes:
“Their corn is usually white and long eared, but they distinguish blue, red, yellow, and spotted yellow and white varieties.”
A. L. Kroeber also writes:
“Corn is planted irregularly, not in rows. The planter takes one long step more or less at random from his last hole and rams his stick into the ground for another hole. Half a dozen kernals are sunk from half a foot to a foot deep.”
Mojave tobacco was known for being strong and bitter. In her book Speaking of Indians With An Accent on the Southwest, Bernice Johnston explains why:
“To make it so, they frowned and scowled as they worked the plots and pretended to fight and quarrel. The result – strong tobacco.”
With regard to Mojave use of wild plants, Michael Tsosie reports:
“The lush environment of the river valleys provided an abundance of wild foods that were seasonally gathered. The most important of these foods were the honey mesquite bean and screwbean mesquite bean, which provided a significant nourishing staple in the Mohave diet.”
A.L. Kroeber describes the preparation of mesquite screw beans:
“Fresh mesquite screw bean is ‘cooked’ by being stored in an immense pit, perhaps 15 feet across and 4 or 5 feet deep, lined and covered with arrow weed. From time to time water is sprinkled on the mass. After about a month the screws turn brown and very sweet.”
Fish were an important part of the Mojave diet. Fish were usually taken in dip nets, drag nets, or fish traps. The fish traps were large, canoe-shaped basket scoops with long handles.
Hunting generally contributed little to the Mojave diet.
Housing
The River Yumans had rancheria type settlements in which each house was separated from its neighbor by 100 yards or more. Mojave housing was made from brush and earth. In his book Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Carl Waldman writes:
“For the warm weather, they built flat-roofed, open-sided structures; for the cold periods, they made low rectangular structures.
In their book Native American Architecture, Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton report:
“The traditional flat-domed, hip-roofed winter house was C-shaped and measured about 20 by 25 feet, with the side facing south left open. The frame consisted of stout center poles and a ridgepole with rafters rising up on all four sides layered with slender stocks of arrowweed. Sandy mud from the riverbank filled all crevices so that, except for the front, the structure became indistinguishable from the surrounding dunes.”
In 1854, Lieutenant A. W. Whipple, leading a survey party across Arizona to California to to find the best route for a railroad, encountered the Mojave living on both sides of the Colorado River. He writes:
“...their favorite resort seems to be the roof, where usually could be counted from twenty to thirty persons, all apparently at home.”
Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton write:
“Whipple arrived when cylindrical granaries around the houses were stocked with mesquite beans and corn, and earthen pots inside were full of flour and beans from their floodplain gardens.”
Pottery
Mojave pottery is made with clay tempered with crushed sandstone. The pot is built up with a coiling method.
The Mojave made at least three distinctive forms of pottery. In making pottery, clay was tempered with crushed sandstone and the vessels were built up with a coiling process. Before firing, the vessels were decorated with a yellow ochre pigment which turned to a dull red when fired. Firing was done over an open wood fire.
The Portland Art Museum (PAM) features a display of Mohave pottery. According to PAM:
“Considered a woman’s art, Mojave craftswomen traditionally made ceramics during the dry season in a location outside of the home. Utilitarian pots for storage, cooking, and eating were generally plain or dcorated with simple geometric designs in yellow ochre which turned red in the firing process. The advent of the tourist trade brought adaptations to these wares, such as the addition of handles to the pots.”
The Mojave craftswomen also created human and animal effigies, and dolls. According to PAM:
“Unlike utilitarian ceramics, Mojave effigies and dolls were painted brightly, and were modeled from unfired clay, making the figurines quite fragile. Mojave women produced both human and animal effigies, in both figural and vessel forms. Craftswomen also created clay dolls to sell to tourists, emphasizing the head, eyes, and large feet of the dolls, which allowed the figures to stand unaided. Male and female dolls were dressed traditionally and painted with different tattoo patterns to represent their gender. Male dolls wear cloth breechclouts while female dolls appear in cloth skirts. Both wear beaded necklaces and earrings, and horsehair for hair.”
Shown above is Doll, circa 1910, by an unknown Mojave artist. Glass beads, cotton, and clay.
Shown above is Seated Woman, circa 1910, by Uyez. Glazed clay with cloth and hair.
Shown above is Female Doll, circa 1920, by an unknown Mojave artist. Glass beads, cotton, and clay.
Shown above is Male Doll, circa 1900, by an unknown Mojave artist. Clay, paint, glass beads, and cloth.
Shown above is Pitcher, circa 1900, by an unknown Mojave artist. Glass beads and clay.
Clothing and Adornment
Both Mojave men and women wore loincloths. These loincloths were made from willow bark strips made in a checkerboard weave. Men often went naked when it was too hot to wear clothes. Women went bare breasted. Both sexes generally went barefoot and bareheaded. However, when traveling they would wear fiber sandals.
With regard to adornment, anthropologist Bertha Dutton, in her book The Ranchería, Ute, and Southern Paiute Peoples: Indians of the American Southwest, writes of the Mohave:
“These people were long famous for the artistic painting of their bodies.”
In her book Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume, Josephine Paterek reports:
“Tattooing was also universal with both sexes; there was a strong belief that the untattooed person did not go to the afterworld, but rather into a rat’s hole after death. Both boys and girls were tattooed at puberty, but no standardized designs were used. Women commonly had lines on the chin, but they varied in pattern.”
With regard to hair styles, Josephine Paterek reports:
“Women wore their hair long, occasionally with bangs on the forehead. Men let the hair grow waist-length, taking special pride in its glossy sheen, which was achieved by plastering it with mud and boiled mesquite bark, leaving it on overnight, then washing it out.”
Bow and Arrow
The Mojave used the bow and arrow for both hunting and warfare. The bow was shaped like a shallow D: it was straight for most of its length with only the ends curving in toward the bowstring. The ideal bow size depended on the man who was using it: the bow should stretch from the ground to the chin. However, hunting bows tended to be somewhat shorter than war bows. Hunting bows were often under four feet in length. In a 1947 article republished in The California Indians: A Source Book, Kenneth Stewart reports:
“The hunting bow was unpainted, while war bows were painted black on each end and red in the middle. The tips of the war bow were sometimes wrapped in sinew.”
Bows were generally made from willow, but mesquite was occasionally used for war bows. The bowstrings were often made from deer sinew.
Shown above are some Mojave arrows displayed in San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California.
Arrows were made of arrowweed and were untipped. Hunting arrows had four feathers while war arrows had three.
Marriage
Marriage was not accompanied by a religious ceremony. Anthropologist Kenneth Stewart, , in his entry on the Yumans in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 10: Southwest, reports:
“Marriage was simple and without ceremony, and while most marriages were monogamous, divorce was so easy and frequent that there was an approach to serial monogamy.”
Writing about the Mojave, A.L. Kroeber reports:
“Marriage is a living together at will, and divorce is separation when either is so inclined.”
Government
Among the Yuman-speaking groups, only the Mojave had a unified central government with a council and headman. Anthropologist Kenneth Stewart, in his entry on the Mojave in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 10: Southwest, notes:
“The Mohave, regardless of place of residence, thought of themselves as one people, living in a true nation with a well-defined territory.”
The Mojave were divided into three bands, and each band was further divided into settlements. Chiefs attained their positions by dreaming of them. They were also expected to be good speakers and to address the people in the morning. According to anthropologist Kenneth Stewart:
“People deferred to their wishes because they respected them, not because they had any real authority.”
Anthropologist Bertha Dutton writes:
“The Mohave had hereditary chiefs in the male line—men of honor and dignity—but their functions are said to have been obscure.”
Warfare
Warfare among the Mojave was usually carried out by men who had had dreams which gave them power in battle. Men who had not had such dreams could also participate in war. According to the Mojave, warfare was instituted by the culture hero Mastamhó who decreed that in each generation there would be some men who would have dreams giving them power in war. Only warriors who had scalping power given to them in dreams were allowed to remove scalps. In his book Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Carl Waldman reports:
“A special society, called the Kwanamis, led the other men in battle. Mojave war parties were organized into three different fighting groups: archers, clubbers, and stickmen (or lancemen).”
In his 1947 article on Mojave warfare reprinted in The California Indians: A Source Book, Kenneth Stewart writes:
“Kwanamis were unlike other Mohave. Their mode of living was Spartan: they were relatively insensible to cold and heat and were unconcerned about going four or five days without food. They ate little, taking only one meal a day, and they ate alone. They were uninterested in women and sex, few of them marrying until they had grown too old for combat.”
Mojave raiding parties consisted of 10-12 men who would go out on raids whenever they liked without having to ask the permission of the chief. Mojave war parties were larger—40 to 50 men—and might go out only once or twice a year. Prior to engaging in war, the entire Mohave war party would undergo 4-8 days of purification ceremonies.
Spirituality
Among the River Yumans, prenatal dreaming was important. Anthropologist Kenneth Stewart, in his chapter on the Yumans in the Handbook of North American Indians, explains:
“…the unborn soul of the dreamer was projected back in time to the scene of creation, where power was conferred by the deities.”
The power for success as a warrior, shaman, singer, or chief came from dreams rather than formal training or learning.
The powers or knowledge from particular spirits are different and specific. The power might not come in a single dream but may be revealed in a series of dreams. In this case, it is not until the spirits tell the person that the preparations are complete can the powers granted in the dream actually be used.
Dreams are extremely important to the Mojave. Anthropologist Bertha Dutton reports:
“From these dreams—which to the Mohave are regular visits with their ancestors—come their decisions and their principal motivations.”
A.L. Kroeber writes:
“Knowledge is not a thing to be learned, the Mohave declare, but to be acquired by each man according to his dreams.”
Sometimes Jimsonweed is used in order to increase the frequency and intensity of the dreams.
With regard to Mojave ceremonies, Josephine Paterek reports:
“The Mojave had few ceremonies—an occasional bird dance, song cycles based on individual dreams, and, most important, the annual mourning rites.”
There are about 30 song cycles, each of which is named. A.L. Kroeber writes:
“All the cycles have their songs strung on a thread of myth, of which the singer is conscious, although practically nothing of the story appears in the brief, stylistically chosen, and distorted words of the songs.”
With regard to death, Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton report:
“Most of the inhabitants of the 200-mile stretch of the lower Colorado River held cremation rites when a tribesperson died and observed an annual memorial ceremony for the dead.”
Among the Mojave, the deceased was cremated upon a funeral pyre. Orators would make speeches about the virtues of the deceased and songs would be sung. Articles burned with the deceased would accompany the soul to the land of the dead. After death there was a taboo on mentioning the name of a dead person. Josephine Paterek reports:
“To show bereavement, the women cut their hair a little below the ears, while the men clipped a bit off the ends of their rolls.”
More American Indian tribal profiles
Indians 101: A Very Brief Overview of California's Achumawi Indians
Indians 101: A very short overview of the Akimel O'odham (Pima) Indians
Indians 201: A very short overview of the Chickasaw Indians
Indians 201: A short overview of the Duwamish Indians
Indians 101: A very short overview of the Havasupai Indians
Indians 101: A Brief Overview of the Illinois Indians
Indians 101: A Short Overview of the Potawatomi Indians
Indians 101: A very short overview of the Wichita Indians
Note: Indians 201 is an expansion and revision of an earlier essay.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/6/8/2173637/-Indians-201-A-very-short-overview-of-the-Mojave-Indians
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
