What did the Yokuts believe in?
The Yokuts believed in a variety of localized spirits, some of whom were potentially evil. Religious Practitioners. Part-time religious specialists, or shamans, with powers derived from visions or dreams cured the sick and conducted public rituals and celebrations.
Did the Yokuts practice polygamy?
Polygamy was socially acceptable among the Yokuts, but it was rarely practiced. Yokuts ceremonies included puberty rites, which for boys involved use of the hallucinogen toloache, made from the jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). Shamanism was also important in Yokuts religion.
What language do the Yokuts speak?
Each of the Yokuts subtribes had its own dialect, all of which belong to the California Penutian language family. In the mid-1970s only a few of the many Yokuts dialects were still being spoken.
What was the population of the Yokuts?
Alfred L. Kroeber in 1925 put the 1770 population of the Yokuts at 18,000. Several subsequent investigators suggested that the total should be substantially higher. Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser 1980 suggested that the Yokuts had numbered about 70,000. They had one of the highest regional population densities in pre-contact North America.
What was the Yokuts religion?
Religion and Expressive Culture The Yokuts believed in a variety of localized spirits, some of whom were potentially evil. Religious Practitioners. Part-time religious specialists, or shamans, with powers derived from visions or dreams cured the sick and conducted public rituals and celebrations.
What is the Yokuts tribe known for?
The Yokuts tribe of California are known to have engaged in trading with other California tribes of Native Americans in the United States including coastal peoples like, for example, the Chumash tribe of the Central California coast, and they are known to have traded plant and animal products.
What did the Yokuts need?
The Yokuts lived a simple life, depending on the land for food, clothing, and shelter. We believe the tribe along with others belonged to the first groups that settled in California. They are called the seed-gatherers because they did no farming at all in the days before Columbus. Their main food was acorns.
Where are the Yokuts today?
Today, Yokuts live on two rancherias in Tulare and Kings Counties and in nearby communities. Population The Yokuts population stood between 18,000 and 50,000 in the early eighteenth century. They had one of the highest regional population densities in aboriginal North America.
What traditions did the Yokuts have?
Yokuts ceremonies included puberty rites, which for boys involved use of the hallucinogen toloache, made from the jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). Shamanism was also important in Yokuts religion.
What language do the Yokuts speak?
Yokuts, formerly known as Mariposa, is an endangered language spoken in the interior of Northern and Central California in and around the San Joaquin Valley by the Yokuts people. The speakers of Yokuts were severely affected by disease, missionaries, and the Gold Rush.
What did Yokut tribe wear?
The Yokut tribe did not wear much clothes. The women wore short skirts made from hides of deer, antelope, and rabbits. The men of the Yokut tribe wore breechcloths made from soft deerskins. The men and women both wore narrow headbands to hold the hair away from their faces so they could see better.
Where did the Yokuts come from?
California Indians. The Yokuts occupied a strip about 250 miles long in the central San Joaquin valley and a smaller strip of the eastern foothills that rise along the southern half of the valley. The Yokuts are sometimes divided into the Southern Valley Yokuts, the Northern Valley Yokuts, and the Foothill Yokuts.
What is the meaning of Yokuts?
Definition of Yokuts 1a : an Indian people of the San Joaquin Valley and adjacent Sierra Nevada slopes, California. b : a member of such people. 2 : a Mariposan language of the Yokuts people.
How do you say Yokut?
0:020:19How to pronounce yokuts with Phonetic and Examples - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipY el que es y el case y el que es.MoreY el que es y el case y el que es.
How do you pronounce Yokut tribe?
Phonetic spelling of Yokuts. Yok-uts. yokut-s.Meanings for Yokuts. a member of the North American Indian people of the San Joaquin Valley.Synonyms for Yokuts. Mariposan. Penutian.
What are Yokuts houses called?
Each village had a sweathouse, dug down into the ground and covered with brush and earth. Only the men used the sweathouse, both for sweat baths and for sleeping. Southern Valley Yokut villages did not have dance or assembly houses, though these may have been used in Northern Valley villages.
What did the Yokuts make their houses out of?
For example, Yokuts houses, some hundreds of feet long and housing several families, were basically long tents made of woven tule grass. Poles with v-shaped forks on top were set upright in the ground in straight lines at intervals of 8 to 10 feet.
Where did the Yokuts live?
Yokuts, also called Mariposan, North American Indians speaking a Penutian language and who historically inhabited the San Joaquin Valley and the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada south of the Fresno River in what is now California, U.S.
What was the most characteristic of Yokuts?
The most characteristic Yokuts dwelling was the mat-covered communal house inhabited by 10 families or more. In addition, they erected flat roofs on poles for shade. Clothing was simple: men wore loincloths or went naked, and women wore fringed aprons front and back.
What did the Yokuts do before colonization?
Before colonization, Yokuts culture shared many features with those of other California Indians. They gathered plant foods such as seeds and roots and used elaborate systems to snare deer and hunt antelope and elk.
What was the significance of Shamanism in Yokuts?
Shamanism was also important in Yokuts religion. Ceremonies, including one to prevent rattlesnake bites, were performed by shamans— medicine men who also participated in intertribal contests of sacred and healing powers. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now.
What were the ceremonies of Yokuts?
Yokuts ceremonies included puberty rites, which for boys involved use of the hallucinogen toloache, made from the jimsonweed(Datura stramonium). Shamanismwas also important in Yokuts religion. Ceremonies, including one to prevent rattlesnake bites, were performed by shamans—medicine menwho also participated in intertribal contests of sacred and healing powers.
What are the Yokuts?
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Yokuts, also called Mariposan, North American Indians speaking a Penutian language and who historically inhabited ...
Where are the Penutian languages spoken?
Penutian languages, proposed major grouping (phylum or superstock) of American Indian languages spoken along the west coast of North America from British Columbia to central California and central New Mexico. The phylum consists of 15 language families with about 20 languages; the families are Wintun (two languages), Miwok-Costanoan (perhaps five…
What language family did the Yokuts belong to?
Linguistic Affiliation. Each of the Yokuts subtribes had its own dialect, all of which belong to the California Penutian language family. In the mid-1970s only a few of the many Yokuts dialects were still being spoken.
Where did the Yokuts live?
The traditional homeland of the Yokuts was the San Joaquin Valley and the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada in south-central California. Their territory extended from the Calaveras River near Stockton south to the Tehachapi Mountains and into the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada between the Fresno and Kern rivers.
What did the Valley Yokuts use as a raw material?
Industrial Arts. The Valley Yokuts depended to a considerable extent upon tule as a raw material for baskets, cradles, mats for rafts and house coverings, and a variety of other items. Employing twined and coil techniques, the Yokuts wove baskets of a variety of types, including cooking containers, burden baskets, winnowing trays, seed beaters, and water bottles. Simple, functional pottery was produced by some Foothills Yokuts groups.
What disease did the Yokuts live with?
In 1833 epidemic disease, probably malaria, devastated the Yokuts, claiming as much as 75 percent of the population. In the late 1970s the Yokuts numbered several hundred, including 325 living on the Tule River Reservation and another 100 living on the Santa Rosa Rancheria. Linguistic Affiliation. Each of the Yokuts subtribes had its own dialect, ...
What are the Yokuts?
The groups classified under the name "Yokuts" include some forty to fifty subtribes which are usually distinguished by three main cultural and geographical divisions, the Northern Valley Yokuts, the Southern Valley Yokuts, and the Foothills Yokuts. The name "Yokuts" derives from a term in several of the Yokuts dialects that means "people.".
What type of dwellings did the Yokuts use?
Both the Northern Valley and Southern Valley subtribes made use of oval-shaped single-family dwellings constructed of a wooden pole frame covered with tule mats. The Southern Valley Yokuts also used similar, but larger dwellings that housed as many as ten families.
What were the main activities of the Yokuts?
The traditional subsistence activities of the Yokuts varied from region to region but in all instances emphasized fishing, hunting, and gathering . Among the Northern Valley Yokuts the major food staples were salmon, taken in great numbers with nets and spears during fall spawning runs, and acorns, gathered in significant quantities in the late spring or early summer and fall. The hunting of waterfowl, such as geese and ducks, was also of major importance. The subsistence pattern of the Southern Valley Yokuts focused on lake and river fishing with nets, basket traps, and spears, hunting waterfowl from tule rafts, and gathering shellfish and tule roots. The Foothills Yokuts emphasized hunting deer by means of stalking, ambush, and collective drive techniques, trapping and shooting quail, and gathering acorns; fishing, employing spears, weirs, and poisons, supplemented this pattern during certain times of the year. The descendants of the Yokuts living on the Tule River Reservation now find employment in lumbering and farm and ranch work and derive some income from the lease of grazing lands and timber tracts. Yokuts living on the Santa Rosa Rancheria are less fortunate, with many unable to find anything more than seasonal employment as migrant workers.
Overview
The Yokuts (previously known as Mariposas ) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts is both plural and singular, Yokut, while common, is erroneous. 'Yokut' should only be used when referring specifically to the Tachi Yokut Tribe of Lemoore, CA. Som…
History
Another name used to refer to the Yokuts was Mariposans. The word Yokuts itself means people, the Yokuts are a peaceful people. There are many stories, depending on the tribe, on how the yokut and their land came to be but most follow a similar form.
The creation story- Once the world was completely covered in water. Then ca…
Population
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially (See Population of Native California). Alfred L. Kroeber in 1925 put the 1770 population of the Yokuts at 18,000.
Several subsequent investigators suggested that the total should be substantially higher. Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser 1980 suggested th…
Territory
Yokuts tribes populated the San Joaquin Valley, from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ("the delta") south to Bakersfield and the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which lies to the east.
In the northern half of the Yokuts region, some tribes inhabited the foothills of the Coast Range to the west. There is evidence of Yokuts inhabiting the Carrizo Plain and creating rock art in the Paint…
Language
According to San Diego State University, the Yokutsan languages are members of the Penutian language family.
Diet
Yokuts used spears, basket traps, and assorted other tools to hunt a variety of local animals, such as game birds, waterfowl, rabbits, turtles, various fish, mussels, and wasp grubs. Big game was hunted less frequently, but included deer, elk, and antelope. Their staple food was derived from acorn mash, though they also gathered tule roots and iris bulbs to make flour. Other foraged food includes manzanita berries, pine nuts, and seeds. They used a form of horticulture to cultivate to…
Communities
• Gashowu
• Choinumni
• Chukchansi (Mono language name: wowa)
• Lakisamni
• Tachi tribe (Tache)
Internal conflicts within the Chukchansi tribe near Yosemite
On 5 April 2015, it was reported that members of the Chukchansi tribe near Yosemite have been disenrolling other members from the tribe for decades, so that the tribe's casino profits go to fewer people. In the autumn of 2014, several disenrolled Chukchansi tribe members (who were no longer receiving a share of casino profits) arrived at the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino armed with guns, and violence ensued. As a result, a federal judge ordered that the casino be shut down.