How the Earth Was Formed: a traditional Nuwä winter tale
The nights in the Tehachapi Mountains have turned cold again, and it is traditionally the time when Nuwä (Kawaiisu or Paiute) Indian people would tell stories. These storytelling traditions were a vital way for people without written histories to pass down their culture. One popular story was the tale of how the world was formed.
This story was first collected by anthropologist Theodore McCown, who visited the Nuwä in 1929. It was told to him by Rafael Girado, who was the father of Luther Girado, Lucille Girado Hicks, and the late Betty Girado Hernandez, the three siblings who have led Nuwä language documentation and revitalization efforts.
This is the Earth creation story as Rafael told it to McCown:
“In old times there was water all over the world. There was no land at all. The animals and birds were living up in the sky. Coyote sent them down one by one to bring up dirt from the bottom of the ocean. All of them tried but could not get any dirt. It was too far down. Coyote tried but only got halfway down. He nearly drowned and had to come back up.
“Finally a little black bird called Potok (an American Coot) who lived in the water, dove down. He stayed down all day and the other animals thought he was dead. Coyote said, ‘No, he isn’t dead.’ At length the little bird came up. Coyote asked him ‘Did you get any dirt?’ He said, ‘Only a little.’
“Potok scraped the dirt from under his fingernails and toenails, and put it on a flat coiled basket tray. It made only a very little pile. The animals left it there and it grew bigger every day. Coyote said ‘Good! Pretty soon we’ll have a world.’ It kept getting bigger and soon covered the water. It took a year for the dirt to grow into the Earth. Then the animals came down out of the sky and lived on the land.
“There were no trees or plants. The planter was the Scrub Jay, but no one knew where he got the plants or seeds to start things growing. He still plants pinyon nuts and acorns to this day.”
According to ethnobotanist Dr. Maurice Zigmond, who was the main anthropologist to work with the Nuwä, the creation story of the Earth being formed by dirt brought up from underneath the water is widespread among Native Americans.
Interestingly, the word “potok” does not sound like typical Nuwä words, all of which end in a vowel sound, and may have been borrowed from a neighboring tribe like the Kitanemuk, which is now federally recognized as the Tejon Tribe.
The Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center made a video of Luther Girado telling the creation story in the Nuwä language with subtitles, and it is played in the Kawaiisu Gallery at the Tehachapi Museum. When this pandemic passes and the museum reopens, check it out — it is a treat to watch and listen to this story being told in the original language.
Cold nights are traditionally family storytelling time in the Tehachapi Mountains, so consider participating in that tradition and gather your own family for a little storytelling. . .
Have a good week.