"The Acorn Maidens"

"Once, acorns were Ikxareyavs (Spirit-people). They were told, 'You will soon have to leave the Spirit World. You are going to go. You must all have nice hats to wear. You will have to wear them.' So they started to weave good-looking hats. Then all at once they were told, 'You will have to go now! Human is being raised. Go quickly!'

"Black Oak Acorn did not have time to finish her hat, so she picked up her big bowl basket.

"Tan Oak (tanbark) Acorn did not have time to clean her hat and make it smooth.

"But Post (valley) Oak Acorn and Maul (Canyon) Acorn finished their hats out perfectly, and even had time to clean them. Tan Oak Acorn noticed this, and said: 'Though my hat is not cleaned, would that I be the best acorn soup.'

"Then they went. They spilled (from the Heavens) into Human's place. 'Humans will spoon us up,' they said. They were Ikxareyavs, these Acorn Maidens. They were Heavenly Ikxareyavs. They shut their eyes and then they turned their faces into their hats when they came to this earth. That is the way the Acorns did.

"Tan Oak Acorn wished bad luck toward Post Oak Acorn and Maul Oak Acorn, because they had nice hats. She was jealous of them. Nobody likes to eat Post Oak Acorn. And, Maul Oak Acorn does not taste good either. They do not taste good, and their soups are black. And Maul Oak Acorn is hard to pound.

"They were all painted when they first spilled down. Black Oak Acorn was striped, and when one picks it up on the ground it is still striped, even nowadays. She was striped all over, that girl was. But Tan Oak Acorn did not paint herself much, because she was mad that her hat was not finished.

"When they spilled down, they turned their faces into their hats. And nowadays they still have their faces inside their hats."

                                                ____________________

"The Acorn Maidens" is a Karuk story recorded by John Peabody Harrington. It appears in Bureau of American Ethnography Bulletin No. 7, 1932 and has been reprinted in Oaks of California.

All photos by Debi.

Kensha:nel

Piam kan hak/ t'oSta'yokale t'oLesemo t'oshkem t'ona'taxtotsopi

Pesnoho kan hak/ echelelna't'oke sa'yot'oke lh'kat'oke t'at'et'ekaikelt'oke

A;lel kan hak kecheak tax kekayeak t'oke t'at'etalxwal

Xayatspanikan. Xayatspanikan. Xayatspanikan. Xayatspanikan.

Looking across Ts'ókhonthe tchá' towards Khoye (Echo Cliff) with Sta'yokale in the background. Photograph by John Peabody Harrington, March 17, 1932.

                                              Creator

We see You in Sta'yokale, Morro Rock, the Ocean, the Sun, and the Moon.

We hear You through Kingfisher, Eagle, Coyote and Our Songs.

We ask You to protect us and guide us in our work.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.  (spoken in the four directions)

At Mission San Antonio last week after the California Mission Riders rode in...

...Salinan elder Susan Latta prayed "Kensha:nel" at Mass that evening.

Thursday evening's Mass also featured John Warren and the New World Baroque Orchestra performing the compositions of Fray Juan Bautista Sancho, who served at Mission San Antonio de Padua from 1804 until his death in 1830.

Here is Chanticleer performing the Gloria from Sancho's "Misa in Sol."

Writer and California Mission Rider Leslie Dunton-Downer interviewed Susan and fellow Salinan elders Shirley Macagni and Suzanne Pierce Taylor (not shown).

Filmmaker and Mission Rider Gwyneth Horder-Payton; Timothy Bottoms from nearby Lásom (Rancho Salsipuedes).As others of us listened intently.

What struck me most was how this beautiful prayer "Kensha:nel" — which has such a natural affinity with the spirit of St. Francis' own "Canticle of the Creatures" — was being prayed at the mission not by a friar, but by a Salinan woman.

Not the asphalt ribbon of a highway...

Far and away the biggest single impact to this coast came in 1769 when the Portolá expedition came up this coast, skirting these mountains, but establishing the mission system. But after this event, the next biggest impact came with building the highway. It changed a homestead economy (and demographic) into a highway economy (and demographic).

But our life-line should not be the asphalt ribbon of the highway. It should be our humility and relationship with these wild mountains. If we're not careful, if we live within these screens too much — only peering out through our windows along the "scenic corridor" — we'll lose that connection, and inadvertently, even as we're saying how much we love it here, we could end up destroying the essential wild nature of this coast.

Ts'owém' (Cone Peak). John Peabody Harrington, October 1932. Courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives.                                            _____________________________

Note

Xasáuan Today is reporting one good prescription — National Trails Day on June 4 at Big Sur Station.