When Animals Were People ...
For the Chumash families, says Julie Tumamait, there is very little known about their ancestries. There is much that is being rediscovered today, yet much much more still to be recovered. Chumash heritage is from a time, "When the animals were people," as Julie teaches, when the human-kind was a hundred times more sensitive ... when the 'Awha'y Valley was peaceful and quiet and we could hear our sisters and brothers, we could listen to the voices of Spirit ... when love was the connectivity of family, and our wholly acknowledged family was nature ... and harmonious respect was recognized as the only avenue to true knowing.
Julie takes pride in her traditional name of Tumamait. “My great grandfather, Juan de Jesus, took it as a last name,” she says. Many Chumash, like other California Indians, had Spanish surnames conferred on them by the padres at the missions. Some families even today are still finding out their ancestors had some Chumash blood,” says Tumamait-Stenslie. “In the early days there wasn’t a lot of acknowledgment of Chumash heritage. There was a stigma attached ...
Julie's sister, Regina, after exploring her Chumash history, adopted the surname Washtigoligol. “It’s my ceremony name,” she says. “I was not given a traditional name at birth, so I basically earned it by going through many different ceremonies.”
Regina Washtigoligol notes that the Chumash are considered a matrilineal, matriarchal society, “Our tribe is one of the only ones that recognized women. Many times there were women leaders, women chieftains.”
Chumash Anthropology
at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
YouTube Video
of Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait at Ojai City Council Speaking on Supporting Locals in Honoring the Ancestors:
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Comments (5)
Nice profile Millennium - thank you for sharing more on one of Ojai's treasured elders.
Comment #1 Posted by: Tyler | June 17, 2007 11:48 AM
Thanks MT. I learned something in this post. Personally, I would like to hear more about their choices concerning their names and how many found out that they were in fact of Chumash heritage. I was always fascinated by Julie's and Pat's heritage and what they have become for their tribe and their culture. I am proud of their work and the enlightenment of their heritage before us. I can't imagine that there was a time that when one would feel safer to hide their heritage. I'm so glad that is not the case now.
Comment #2 Posted by: Dana and Alyeska | June 17, 2007 04:33 PM
Thank you, M.T.
Comment #3 Posted by: Raymond | June 17, 2007 05:35 PM
Listening to the "voices of spirit" might be in our genes, but it doesn't necessarily come naturally. I like hearing from those who still hear those voices.
Comment #4 Posted by: Kit Stolz | June 18, 2007 09:33 PM
may her light shine, her voice ever speak,
her wind and water ever touch us!
~~~
update on the Mayan Elders Tour -- this weekend Sat & Sun in Sun City if you are free -- else the 30th in Ojai, and July 1st in Santa Barbara ..
http://www.lescarney.com/mayan_calandar.htm
http://www.sacredearthfound.org/events.shtml
http://www.shiftingages.com/about.html
Comment #5 Posted by: Millennium Twain | June 22, 2007 09:16 AM