Finding a Griot - Oral Culture through the Great Basin
Wilson Wewa's Legends of the Northern Paiute
Whenever I can, I stop at the Museum and Visitor Center at Pyramid Lake and take time to chat with Shirley Kaneshige. Shirley always shares her travels to visit relatives, her adventures with her granddaughter, and whatever else she is up to. She has helped me find new books in the gift shop, expanded my understanding of the museum’s exhibits, and shown interest in my bike rides. Shirley in now a reason I stop in Nixon. Shirley helped me find, Legends of the Northern Paiute, as told by Wilson Wewa, by James A. Gardner. I find myself a story listener first and a story teller second. As I travel through the Great Basin the imagery reminds me of the stories, names of things and facts or best guesses about my surroundings. That recognition makes my travels that much more meaningful.
The legends of the Northern Paiute are the most adapted to this landscape. These stories were told and shaped by thousands of winters, the season of Paiute storytelling. Nothing can better reflect the connection of people to the land. Nothing better can reflect the cultural values shaped by the human condition in the high cold desert.
I was very fortunate to take Chicano Studies 3, Primary Oral Culture in my last quarter at the University of California at Santa Barbara. As Wilson Wewa likes to start his legends, this was, “A looong time ago”. I wish I could take it over again today, or have the course syllabus and reader. We looked at stories, songs, plays, art, medicine, religion and food across Mexico and the American Southwest to see how culture survived generations without a written history. My influences going into the course were reading the accounts of Carlos Castaneda, Napoleon Chagnon and Joseph Campbell. A vivid memory was when the department chair was scheduled to give a guest lecture on Yaqui witchcraft, her grandmother was a curandera, tribal healer. I was on the edge of my seat for this lecture. She came into the lecture hall and gave a lecture on the dangers of gossip. It was a life lesson for the many freshman taking this as a prerequisite for the major. I was multiple shades of disappointed after this, but it was a great course.
Memories came back after reading the editor’s introduction to Legends of the Northern Paiute. “Their legends… emphasize and reinforce Paiute social bonds… and serve as a vital source for continuity for tribal ways. In the process, the legends reaffirm and pass along important tribal values even as they warned of draconian penalties for any breach or flouting of these values.” (x.) Rarely do I get as much out of reading the front matter of a book as I do the body. Wilson Wewa’s preface and personal history, growing up on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, traveling to visit relatives with his grandmother, Maggie Wewa, sets the stage for the 21 legends of the book.
Animal People and Human People
I continue to wrap my mind around the animals were the first people, Nuwaddu. The Paiutes are the second people, Nuwu. “The Paiutes and animals are brothers and sisters. We are the same.” (p.8) The two main characters are Coyote and Wolf. Coyote is a trickster, complainer, self-absorbed, vain, brave, sometimes the fool, but also a hero. Wolf is the leader, wise, commanding, magical and makes the hard decisions as strong leaders must do. All the animal characters embody human traits and values necessary for survival in the Great Basin. Hard work and cooperation are rewarded with great celebration. The dances held by the animal people make me want to attend a powwow more than ever. Now when I see a coyote on the trail ahead I can see Coyote running to the next best opportunity for Coyote.
The legends gave me insight to the behaviors and appearance of common animals, why the badger is flat and grumpy, why jackrabbits are busy, thin waisted, and have black feet and tails (this was a dark legend). I learned about monsters, giant cannibals, and the magical distribution of pinyon pines. I learned about floods and starvation. I learned about abalone shell dress dancers responsible for the stars across the sky and how Coyote howls at the first stars of the night because he wants to be dancing with the beautiful ladies.
More than entertaining stories this generational knowledge is disappearing along with language as well as the griots, or elder story tellers. Wewa stresses that although these stories are now written down they should be shared aloud. I may have to start packing his stories with me on trips.
Legends in Art
I was recently introduced to the work of Ben Alek through his exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art (through January 7, 2024 for those fortunate enough to visit). A piece titled Coyote was accompanied by a legend, The Coyote and the Stars, as told by Ralph Burns of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. It is Coyote’s selfish disobedience that resulted in the vastness of the stars in the sky. Burns also contributed the Stone Mother legend accompanying a couple of Alek’s depictions of the Stone Mother tufa at Pyramid Lake. The tears of a heart broken mother filled Pyramid Lake, and her heart got so cold she turned to stone. If you are not able to see Alek’s work in person the Nevada Museum of Art has published a beautiful book.
Finding your Griot
Although I was at the University of California at Santa Barbara for biochemistry I was able to take some great general ed/diversity classes like Primary Oral Culture. Another favorite was Intro to Caribbean Studies. If you are thinking, ”Duh?” I agree. Going back to what I must have highlighted in my my syllabus, Voodoo and the West African tradition of story telling, the world of the Griot.
My griot is Douglas Hartzell. There is the fire of curiosity in his eyes and a geologist’s loupe worn around his neck. Doug and I met at the Reno Bike Project and some how he learned that I had applied geospatial statistics to a tick distribution data set. Well, Doug wrote the book (contributed), An Introduction to Applied Geostatistics. Now I have an inscribed copy (no, you can’t borrow it.) Doug is my advisor to all things mineral, mining, historical, and wonderful about geology in the Great Basin. He reminds me that mining in Nevada is mostly about fleecing east coast investors. He gets all my photos of curious, albeit common rocks, with the question, “what is this?” The answer always includes, “whatever was in the water.” Doug is always with me on my rides, as a little voice, asking and answering questions about Nevada rocks.
This month I did a lot of reading. In addition to Legends, I read Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes (Wheat), As Long as the River Shall Run (Knack & Stewart), Mapping and Imagination in the Great Basin (Francaviglia), Roadside Geology of Nevada (DeCouten & Biggar) and Geological History of Lake Lahontan (Russell). Adding to it my dog-chewed copy of At Pyramid Lake (Mergen) which deserves a re-read, I feel like I am just starting to learn about the Great Basin, my backyard terra incognita.
Select References not in text:
Preserving Intangible Cultural Heritage
The Fox and the Stars YouTube Video
Plant A Seed Ben Alek interview on Vimeo
July in Review:
Most of this month I have been on the road. I spent 12 days camping in Lamoille Canyon, Elko, NV. It was an opportunity to unplug and as a result I read so many books! I barely rode my bike, I fly fished in Lamoille Creek, but drove back to Gerlach to lead a small group around Fox Peak in the Granite Range. The blog posts for the last two Rides with Friends should drop in the next week.
My road trip continued to Nye, MT. I spent about a week plus travel days to finish out the 3 week road trip. I enjoyed fly fishing on the Stillwater River and started planning a bike tour between Wells and Jackpot, NV.
Upcoming Event Calendar:
Aug 9-10 Bikerafting Overnight on Stampede Reservoir
Aug 12-13 Rides with Friends #5 Perseids Meteor Shower
Aug 29- Sept 1 Burning Man - tours for Earth Guardians Camp
Sept 16-17 Rides with Friends #6 Massacre Ranch Dark Skies
Sept 22-24 Adventure Cycling’s Bike Your Park- Trego-Seven Troughs-Lava Beds
Oct 14-15 Rides with Friends #7 Hot Springs and Micro Playa Overnight
Oct 16-Nov 6 Nevada Odyssey ~1200 mile loop between Carson City and Ely
Thank you for supporting my story telling. Next month’s newsletter will focus on opportunities and resources for adventure touring in Nevada, inspired by the talk I gave at the Howling Micro-Rally in June.
Nice reflection - jealous of your time in Elko and the time you have made for reading and thinking!
I love the idea of you reading aloud the stories while on a ride with friends. Sitting around the campfire - cowboys sing and read poetry ... you can start the tradition of reading aloud stories.