The Cahuilla live south of Riverside. They once lived in rectangular houses thatched with palm. There are 3 groups, the Pass, Desert and Mountain Cahuilla. They harvested acorns and agave, which they roasted in pits. They dug wells as deep as 30 feet, and irrigated natural crops like chia (a type of sage with very high protein seeds), as well as clearing land by fire to kill weeds and foster the growth of useful plants, a practice which was also followed by the Chumash. Of their ceremonies, such as the first fruit ceremony, the rituals of puberty and rain rituals, the Birdsong ritual which commemorates the arrival of the Cahuilla, who migrated, like birds, into the area. The Serrano also have the Birdsong ritual. Singing is also a part of playing the game Peon, which has to do with hiding white bones, while the opposing side guesses where they are hid, thus showing their mastery of divination. (Romero: 1992)

The Cahuilla traded with the Yuma for gourd rattles, and with the Chemehuevi for basketry caps and conical burden baskets. From "the East" they got gourd rattles and red paint.(Davis: 1966)

The Agua Caliente Museum of Palm Springs has exhibits and information about the Cahuilla, and hosts an American Indian Heritage Festival on April 11 of this year.

At the time of first European contact, the Cupeno were a group of about 750 people living around the Lake Henshaw area along the Agua Caliente Creek and the San Ysidro Creek in Southern California. They are thought to have been the descendants of several different groups that migrated from the south during a period around 1000 to 1200 A.D. By 1973 there were about 150 Cupeno. (Heizer: 1978)

The Cupeno have the story of the death of the creator, Mukat, and how Coyote stole his heart from the funeral pyre. This story is also found among the Colorado River Yuman.

The Luiseno lived in the region of Mount Palomar. Their houses are described as being conical, made of poles leaned together, thatched with cedar bark in the mountains, twigs in the valleys, and tule in the coastal region, the whole then being covered with earth. They gathered acorns, yucca and chia. They grew corn, beans, tobacco and melons, and hunted deer and snared or hunted rabbits. They had leaders called nota in Harvey's "The Luiseno" who had arrangements with nota of other groups to perform their rites, while they would do so for his. The office was hereditary. When the nota's son was invested with office, he obtained a muswat, or sacred bundle wrapped with reed. Another official was the puhmutevi, who kept order at ceremonies, and presided over the girls initiation and mourning ceremonies. There was also a tako, or eater, and a morahash dancer who did a whirling dance. (Henry: 1974)

The Luiseno practiced the Chinigchinich ritual, in which tolache, a decoction of the halucinogenic (and very poisonous) datura plant, is drunk and the participants dance to encourage visions. They created sand paintings for their puberty ceremonies, diagrams of the sacred universe.

Another site with information about the Cahuilla is

the Imperial Valley Center homepage at

http://www.imperial.cc.ca.us/ivc-dm/

This site has a picture of Birdsong dancers

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