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Woodbridge LIFE
Page 29 • February 2014
Manteca Murals: Yokut Indians Story and photos by Volker Moerbitz
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elcome back to our Manteca Mural Tour. Today we will travel far back in time and visit the first people who called the Central Valley their home. In this mural, a family gathers around a fire. They belong to a small nation that came into the Central Valley 8,000 years ago 2,500 years before the pyramids were built. They called themselves Yokut, which in their language means “The People.” The mural is located at Library Park at the southwest corner of Center Street and Poplar Avenue. It was created by Manteca mural artist Terry Pasquini in 2012. The Yokut hunted small animals and gathered acorns. The mural is framed by two oak trees and wherever there were oaks growing in the valley, there was a Yokut family. The acorns were ground in small mortar holes in the bedrock. We still find these grinding holes all over the valley, even in downtown Manteca, right on Yosemite Avenue. Closest to the fire sits a mother with two children. At her feet is a woven basket. The Yokut were master weavers and their baskets were both pieces of art and essential household items. They were woven so tightly that they could actually hold water. How do you cook your meal in a world that does not provide material for pottery? You mix your ground acorns with water, take a red-hot stone from the fire pit and put it in the basket until your mixture boils. I’ve tried it. It tastes like oatmeal and it nourished the Yokut people for thousands of years. Now, have a look at the fire: It is a living thing. The Yokut world was a world of spirits. The fire spirits perform a dance and the smoke unites the family with their ancestors who now live in the animals sacred to the people. Look at the rattlesnake, the hawk, the deer or the bear – each one has a
human face, connecting the people with those who have moved on into the spirit world. Right on top of the fire, the smoke turns into a wolf. The Yokut descend from older people who called themselves Yowlumne" which means "People from the Land of Howlers” or, simply, the "Wolf People." The face within the wolf could very well be that of Chief Estanislao. In 1827, when most of the Yokut were already rounded up and sent to the missions, Estanislao, a baptized Yokut chief from the San José Mission gathered 4,000 followers and put up one last fight for the land of his ancestors. In 1829, this last stand took place at what is now Caswell State Park. Estanislao died in 1838, together with almost all of his people, falling prey to malaria and small pox. His name lives on. In 1854, newly formed Stanislaus county was named after the great chief and the Laquisimas River, scene of his last battle, was renamed Stanislaus River. Today, there are only about 600 Yokut people still living in California. You can meet some of them, listen to their songs and watch their dances every year on 4th of July weekend at the Powwow at Three Rivers Indian Lodge, less than five minutes north of Woodbridge. Yokut legacy still lives with us in more ways than we imagine. In the background of the mural looms the holy mountain of the Yokut, Mount
WBL photo's by Volker Moerbitz. This mural shown at top with detailed inserts is located at Library Park at the southwest corner of Center Street and Poplar Avenue. It was created by Manteca mural artist Terry Pasquini in 2012. According to Wikipedia, the Yokuts are native to central California. Prior to European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 separate tribes speaking the same language. Some of their descendants refer to themselves by their respective tribal names and reject the name Yokuts with the claim that it is an exonym invented by English speaking settlers and historians. Yokuts tribes populated the San Joaquin Valley from the delta to Bakersfield and also the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Population estimates vary, but research suggests the Yokut had numbered about 70,000 before Europeans brought malaria and small pox to the land.
Diablo. Have you ever wondered why so many places in Central California have devilish names like Diablo Canyon or Devils Postpile? It is a simple error in translation. To the Spanish missionaries, the spirit world of the Yokut was a foreign concept. For lack of better words, they translated Sky Spirits with “angels” (ángeles in Spanish) and
Earth Spirits with “devil” (diablo). And so, the “Valley of the Sky Spirits” (Los Angeles) and the “Mountain of the Earth Spirits" (Mount Diablo) still pay tribute to the people who once roamed these lands for 250 generations. Next month we will visit another mural at the same location and learn about the first pioneers. ✸