This paper will devote itself to a description of the religious life of
the Washo Indians living in the communities of Sierraville, Loyalton, and
Woodfords, in California, and Reno, Carson City, and Dresslerville,
Nevada. Smaller numbers are scattered throughout the area which was their
aboriginal range, roughly from the southern end of Honey Lake to Antelope
Valley and from the divide of the Pinenut Range in Nevada, almost to
Placerville, California.
A short ethnography by Barrett dealing in large part with material
culture, Lowie’s Ethnographic Notes, and Stewart’s Element Lists
constitute almost the only general references on Washo culture. Various
other writers have dealt with specialized questions such as linguistics
(Kroeber, Jacobson), peyotism (Siskin, d’Azevedo), and music (Merriam).
Most of the statements about the Washo give the impression that they have
long been on the edge of oblivion (Mooney, Kroeber, etc.), and population
estimates have been well under one thousand for the past fifty years.
However, I find myself in agreement with d’Azevedo(1) that the Washo are a
vigorous and continuing cultural entity. My own rather impressionistic
estimate of population is that there are perhaps two thousand Indians in
the area who consider themselves as Washo and form a part of a viable
cultural unit.
My own field work was devoted to an attempt to trace the patterns of
change among these people since the entrance of the white man into their
area. To this end I spent a great deal of time with older informants, but
my work was not exclusively “salvage ethnography.” Many aspects of Washo
culture have changed dramatically in the past century; this is
particularly true in the area of material culture and subsistence
activities. On the other hand, I was impressed by the tenacity of the less
material aspects of the culture. The always-difficult-to-define world view
or ethos of the Washo, which so clearly separates them from other
cultures, is very much an entity expressed in the attitudes and actions of
the Washo Indians, whether they are oldsters who can remember many aspects
of the “old days” or children who have not yet entered the newly
integrated schools of Nevada. This continuity seems most clearly expressed
in the area which we subsume under the title “Religion.” Almost all Washo,
even the youngsters, are familiar with, or at least aware of, Washo
mythology, attitudes about ghosts, spirits, medicine, and a number of
ritual actions and beliefs which are common elements in Washo life today.
This is not to imply that Washo religious activity has not been affected
by the tremendous changes which have taken place in western Nevada and
eastern California. I suggest that rather than disappearing under the
withering rationalism of civilization the religion of the Washo has simply
altered and expanded to serve the Washo in new situations.
In this work I take the broadest possible definition of religion,
conceiving it as any institutionalized activity or attitude which reflects
the Washo view of the cosmos. In so doing I have included a number of
categories which may not generally be considered suitable for inclusion
under the heading of religion. Stewart, for instance, includes shamanism,
curing, special powers of shamans, miscellaneous shamanistic information,
guardian spirits, destiny of the soul, ghosts or soul, and jimsonweed. My
own work includes some of these specifically, incorporates some under
other headings, and treats a number of subjects not included in the list
given above.
The reason for this approach is practical rather than theoretical or
philosophical. As anthropological definitions of religions are extremely
varied and the activities described as religious under various definitions
cover a greater or narrower range, it seems valuable to include as many
activities as possible in a purely descriptive work.
The goal of this paper is to make as much information as possible about
the religious and ritual activities of the Washo available to scholars who
may be interested in religion. The inclusion of as many fields of activity
as possible permits them to select information which they feel pertinent
to their interests.
Wherever possible I have tried to include direct quotations from
informants as well as information about their behavior and attitudes, so
that my own interpretations and conclusions can be examined by others in
light of the information on which they are based.
Statements made by informants are indicated by quotation marks. I did not
have a recording device available and did not attempt to record entire
interviews verbatim. However, whenever informants indicated that they
considered their statements important I took them down word for word. If I
felt some passing remark to have significance, I asked the informant to
repeat it and often read it back to him for verification. Other stories,
particularly those of a mythological nature, or semilegends, or
experiences which were important to individual informants, were repeated
voluntarily on almost every occasion of our meeting. Whenever statements
are presented in quotation marks the material was gathered in this manner.
This paper contains material from a number of sources. Statements of fact
or interpretations taken from published anthropological or historic works
are indicated by citations in the customary manner. Information based on
conversations or other private communications with other investigators is
so designated. All statements of fact which are not credited to these two
sources are taken from my own field notes and represent statements of my
informants.