The Washo have not engaged in real hostilities with the Miwok or Maidu for
well over a century and Paiute hostilities appear to have taken the form
of occasional defensive skirmishes; thus the details of war magic are
vague. However, Washo tradition repeatedly mentions a month-long period
during which doctors gathered and made medicine against the enemy before
launching a campaign. Usually this took place at Woodfords, which was the
site of a large earth lodge dance house copied after Miwok structures and
described as “where the young mens learned them Miwok dances.” (A second
dance house is known to have existed in Sierra Valley; attributed to the
Maidu, it fell into disuse after the death of its owner.)