Mentioned almost as frequently as doctors are dreamers, whom the Washo
view as distinct from shamans. The so-called antelope shaman and rabbit
boss fall into this category rather than that of doctor.
Dreamers were gifted with a power to foretell special classes of events in
dreams. All Washo believe dreams are likely to foretell the future, and
they are alert to find meanings in any dreams they have. Certain persons,
those thought of as “dreamers,” are reported to have special gifts of this
nature.
There are apparently no dreamers among the Washo today, in the sense that
the term was used in times past. That is, no one is especially singled out
as having infallible dreams foretelling certain classes of events. It may
be that the breakdown of the band structure, which was related to economic
exploitative activity, in effect, forced everyone to dream for himself. In
the past, dreamers were particularly important in setting the time and
place for activities which were carried out by large groups, such as
hunting, fishing, pine-nut gathering, and war. With the disappearance of
the last seminomadic bands in the middle 1920’s, as well as with the
reduced importance of hunting and fishing as group activities, persons
having dreams which directed group actions were no longer useful. Today,
dreams appear to occur to a number of individuals, and those felt to be of
social significance usually deal with catastrophe or other foreboding
subjects. The following stories were told to me by the widow under the
shadow of witchcraft. When I asked her if she thought any of her friends
would tell me their dreams, she replied: “No I don’t think no Washo would
tell you their dreams. But I’m not superstitious about them things and
I’ll tell you these two dreams I had.”
“One summer I was up at the Lake [Tahoe] with my husband and I had
a dream that the gambling house at Dresslerville [a structure
known officially as the community center] was on fire. There was
kids inside and they was screaming but there wasn’t no water. I
saw the men all around with buckets but they couldn’t do nothing
because there wasn’t no water. I told my husband about the dream
the next morning and he said I should take a bath and pray. That’s
what we do to keep a bad dream from happening.”
The following winter the community center did in fact burn down. A young
Indian in a rage after having an argument with his father hurled a bottle
of kerosene against a wood stove. The resulting fire could not be
extinguished because the Dresslerville pump was not working. Whether the
dream was really a prophecy after the fact I do not know. It is
significant in any case that the prophecy appeared in the form of a dream.
My informant’s second dream foretold the violent death of a young Indian
woman. The prophecy came true two years later.
Her statement that other Washo would be reluctant to discuss their dreams
was all too true, confirming the importance that dreams play in their
daily lives. A number of tangential remarks suggest that the belief that
dreams confer advance knowledge of the future and that they confer power
is still common among the Washo. One informant said, in talking about
“old-time dreamers”: “Today a lot of people will say they had a dream
about something, and act real big. I just tell them they are crazy. They
aren’t real dreamers. They couldn’t have a dream about their girl friend.”
Until very recent times a dream was justification for almost any group
activity. The most common motivation for such events as a pine-nut dance,
a war party, or a rabbit or antelope drive was usually that “So-and-So had
a dream.” An announcement would be made and others would gather for the
event.
These dreams are clearly different from the visitations of spirits to
prospective shamans, which occurred repeatedly and were kept secret.
Dreamers, on the other hand, publicly reported individual dreams. Being a
dreamer appears to have been one of the important factors in attaining
positions of leadership, informal as such positions were among the Washo.
The almost legendary Captain Jim,(6) who was acknowledged as a leader by
all the Washo in the late nineteenth century, is considered to have been a
dreamer by many of the Washo. Those informants who remember the big times
at Double Springs Flat, in which a large number of the Washo of the day
participated prior to the pine-nut harvest, usually begin their accounts
with the statement that Jim would have a dream and announce the date of
the meeting. Various parts of the ceremony were also validated by dreams.
It is equally clear that although Jim was an honored leader and had
dreaming power he was not considered a doctor.
Negative testimony also indicates the importance of dreaming in Washo
life. It is to the advantage of certain individuals to deny the
“chieftainship” of Captain Jim; they vehemently deny that he was a dreamer
but insist that he was simply a good man who was trusted by the Washo.
“That Jim was just a good old guy that everybody obeyed because they liked
him and the whole group selected him. He wasn’t no more of a dreamer than
I am,” is the way one claimant for the Washo chieftainship put it.
However, his own claim was based on his relationship to a man who was a
rabbit boss and who dreamed when it was time to hunt rabbits.
Clearly the Washo believed and still believe that dreams make one privy to
the future and provide important insights on which one can base decisions.
The specific uses to which dreams can be put change with the situation.
Antelope dreaming is no longer important because there are no antelope.
Rabbit dreamers no longer exist because the rabbit drive has lost much of
its importance in Washo life. Conversely, dreams dealing with modern
problems appear to be taken seriously.
One informant often dreams of snakes and evidences a great fear of them.
The Washo view this behavior as a rational response to a real warning and
consider the man’s caution as good judgment in the face of repeated
warnings.