POMO RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL BELIEFS

RELIGION WAS AN IMPORTANT PART OF EACH VILLAGE. THEY MADE SENSE OF THEIR WORLD THROUGH RELIGION. THE CHILDREN LEARNED ABOUT THEIR CREATOR THROUGH THE WISDOM OF THEIR ELDERS. THE ELDERS TOLD ABOUT HIS YOUNGER BROTHER - COYOTE - WHO FIGURED PROMINENTLY IN THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE CALIFORNIAN INDIANS. HE WAS THOUGHT TO BE THE CREATOR OF THE FIRST PEOPLE. ONE OF HIS STORIES WAS THAT HE SET FIRE TO THE ENTIRE WORLD. A SPIDER CAME OUT OF THE SKIES AND RESCUED COYOTE AND HIS FAMILY. COYOTE BECAME THIRSTY AND DRANK THE WATER. A POMO HOLY MAN JUMPED ON COYOTE'S STOMACH. WATER POURED OUT OF COYOTE AND COVERED EVERYTHING AS WELL AND PUT OUT THE FIRE.

YOUNG PEOPLE WERE TAUGHT SONGS, DANCES, AND RELIGIOUS STORIES. THERE WERE MANY DIFFERENT CEREMONIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AND ADULTS. AND THERE WERE MANY TYPES OF CEREMONIES THAT MARKED DIFFERENT SEASONS AND THE COLLECTION OF CERTAIN PLANTS AND FISHING. SOME CEREMONIES WERE HELD TO BRING THE POMO POWER, HEALTH AND GOOD FORTUNE.

SOME CEREMONIES WERE HELD FOR HEALING WITH BEAR DOCTORS. THE PREHISTORIC POMO HAD CERTAIN SACRED ROCKS THAT WERE IMPORTANT TO THEIR RELIGION. IN ADDITION THEY MADE SYMBOLS OF FISH, RAIN, CONCENTRIC CIRCLES AND OTHER SYMBOLS ON STEATITE SCHIST WHICH WERE KNOWN AS ROCK ART SITES. POMO RELIGIOUS LEADERS WORKED AS DOCTORS GIVING SICK PEOPLE HERBS, SANG SONGS, AND DANCED. PEOPLE PAID THEM IN GOODS OR IN BEAD MONEY. RELIGIOUS LEADERS INHERITED THEIR POSITIONS FROM THEIR PARENTS AND THEY HAD A SPECIAL VISION THAT TOLD THEM TO BECOME LEADERS. SOME DOCTORS OR SHAMANS WERE FEARED BECAUSE THEY WERE SAID TO HURT PEOPLE WITH POISONS.

THE POMO SOCIAL STRUCTURE WAS USED IN ORDER TO DIVIDE THE PEOPLE OF A VILLAGE INTO GROUPS AND ASSIGN THEM SPECIAL JOBS. THEIR GROUPS WERE ASSIGNED BASED UPON WHETHER THEY WERE MEN OR WOMEN, THEIR AGE, THEIR WEALTH, AND WHAT THEY HAD ACCOMPLISHED. THE AVERAGE FAMILY HAD ABOUT 14 PEOPLE. SEVERAL EXTENDED FAMILIES WERE WITHIN A SINGLE GROUP THAT WAS HEADED BY THE OLDEST MEMBERS. SOME OF THE JOBS THAT THE PEOPLE HAD IN THE VILLAGE WERE LEADERS, DOCTORS, BEAD MAKERS, OBSIDIAN TOOL MAKERS, HUNTERS, BASKET MAKERS, BOW AND ARROW MAKERS, AND GATHERERS, AS WELL AS TRADERS OF ALL KINDS.

THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE WERE THE CHIEFS AND POLITICAL LEADERS - WHO WERE CHIEFS. THESE FOLKS WERE MEN BEFORE THE 1870'S. AFTER THAT MOST WOMEN BECAME THE LEADERS AND SHAMANS OF THEIR VILLAGE.