Ramos’ nine year old son, Hunter, played clapstick alongside the singers during the recent ceremony. “Our medicine man always talked about it all the time, that it would come back one day,” he said. Growing up in the tribe, Daniel Ramos said he, too, always heard stories about the lake. KVPR Members of different Yokut tribes share offerings at the ceremony. “We can make a boat, we can make a tule skirt and headbands, bracelets.” “We can make a whole bunch of things with these,” Garcia says, showing off the bright green reeds. The reeds grew abundantly around the lake and gave Tulare Lake its name. Some scattered seeds of native river sage.ĭiamond Garcia waded knee-deep to plant tule. Now that it has, tribe members and other guests walked up to the water’s edge with offerings for the lake, meant as a gift to bless its water. The belief among Yokuts was that when the lake ever came back, it could cleanse the land. The song gives thanks for “bringing our water back.” He sings acapella in his native language while playing clapstick – a traditional wooden split-stick rattle. He says with the lake gone for so long, Yokuts felt a deep need to honor its return.īarrios even wrote a new water song for the ceremony. He teaches the tribe’s youth about the native language and culture. They're coming back to it,” he said.īarrios is the tribe’s cultural liaison. Tribe members like Kenny Barrios believe the lake’s return has invited the spirits of ancestors back to the lake. “What you see behind us now is, Pa’ashi has reawakened.” “We all know that creator came and blessed us again with the water,” Jeff tells the crowd. Those attending the ceremony brought native plants and seeds to spur new growth in the water. KVPR Tachi Yokut Vice Chairman Robert Jeff (left) listens to an opening prayer by Greg Ignacio (second left). Other Yokuts came from farther away, like the Western Mono Indians from Fresno County. Some of those gathered for a ceremony came from about five miles away – from the Tachi’s home at the Santa Rosa Rancheria outside Lemoore. “It’s up to each and every one of us to listen to what's being said.” “This lake is talking to us right now,” Jeff tells a crowd of about two dozen gathered near the water. After this year’s heavy rain and snow that sent water into the San Joaquin Valley, it has replenished the lake and, with it, long-lost sacred connections.Īs they stood looking out to the large body of water earlier this spring, Yokuts and Pa’ashi were united again as they had for thousands of years. They relied on the water as a main source for food and built shelters nearby, and traded with other Yokut tribes up and down the rivers that ran into the lake.īut that body of water dried up when it was diverted to make way for farming in the early 1900’s. The Tachis were the largest of the tribes, and lived closest to the lake. Pa’ashi was an anchor of tribal life and spiritual beliefs. The lake was known to them as “Pa’ashi” – which means "big water." Jeff is vice chairman of the Tachi Yokut Tribe – one of about 50 bands of the Yokuts people that once built their lives around Tulare Lake. He was standing on the edge of a flooded farm near Stratford, a town at the northern end of the newly-returned Tulare Lake. But on a recent hot and windy afternoon, he looked out across soft ripples of water that seemed to go on forever. 93624 Free Delivery (within Service Area) (559) 884-2562 Ag Source Advertiser Since 1998 559 685-96 agmag.KINGS COUNTY, Calif – Robert Jeff had only heard of Tulare Lake in stories. Shaker Slings CUSTOM C S O MADE WHILE YOU WAIT! Reaching California’s Diverse Ag Markets Since 1996 21436 S.55, Selma #27854 55 MAGAZINE HYDRAULIC HOSES in Five Points CA Farm With Us! 2 & 4 Wire Hose up to 2" Also available: Conveyor Belts 9-11 UPSIZE YOUR PHOTO AD Call and ask us how! low hours, field ready. Please Call 53, Lincoln #29504 Stocking:, Aquaculture Consulting:. 90 Tractor Ag Source Magazine 55 January 2021 Tractor Tractor 3000 hours, runs great, field ready.
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