Post by hopeful on Jan 7, 2008 20:46:02 GMT -5
www.bigfootproject.org/articles/mayak_datat.html
An Excerpt from Mayak datat:
An Archaeological Viewpoint of the Hairy Man Pictographs by Kathy Moskowitz Strain
Gayton (1976:89) was one of the main ethnographers of the [Native American] Yokuts. She studied their traditional stories and came to the following conclusion:
The prehuman era was that of a world created and occupied by birds and animals of superanimal and superhuman powers. To Eagle, with his bird and animal assistants and companions, was attributed the building of the world, the institution of certain cultural, social, and physical features of man and his way of life. This prehistoric period, described in a fairly full but not elaborately detailed stock of stories, came to an end with the creation of mankind by Eagle and the subsequent transformation of these bird-and-animal people into their present known forms. All this happened beyond the memory of man, but the past continued into the present in the immediate ubiquity of the animals themselves. Beliefs about them were being constantly reinforced by daily happenings in the circumjacent wilds.
Simplified, this means that when the Yokuts observed animal behavior in the wild, they incorporated those observations into their traditional stories. The more they observed, the most elaborate the stories and details. Following are several examples of traditional stories, collected by the author (Kathy Moskowitz Strain) unless otherwise noted, and the observed animal behavior represented in the story.
[...]
Yavali is a horrible, smelly, hair-covered giant associated with the Miwok tribe of Central California. The Miwok tribe is very closely related to the Yokuts, both in culture and location. Most of the stories involving Yayali are very long and detailed, but one brief story (Merriam 1910) is as follows:
Yayali, The Giant
"Where are you, grandchild? Where are you, grandchild? Where are you? Where are you? Yes. Yes. I am lost. Where are you? This way. Where are you, grandchild? Someone comes. Look out. Get ready. Prepare yourself, for Yayali comes."
The people broke cones from the tops of the pine trees and bundled these together. As Yayali started to climb the declivity where the people had taken refuge, they set fire to the bundles of pine cones and threw them into Yayali's burden basket. They threw the burning cones into the basket. Yayali became so hot that he tumbled. "Which way shall I fall?" he asked. They told him to fall to the north. [The Giant met his death near Columbia, Tuolumne County. The informant has seen white rocks near Columbia, reputed to be the bleached bones of the Giant.]
This story is more sinister than the Yokuts Hairy Man ones. However, like nearly all the stories within the Penutian language stock, it is about a very large creature that eats animals or if necessary, people; and is obviously something to be feared. The Miwok story is most similar to the Hairy Man stories by associating a physical place with where a Yayali or Bigfoot died.
An Excerpt from Mayak datat:
An Archaeological Viewpoint of the Hairy Man Pictographs by Kathy Moskowitz Strain
Gayton (1976:89) was one of the main ethnographers of the [Native American] Yokuts. She studied their traditional stories and came to the following conclusion:
The prehuman era was that of a world created and occupied by birds and animals of superanimal and superhuman powers. To Eagle, with his bird and animal assistants and companions, was attributed the building of the world, the institution of certain cultural, social, and physical features of man and his way of life. This prehistoric period, described in a fairly full but not elaborately detailed stock of stories, came to an end with the creation of mankind by Eagle and the subsequent transformation of these bird-and-animal people into their present known forms. All this happened beyond the memory of man, but the past continued into the present in the immediate ubiquity of the animals themselves. Beliefs about them were being constantly reinforced by daily happenings in the circumjacent wilds.
Simplified, this means that when the Yokuts observed animal behavior in the wild, they incorporated those observations into their traditional stories. The more they observed, the most elaborate the stories and details. Following are several examples of traditional stories, collected by the author (Kathy Moskowitz Strain) unless otherwise noted, and the observed animal behavior represented in the story.
[...]
Yavali is a horrible, smelly, hair-covered giant associated with the Miwok tribe of Central California. The Miwok tribe is very closely related to the Yokuts, both in culture and location. Most of the stories involving Yayali are very long and detailed, but one brief story (Merriam 1910) is as follows:
Yayali, The Giant
"Where are you, grandchild? Where are you, grandchild? Where are you? Where are you? Yes. Yes. I am lost. Where are you? This way. Where are you, grandchild? Someone comes. Look out. Get ready. Prepare yourself, for Yayali comes."
The people broke cones from the tops of the pine trees and bundled these together. As Yayali started to climb the declivity where the people had taken refuge, they set fire to the bundles of pine cones and threw them into Yayali's burden basket. They threw the burning cones into the basket. Yayali became so hot that he tumbled. "Which way shall I fall?" he asked. They told him to fall to the north. [The Giant met his death near Columbia, Tuolumne County. The informant has seen white rocks near Columbia, reputed to be the bleached bones of the Giant.]
This story is more sinister than the Yokuts Hairy Man ones. However, like nearly all the stories within the Penutian language stock, it is about a very large creature that eats animals or if necessary, people; and is obviously something to be feared. The Miwok story is most similar to the Hairy Man stories by associating a physical place with where a Yayali or Bigfoot died.