IN OUR LANGUAGES – sʰamala Chumash
IN OUR LANGUAGES – sʰamala Chumash
By Maria Solares
Submitted by Nakia Zavalla
ma mištoyo moq swil i kwekʼi samkuti sukʼ i yɨxsɨʼn a noswil. kwekʼi swil i sʰaqicwil, na swil a ʼiʼlepeš, swey, šuwax,
pa yilaʼ a noswil a yɨxsɨʼn. ma speypeʼy kwekʼi swil a mištoyo, pa yilaʼ cyɨwyɨʼw a speʼy. ma speʼy a yɨxsɨʼn i kwekʼi šteqpʼey na mištoyo ma speypeʼy awil a mištoyo, ma speypeʼy a yɨxsɨʼn. moqʼe smay a mištoyohiwaš.
ʼinisamicʰumuʼ. keʼ pnetus, ma pšipukʼ ka pahikʼen, kaʼčha wa picʰumuʼ, nopušpil.
Maria Solares, May 10, 1919
Santa Ynez Band of sʰamala Chumash Indians
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When the Rainbow is there they see what kind of harvest it will be. It’s a sign there, and there will be chia, tarweed and šuwax, there will be just about everything in the harvest.
The flowers are there in the rainbow, all kinds of flowers. The flowers of the harvest are stuck to it and the rainbow is made of flowers, the flowers of the harvest. The rainbow then disappears.
They don’t point to the rainbow. You do like so, you use your elbow, because if you point at it, you would wither.
Maria Solares (Samala Chumash) lived from 1842 to 1923. She is a beloved ancestor of the Santa Ynez tribal community and her legacy includes well over a hundred narratives in their Samala language. They range from tales of mythic times when the animals were still people, to historic events such as the Mission Revolt of 1824, to descriptions of Chumash folkways such as childbirth practices.
