Chapter XXVI

ADULTHOOD RITES

A girl’s attainment of puberty or womanhood was an event of obvious importance and it was recognized as such by all tribes of the Lassen region with extensive formal ritual and ceremony for each individual girl. Only the more important and generally employed taboos and rites are noted below. There was considerable variation in details of such matters even among the four tribes with which we are dealing.

The girl was secluded in a separate hut for from three to six days and sometimes during the nights too. The taboos she observed during this time were much like those imposed on a mother giving birth, but were even more extensive. The young lady must eat from her own special baskets, not cross streams, avoid contacting men—especially hunters, refrain from gazing at the sun or moon, et cetera. Among things she must do were to wear a basketry cap, or special head bands among some tribes, and have her hair put up in two knobs wrapped over her shoulders. This had to be done for her as she was not allowed to touch her own hair. Carrying the deer-hoof rattle she must run races with other girls, and dance much also, scratch her head only with a special scratcher, have her earlobes pierced if this had not already been done, and frequently her nose septum was punctured too, being kept open by insertion of a round stick. Among Wintun tribes of the Sacramento Valley some taboos lasted for from one to three years!

For several nights public dances were held which lasted all night. Since there was no special ritual for anyone but the girl for whom the dances were held, these ceremonies were of a joyous nature and were popular and well attended. In the middle of the night food provided by the girl’s family was served to all present. Singing with deer-hoof rattle accompaniment was carried on all night. Intimate affairs between couples were not unusual during such dances. During the daytime as well dances were held, but these were of short duration and participated in chiefly by the women of the village. At the end of the ordeal the girl bathed and was given new clothes, ending her taboos.

There was no formal ceremony when boys attained manhood except that the youths were generally sent alone into the neighboring mountains for several days to seek special “powers” to give them skill and luck in certain pursuits such as deer hunting, archery, fighting, shamanism, and the like.

During menstruation all women had to observe many taboos too. These included eating alone and living in seclusion. They could eat no meat or fish, fat, or salt, and must not cook. They must avoid sick persons and hunters, and could not scratch themselves except with the scratching stick. At the end of the taboo periods of four or five days, they usually bathed in streams for purification.

Curiously, wives’ menstruations had to be observed by their husbands in a number of ways. Most common was prohibition of smoking, and they must eat lightly. Among mountain Maidu the husband could hunt and fish, but could not eat any flesh; among Atsugewi the reverse was true.