California Kashaya Pomo By: Tyler Boling, Axel Jagoe, Tyler Smiley, and Ibraheem Murtaza

Environment - Geography The Kashaya Pomo lived on the coast of California Their land extended 30 miles from the Gualala River and a few miles south of the Russian River Their lands also included many wooded lands, plains, and rivers

Environment - Climate The Kashaya Pomo lived in an area that was mostly oceanic and has continental climates. The area in which they lived in was usually warm and received lots of rain.

Environment - Resources The Kashaya Pomo had a large amount of resources in their area. They had a lot of food and building materials around them. Since they lived in wooded and coastal areas they used wood to make lots of tools and shelters. The Pomo used the ocean and rivers for food and transportation.

Shelter The area that the Kashaya Pomo live in has a lot of redwood trees that can be used for housing. Therefore, the Kashaya Pomo built cone shaped houses out of redwood poles and slabs of redwood bark. These houses were usually single-family homes that ranged from 8 to 15 foot in diameter.

Food The Kashaya Pomo lived near 2 different types of landscape allowing them to have 3 different food supplies. The Pomo ate fish, shellfish, seaweed, seals, and sea lions from the Pacific Ocean nearby. The Pomo also hunted deer, elk, and other small animals from the redwood forest to eat. Lastly, The Kashaya Pomo gathered acorns, nuts, berries, and seeds from the nearby areas.

Clothing They used tule and bark from trees like redwood in their area for clothing The women wore long skirts and capes The men wore nothing, sometimes an apron The wealthy wore deerskin skirts They all wore ornaments of shells, woods, bird bones, and feathers

Social Organization The family and extended kin (close social group) was most important to the tribe and people, and the people closely interacted with their kins on a regular basis. Women were considered equal to men Adults of childbearing age were responsible for providing food for the group The elderly, seniors, uncles, aunts, and the parents were typically responsible for raising the children.

Political Organization The largest political unit was entire tribe or villages The Pomo had many chiefs (hereditary and elected) Villages often a head chief among many chiefs The political organization had many responsibilities like counseling, negotiating, distributing, etc.

Religion The Pomo believed that one “creator” made the world. The tribe equated the creator with the coyote. They believed that there was a time in the distant past when all animals could speak and had other human features and then changed to their present form with the help from spirits. When someone died the mourners would bring gifts such as beads and robes and burn them with the dead. They would also burn all personal belongings with the body. This being because they believed in the afterworld.

Trade The Pomo would use clamshell beads as currency. They were able to understand and use numbers up to the thousands. Commonly traded items were; food, bows and arrows, arrowheads, obsidian blades, belts, robes, feathers, and skins.

Customs A great ceremony that consisted of several days of dancing was called the “haikil”. Both men and women wore colorful dance costumes that were usually made by the men. The Pomo sang love songs, lullabies, hunting songs, gamboling songs, and religious songs. The Kashaya Pomo also made music with flutes, whistles, clapper sticks, rattles, and drums made out of hollow logs.