What We Do
The purpose of our organization is to connect and unite descendants of Monterey area’s indigenous Rumsen people with each other, facilitate communication, encourage and offer cultural learning that includes Rumsen language, history, songs, traditional stories, basketry, plant uses, boat building, and various ancient technologies practiced by our ancestors. We’ll be sharing some of our ongoing activities in the “Happenings” section, so check in from time to time for new additions, upcoming events, and learning opportunities.
Linda Yamane with Rumsen dictionary she has assembled and shared with Rumsen community members.
A few members of the Rumsen Ohlone Tribal Community have been studying and learning Rumsen language for many years and sharing it with other community members.
The last fluent Rumsen speaker, Isabel Meadows, died in 1939, taking with her a direct human link. But she left behind a great body of language information through her work with linguist John P. Harrington.
These unpublished field notes, along with other linguistic materials and vocabularies have made it possible for modern Rumsen people to have access to and reconstruct our ancestral language today.
Rumsen Language Learning
Rumsen Ohlone cousins Linda smith, Linda Yamane, and Violet Smith harvesting Tule (Schoenoplectus californicus), Seaside, CA.
Our Rumsen ancestors lived close to nature and nature provided for all that they needed for a stable, comfortable and culturally rich life.
Of course, living with nature also requires human ingenuity and experience. Traditional ecological knowledge derived over thousands of years on the land resulted in remarkable technologies and sustainable practices. We have been reviving many of these ways, and since our cultural traditions are nature-based, access to natural materials is critical for keeping these traditions alive into the future. We are grateful to various partners who facilitate our cultural adventures on the land.
Over time, we’ll be sharing information on some of these practices and technologies in the “Happenings” section, such as making String From Sticks, Manzanita Berry Cider, Native Plant Teas, Native Plant Foods, Traditional Regalia, Tule Boats, and more.
Cultural Projects
Basket by Rumsen Ohlone basketweaver Linda Yamane, created for the San Francisco Presidio Officers’ Club, 2014. It is interwoven with red feathers and circular Olivella shell beads, and further ornamented with dangling Abalone pendants. It is on permanent display in the Presidio Officers’ Club museum, Mesa Room, first floor.
Ohlone baskets are very rare, having been reduced to near-extinction by the Spanish missions and other cultural impacts that followed. In order to survive both physically and socially, Ohlone people often had to hide their Indian identities, doing their best to blend into Mexican or other ethnic communities. Many cultural traditions had to be abandoned or were impossible to maintain, and by the mid-twentieth century were all but lost.
Our last basket weavers died nearly 150 years ago, and the old baskets have also essentially vanished as well, with only a couple dozen remaining worldwide.
With this reality as a backdrop, our first Ohlone basket weaver in more than a century had to research museum collections and obscure ethnographic records, find the necessary native plants, then spend years learning and refining her skills before becoming a master basket weaver herself. She now teaches these skills within the Ohlone community in an effort to prevent this vital cultural art from ever disappearing from the world again.