Description
The Bay Miwok are a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native American people in Northern California who live in Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan mission system during the early nineteenth century, suffered a devastating population decline, and lost their language as they intermarried with other native California ethnic groups and learned the Spanish language. Men and women often wore tattoos on their bodies that told of their families or lineage. Some tattoos were decorative, some were the symbol of the image of the spirit meaning of an animal, bird or human being. Women and men wore their hair long, letting it grow throughout their life, although when someone in their tribe died, they would cut their hair as a sign of respect and mourning.
Language
The Miwok or Miwokan languages, also known as Moquelumnan or Miwuk, are a group of endangered languages spoken in central California by the Miwok peoples, ranging from the Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada. They spoke Bay Miwok also known as Saclan.
Culture
The Bay Miwok lived by hunting and gathering, and lived in small bands without centralized political authority. They were skilled at basketry. They also hunted deer, seals, sea lions, and sea otter. Several kinds of fish and shellfish were available year-round, and salmon and other highly prized fish were seasonally plentiful. The original Bay Miwok people's world view was a form of Shamanism. As they were centrally located along an arc of Miwok-speaking groups across Central California, the Bay Miwok probably shared the Kuksu religion ceremonial motifs common to both the Coast Miwok to the west and Plains Miwok to the east. The Kuksu religion included a cycle of elaborate dancing ceremonies, each with its own group of actors and distinctive feather-