Description
The Modoc are an Indigenous American people who historically lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. Currently, they include two federally recognized tribes, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, now known as the Modoc Nation. About 600 Modoc live in Klamath County, Oregon, in and around their ancestral homelands. The modern Modoc are descendants of the Modoc group who were forcibly removed to Oklahoma in 1873. The tribe was divided into three groups: the Gumbatwas or “people of the west,” the Kokiwas or “people of the far country,” and the Paskanwas or “river people.” The Modoc traded with the Shasta and Achomawi. Their major enemies were the Klamath and the Paiute, with whom they were forced to live.
Language
The Modoc, like the neighboring Klamath, spoke dialectic varieties of the Klamathan/Lutuamian language, a branch of the Plateau Penutian language family.
Culture
The religion of the Modoc is not known in detail. The number five figured heavily in ritual, as in the Shuyuhalsh, a five-night dance rite of passage for young girls. A sweat lodge was used for purification and mourning ceremonies. The Modoc and Klamath were organized into independent villages, all of them own leaders, shamans, and medicine men. Acting independently in most situations, the villages at times would ally for war, and members of different villages often married. Religious belief focused largely on guardian spirits, whose aid was sought for all manner of human accomplishments. They first lived in the Lakes District of Oregon and California, where they hunted, fished, and gathered food. Modoc land was fertile, and the people believed that, if they worked hard, it would provide them with the things they needed.