Miwok Culture According to the Term Paper

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Miwok developed a strong sense of music as a thread that collectively holds the Miwok people together, a tradition that still holds today as stories of the people are retold and even put into print to be continued into the next generation and shared with other cultures. Miwok legend and stories are often filled with stories of music as a foundation of ideas and concepts of every day living, in both the super and natural worlds.

One of the most foundational of all Miwok legends surrounds the music of nature and how a Falcon tried to capture the music and the tree that made it, the lah'pahi, the elderberry tree. "The tree sang; it sang all the time, day and night, and the song was good to hear. Wek'wek [the falcon] looked and listened and wished he could have the tree." (Merriam, 2004, p. 70) the falcon then asked the star people [gods] about the tree and the two goddesses told him; "the tree whistled songs tat kept them awake all day and all night so they could work all the time and never grow sleepy." (p. 70) the falcon wanted the elderberry tree so much that when he returned home he began a quest to buy it from the goddesses. He was successful in his quest and brought it back to his home, where he was instructed by his father and grandfather that he could not have it alone that they had to plant it all over the country to provide music, medicine and food for the Mew'ko people they were going to make.

Music is therefore at the clear center of the creation story.

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Music is the instrument that created wonder in the Falcon and made him bring the elderberry tree to his home and then scatter it across the land to create music for the future people, presumably so they like the Goddesses could work day and night and never become sleepy. (Merriam, 2004, pp. 70-73) in short the elderberry tree is at the center of the Miwok creation story, and it was brought to the people by a curious falcon who loved the music it made. The flute was in fact likely an invention of the Miwok and other native tribes who derived the idea of the instrument form the manner in which air flowing through the hollow branches of the elderberry tree made music.

FLUTES of elderberry pierced by a row of holes, are played at a 45-degree angle or nearly vertical and to one side of the mouth, the player blowing across the thin end, opening and closing the finger holes to form the notes. Flute playing was a favorite pastime of young men and served as an aid to courtship. Styles varied from group to group. Four versions are illustrated above." (Pacific Traders "California Tribal Arts: Musical Instruments") the Miwok have a rich cultural history, that is significant and has characteristics entirely unique to it, including but not limited to Miwok architecture (the use of cedar bark as a building material) and creation stories peppered with an emphasis on the formative power of music......

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