About the Pomo Indian God
The Pomo are a group of Native American people from the areas of Northern California in the United States. Like many Native American peoples, religion, folklore and narratives all play an important part in their daily lives. The Pomo are a shamanistic group, which involves rites of passage, extensive burial and mourning ceremonies, as well as a devotion to and awareness of the land and world around them. The Pomo have a rich narrative history that explains not only their existence but the world around them as well.
Geography
It is believed that the Pomo people migrated to the area around Clear Lake (Sonoma County, California) as long ago as 7,000 B.C.E. The lake was thought to be their first sacred place; ceremonial charm stones and arrowheads dating back as far as 1,000 B.C.E. have been recovered from the area. It's also thought that the lake was a place the faithful took family to be healed by the Pomo shamans.
Features
One of the most prominent figures in Pomo religion and narrative is the Coyote, known across mythology as the mischievous trickster god. There are two main creation myths of the Pomo, both involving Coyote as one of the main instigators. In the first, Coyote and Cougar set up a game for their sons to play. Two of Coyote's sons chased a ball into a sweat house (or sauna, of which there is one for each cardinal direction) and were killed. Coyote retrieved the bodies of his sons and attempted to return in the darkness. He cannot see, however, and opens the bag. The bodies of his children became the sun and the moon.
In the other myth, Coyote created men from willow and dogwood sticks set in the mud. They have paws instead of hands, however, and Lizard suggests that hands would suit them better. They wrestle to see who will win; Lizard won, of course, and gave man hands and fingers.
Also, the Pomo believed that the world had powerful, supernatural beings. Each of these beings lived at the edge of the world, at each of the cardinal directions.
Function
One of the most important of the Pomo gods is Guksu. Guksu lives at the cardinal direction of South and is associated with healing. Traditionally, Pomo healers made prayers and offering to Guksu, hoping for his blessing. In dance ceremonies, there is often a medicine man dressed as Guksu. When medicine men would visit the sick, they would often go dressed up as Guksu in the hopes that he would also visit the sick and take the illness away with him.
Identification
Guksu is usually depicted as a human with a very long, red nose. Those impersonating him usually paint their bodies black, or alternately with black, white and red stripes, adding a feathery headdress, a nose painted red and a short staff with a feather on top. Impersonators of Guksu do not speak, only whistle, sometimes aided by a bone whistle.
Time Frame
The Pomo people still exist in Northern California. A 1990 census showed that there were still nearly 5,000 people in the Pomo tribe, living in the same area they have for nearly 9,000 years.
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