|
Kalapuya
Creation Story (Oregon)
Told by Esther Stutzman, Yonkalla Kalapuya/Coos (Oregon)
Recorded 30 August 2001
Listen to story
About Esther Stutzman
Web Links
About This Story
This is
a family story that I learned from my elders. I was given permission to tell
this story in public as long as it remained the same and not changed. Because
stories are private family property, I only tell stories from my family. To do
otherwise, a storyteller could sicken and die. The story relates the coming of
the first human being to the world…"Le-lu," who dreamed of two babies. When
they came to her, she walked down from the stone mountain and gave the babies to Quartux, Mother Wolf to take care of them. When she strapped the babies to a
packbasket, she strapped them around their head. When she came back and removed
the straps, the foreheads of the babies were flattened. This became the custom
of flattening the foreheads of children.
Stories
must be used and told exactly as they are spoken. To change the story to fit
modern ideas is bad luck and considered to be disrespectful. This story should
be an instruction on how the reverence for the Wolf came to be and also how the
custom of forehead flattening came to be. Because the Kalapuya believe that the
world began of stone, it also refers to several stone outcroppings in the
Willamette Valley of Oregon that are still considered sacred to the Kalapuya.
To listen to
this story, click on the bandwidth for your player below.
About Esther Stutzman
| Esther
Stutzman has been a storyteller for most of her life. She learned stories from
her elders who carefully guided her storytelling techniques. She works as an
Artist-in-Residence with art associations throughout Oregon and is a cultural
resource consultant for Title IX Indian Education Programs in many locations
within the state. She has been an elementary and secondary teacher, a cultural
curriculum developer, University lecturer and is currently working on a Kalapuya
curriculum. She is chair of the Komemma Cultural Protection Association, a
group of Kalapuya people who engage in historical research, photo documentation
and protection of sacred sites. |
 |
|
Esther
Stutzman |
|
Click to enlarge |
Contact
Information
Esther Stutzman is available as a Storyteller. She can be contacted at
P.O. Box 180
Yoncalla, OR 97499
Kalapuya@rosenet.net
http://sites.netscape.net/Kalapuya2000/homepage
Web
links
Kalapuya Home Page
Confederated Tribes
of the Lower Rogue
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Confederated Tribes of Siletz
| 
