Kumeyaay
Kumeyaay
The Native Americans who lived in this southern area of Alta California are referred to as Kumeyaay. Also called Diegueno/ Mission Indians/ Ipai Tipai. They were an amazing people who were strong, intelligent, and were happy living their idyllic lifestyle which consisted of living in conical shaped huts (ewaa), hunting and gathering food, being seasonally nomadic and before the arrival of the Spanish in 1769, had never seen cloth. They were able to gather seafood from the ocean, lived by killing and eating small animals and by propagating the plants that grew naturally.
Acorns
Chia - a kind of sage - they called it pa-sal - dried chia, rich in oil, chia seeds were pounded io meal and cooked.
Cactus - mountains and desert - the seeds, fruit and stalks were eaten .
Yucca - fruit eaten - fibers used for nets, baskets, mats, sandals, straps, cradles, hairbrushes. Pinions ~ pine nuts.
Agave - century plant - cooked stalks.
Berries.
Meat-rabbit, rats, mice, squirrels - roasted or made into soup.
The Kumeyaay created tightly woven baskets able to hold water for cooking.
Metates and manos were grinding stones. After gathering acorns and shelling them, they would pour hot water over them to remove tannic acid and grind them into a flour to make an oatmeal substance or a type of patty. Acorns were a primary part of their diet.
The Kumeyaay had no organized religion as we know it but they were a spiritual people. The Kumeyaay respected all of God’s creatures which was similar to the beliefs of the followers of Saint Francis who founded the missions.