When I met William Pink, he wore a gray hooded sweatshirt and a crushed hat lined with small pins. He held a stick with a chain attached to the end, and the rope held a row of wooden rings.
“This is a gland ring game,” he said. “These are the gland of the inner white oak. And the idea of the game is to catch the rings.”
He threw the row up and a ring fell, impaled on his stick.
“Has one,” he said.
William Pink comes from the Agua Caliente Upeño tribe of Warner Springs. He devoted himself to remembering the stories, tools and technology that allowed his group to create a life in South California.
“In the twenties, I went around and I visited many elders, trying to learn things as much as possible. We were wasting a lot of information, so I spent a lot of time working with many different old people, from top to bottom of the state of California,” said Pink.
We met on the Cal State San Marcos campus in their ethnobotanic garden. Pink and I were joined by Bonnie Bade, professor of anthropology.
“Plants in southern California are so powerful because they provide drugs, food, building materials, tools,” said Baden.
“What is technology?” Mise pink. “This is how some things have been done and you need to use certain tools to accomplish certain things. There were no metal objects. Many of them were made without metallic tools. ”
Mine fibers from abandonment stems
The pink scratches the side of a narrow wooden rod with a pocket knife.
“They are therefore stems from the dog factory. It was one of the main sources of fiber for textiles in the Native American community. There are two ways to prepare the dogban. One is a bit puffed.
Pink said the fiber was also used to make fishing nets and anchor lines. They are water resistant so that they do not rot. He crushes the hollow stems with his fingers and removes the fibers. He then twists them in braids to make them stronger.
“What are you doing right now?” I asked.
“I run the rope. And I will let you try to break it,” said Pink. “I always propose to pay $ 20 to all those who can break it.”
I open the fibrous cord around my opposite fists and I shoot with all my strength. It doesn’t break.
“I go home 20 dollars richer today,” said Pink.
The shadow of Indian rock
The following week, I met Mel Vernon and two other members of the San Luis Rey Indian mission band. Vernon is the captain of the group from Oceanside and Carlsbad in the County of San Diego.
We hold on a protected plot of earth, surrounded by track houses and mountain peaks, where we find a large sacred stone called Rock Indian.
“We are in a place here in Vista. Not disclosed. Our tribe is the guards of this big rock behind us,” said Vernon. “There were village sites here and (the rock) has red ocher drawings on this subject of young women who had carried out their puberty rites. To be part of the tribe, they would make their mark on this rock. ”
The Indian rock is surrounded by a garden of native plants. Michael Cerda is another member of what is often called the Luiseño tribe.
“I was a little known in the tribe as a vegetable,” said Cerda.
“We have about 65 plants here on this lot and about a third of them are medicinal. And science says today that our ancestors used them in the right way. And of course, there are chemicals in there that heal. Anti-inflammatory. Antibacterial,” he said.
Like Artemisia Californica, called California Sagebrush, which, according to Cerda, is an anti-inflammatory and a disinfectant. He stands in front of another plant with yellow flowers.
“People know this of the common name of the elders. It’s medicinal. To our people, it is sacred because they saved lives. This relieves digestive problems. Respiratory problems. “
Mel Vernon adds that medicine has a somewhat different meaning among Amerindians. Healing is not always something that comes from a drug. It also comes from your mind and your mind.
“Even today, you have something that is wrong and you think it’s bad. And someone says “No, that’s right”. And you feel better about yourself.
Indian rock has not been sheltered from the modern world. It has become a meeting place for local children and graffiti on Indian rock are not tribal. It’s vandalism.
Michael Cerda said they had taken measures to try to stop disrespectful activity. They planted poisoned oak around the rock and the cactus around the fence of the perimeter of the property in order to keep people away.