Nahachish
Luiseno & Acjachemen (Juaneno) · mortal · Luiseno & Acjachemen (Juaneno) traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Nahachish is a chief of the myth-age remembered in Luiseno song and story recorded by DuBois. He journeys through the country of the people, and as he passes he gives the villages, hills and springs their names, so that his travels fix the sacred geography of the Luiseno land. His itinerary, sung in the old ceremonies, ends with his death at the close of the journey. The figure belongs to the class of traveling culture-heroes whose wanderings account for the naming and ordering of the landscape.
Domains
- chieftainship
- geography and place naming
Powers
- journeys through the country giving places their names
Sources
- Nahachish is a chief of the myth-age whose journey through Luiseno country, recorded in song by DuBois, names the villages and landmarks and ends in his death.: Constance Goddard DuBois, 'The Religion of the Luiseno Indians of Southern California,' UC-AAE 8:3 (1908). (secondary); Constance Goddard DuBois, 'Mythology of the Mission Indians,' Journal of American Folklore 19 (1906). (secondary)