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Ceremonial Songs
The official Cahuilla
ceremonial singer was called a hawaynik. Some of the song cycles lasted
as long as twelve hours, and the hawaynik had to perform flawlessly. He
trained hard, studied long, and underwent dietary and other religious restrictions
before a performance. Each hawaynik had under him a company of dancers and
assistant singers, as well as several apprentices who were learning the
song cycles. The Cahuilla treated the hawaynik with lifelong honor, even
veneration; for within his songs he sacred knowledge of the people was preserved.
One of the songs was a creation epic; others told the stories of the people
and were the formal cultural education for the youth and elders. This description
has come from The Way We Lived, California Indian Stories, Songs and reminiscences.
You can find the creation story in the camp's Coyote's Storytelling Place.
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