-Katy Gorevin-
Folklore Final
Geomythology of Crater Lake
Over time it has become less controversial to incorporate local mythology into applicable contexts, as this can further affirm the dating methodology, as well as give cultural context that cannot otherwise be obtained. The eruption of Mount Mazama is a beautiful example of an early Paleoindian, first-hand account of a natural disaster and also a seamless correlation with extensively studied geological evidence. The Klamath Indians, who have resided in southern Oregon for more than 9,000 yr B.P. have passed down, through over 300 generations, a profoundly accurate oral tradition.
The story of Crater Lake is one of the most sacred and most native tribesmen still do not visit there and adhere to the lessons learned or imposed upon by the retelling of the event. As time progressed, it has been about 7,000 yr BP since the eruption, the story of Crater Lake has had additional stories implemented into the original one. Each with its own manner of proper behavior and cultural rules. Crater Lake is used as a warning to future generations to induce them to adhere to social norms. If they do not, from infancy, they are taught that the consequence to their disobedience will be tantamount to the eruption of Mount Mazama and the destruction of their ancestral land.
Abstract
My goal is to approach this in a psychoanalytic way and explore what it meant to the Klamath Indian community. How did it affect their relationships with each other and the land?
What is so unique about Crater Lake and the Klamath Indian story about the eruption of Mount Mazama is that it is one of the few mythology stories that irrefutably follow the geologic evidence of the eruption. Klamath legends of the eruption of Mount Mazama, passed from generation to generation, provide a striking corroboration of scientifically verified geologic accounts. This also leads to the conclusion that this must have been a Paleoindian first hand account of the natural disaster. The resulting stories not only served as a means to survive a similar natural disaster but also adhere to social norms for the betterment.
In more recent history in December 2004, a tsunami devastated many of the areas bordering the Indian Ocean. Among those who survived were the indigenous people living on the Andaman Islands. They followed the advice in a myth that had been handed down from generation to generation It told them to run for the hills if they saw the ocean pull away from the shore. Countless others, unfamiliar with the myth, drowned (Barber, 2006).
naanok ?ans naat sat’waYa
naat ciiwapk diceew’a “We help each other; We will live good”
Crater Lake is one the most sacred place to the Klamath Indians. The profound natural disaster and the subsequent damage to the surrounding land greatly altered the way of life for future generations. This story in particular, is one that infers cultural conformity in order to avoid such disasters in the future. As humans interact with the world within their own perception of it, they also are psychologically supported and emotionally supported by their cultures. Francis L. K. Hsu calls this kind of support "psychosocial homeostasis" (Hall, 1977). In other words, ones phycological state is uplifted by symbolic behavior.
Homo sapiens are perhaps not the oldest species, but they are indeed the most versatile. Inhabiting every climate system, with the widest range of divergent characteristics depending on the specific environment. Society and culture have played an integral part of the evolution of the human species.
Catastrophic events, such as, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and the collapse of ancient cultures (Ioannis, 2019).
One Version of Myth
One day, Great Spirit Beings pushed ice through a hole in the sky to build a great mountain, Moyaina (Mount Mazama). Then the spirits climbed down to Earth and created the Klamath terrain by digging tunnel-like caverns beneath the earth and pushing up the Cascade Range. Hundreds of rivers, marshes and lakes emerged from underground, and trees, meadows and plants sprang up everywhere.
All of the Spirits returned to the Nolis-Gaeni, the afterworld, except the Spirit chief Gmo’Kamc, who made a new home inside Mlaiksi (Mount Shasta). Gmo’Kamc created human beings to live on the lake shores around him: the Klamath Lake People, the Modoc Lake People (Modoc Lake is now called Tule Lake), and Yahooskni People on the water now known as Goose Lake.
Chief of the Below World, Monadalkni, envied Gmo’Kamc’s beautiful Indian domain and return many times to watch the Ma’Klaks. One day he spied an extraordinary maiden surrounded by brave warriors who wanted to marry her. Loha was the daughter of the Klamath chief, and she refused to marry anyone. Still, Monadalkni dispatched Skooks, his trusted emissary, to propose on his behalf.
On the night of the MaKlaks coming-out ceremony, Skooks suddenly appeared, hooded in dark wolf skin. Interrupting a ceremonial dance, he stepped before Loha and her family bearing lavish gifts: beaver pelts, valuable feathers of the red woodpecker, horses and white deerskins.
“My Chief sends these offerings for your hand in everlasting marriage,” he said. “Eternal life will be yours as you become one and live in a big mountain abode forever.”
As Skooks’ hideous crimson red eyes gaped at the maiden, the Ma’Klaks of the village watched her other suitors disappear in a flash of orange light. Loha raced to her father’s tule lodge crying out, “No, I don’t want to live in a mountain!” The Klamath chief quickly called elders and medicine men to council in his lodge. They decided that Loha must be whisked away to their Modoc brothers to the south.
Skooks returned the next night demanding Loha’s whereabouts, but no one in the tribe would speak. When Monadalkni learned of the maiden’s disappearance, he shook with violent anger and threatened fiery vengeance on Loha’s people. Monadalkni began running back and forth in the passageways beneath Moy-yaina, throwing lightning bolts and causing the mountain to explode with such force that molten lava rained like hot pitch upon the People of the Lakes. Giant fireballs shot out of the mountain as it erupted in deafening booms — five times in succession! Women and children took refuge in Klamath Lake, crying and calling out for the Great Spirit to save them.
Monadalkni ran to the top of the mountain and faced Gmo’Kamc. They fought enraged, silhouetted against the red glow illuminating the rumbling Cascades. The good chief finally forced the Chief of the Below World back underground and collapsed the mountaintop onto the entrance of the underworld. A huge crater remained where the peak used to be.
Medicine men sang their sacred songs for rain to put out the fires. The rains came, filling the crater with water and creating the lake called Gii-was. Cradled in the bosom of Tum-sum-ne (Klamath/Modoc for “the big mountain with top cut off”), Gii-was became a holy place the Ma’Klaks kept secret for more than 7,000 years, until one day in 1852 when a white man accidentally discovered it.
In 1902, Gii-was became Crater Lake National Park.
‘HOW CRATER LAKE CAME TO BE’: A KLAMATH INDIAN LEGEND SPECIAL FOR THE HERALD AND NEWS – FEBRUARY 25, 2002
Yet another version...
By Ella Clark, 1953
The Klamath Indian mythology tells of a known opening at the very top of the mountain which led to the underworld, where Lao lived. His mountain was subject to minor volcanic events as a result of his inclinations and mood. The story begins with the inception of Mount Mazama, when the Great Spirit Beings pushed ice through a hole in the sky to build a great mountain (Moyaina). The Spirits used the mountain as a way to climb down and create the Klamath terrain, with hundreds of rivers, marshes, lakes, trees, meadows, and plants that sprang up as far as the eye could see.
Lao often spied on their land and envied the beautiful indian domain. One day he saw Loha, the daughter of the Klamath chief who was extraordinary and beautiful. He sent his emissary above to present gifts of beaver pelts, feathers of the red woodpecker, horses and deerskins to the maiden and propose to her. The offer was that of eternal life, where Lao and her would become one and live in the Big Mountain forever.
In horror, Loha went running to her father’s tent in tears because she did not want to marry Lao. Her father immediately sent her south to the Shasta tribe that night to keep her safe. In the morning, when Lao could not find Loha, he became enraged and shook violently with anger and threatened fiery vengeance, throwing lightning bolts and causing the mountain to explode. As it exploded, there was such a great force that molten lava rained down like hot tar on the Klamath people. Five giant fireballs shot out of mountian with deafening booms, one after the other.
The villagers ran south to the Klamath Lake, all the while crying out to Skell the Great Spirit to save them. Skell heard their cries and came down from the sky, and he and Lao fought viciously. They were silhouetted against the red glow of their world on fire throughout the entire Cascade mountain range. Skell finally overcame Lao. A defeated Lao was forced back underground and Skell collapsed the entire mountain top on top of him, which was the entrance to the underworld.
What remained was a huge crater, but as the forests burned around them, the medicine man sang sacred songs invoking rain to put them out. As the torrents of rain came, they filled the crater, creating the lake that the Indians call Gii-was. Gii-was, or Crater Lake, was to become the holiest place to the Klamath people who kept the area a secret for almost 7,000 years, until it was accidentally discovered in 1852 by the white man. In 1902, it became Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park (Clark, 1953). Ella Clark is the most noted expert in Pacific Northwest mythology.
ONE LAST VARIATION
(Deur, 2002)
According to the ancient Klamath people of southern Oregon, the Chief of the Below World became angry with them when the daughter of the Klamath chief refused to marry him. In retaliation, the Chief of the Below World went to the top of the mountain in which he lived and threatened to send the Curse of Fire. On learning of the threat, the Chief of the Above World challenged his counterpart in the underworld. The two fought long and hard. Hot rocks and burning ash flew about, and a river of fire came out of the mountain.
Terrified, the Klamath fled the area. But two elderly Klamath medicine men, hoping to appease the angry spirit, sacrificed themselves by jumping into the mountain's, fire pit. Pleased with this gift, the Chief of the Above World smashed in the top of the mountain. It crashed directly on the Chief of the Below World, and he was never heard from again. What remained as the only sign of the struggle was a deep hole atop the mountain. Through the centuries, rainwater gradually filled the hole and formed beautiful Crater Lake.
How did the Klamath way of life and cultural practices change after the eruption
Wildlife
Drastic change in what had previously been available/ post- Mazama diet.
Berries
Main annual social gathering localized around the collective harvesting of wild berries with varying native tribes.
Hunting
Hunting big game was relatively rare and reserved for the young ambitions Indians to try and affirm their social status and bravery.
Fish
At first, large game, rodents, birds, and carnivore were taken in roughly equal amounts, fish were of minor importance,, and tubers, seeds, and other vegetable crops were gathered.
Cultural Transformations
Use of winter earth lodges as early as 250 A.D. This lead to the first local bands with autonomous political organizations within the Paleoindian Klamath tribe
The change in landscape was followed by a change in large summer harvests that then became part of a collective shared by all during the winter months.
