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The Journal of California Anthropology

UC Merced

Peer Reviewed

Title:

The Datura Cult Among the Chumash

Journal Issue:

Journal of California Anthropology, The, 2(1)

Author:

Applegate, Richard B, California State University, San Jose

Publication Date:

1975

Publication Info:Journal of California Anthropology, The, UC Merced Library, UC Merced

Permalink:

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/37r1g44r

Keywords:

ethnology, archaeology, ethnohistory, native peoples

Abstract:

In their quest for visions and for supernatural power, the Chumash of the Santa Barbara regionwere one of many tribes throughout North and South America that resorted to the use ofhallucinogenic plants. Datura was one of the most widely known of these hallucinogens; Indiansof an area from Chile to the American Southwest made ritual use of several species of Datura.Until recently, references to Datura in the literature on the Chumash have been brief and largelyconjectural. Now contemporary workers are synthesizing the unpublished manuscripts of JohnP. Harrington's ethnographic work among the Chumash between 1912 and 1922. In particular,Thomas Blackburn (1974) has done a cultural analysis of Chumash narrative texts in which Daturafigures prominently.
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The Datura CultAmong the Chumash

RICHARD B. APPLEGATE

Itheir quest for visions and for supernatural power, the Chumash of the SantaBarbara region were one of many tribesthroughout North and South America thatresorted to the use of hallucinogenic plants.Datura was one of the most widely known ofthese hallucinogens (cf. Schultes 1972; LaBarre 1972; Bean and Saubel 1972); Indians ofan area from Chile to the American Southwestmade ritual use of several species of Datura.In her dissertation on Datura in aboriginalAmerica, Anna Gayton (1928) suggests thatits use may have diffused from a single pointof origin, since local adaptations of the. Daturacult all show the com mo n them es of divinationand contact with thespirits of the dead. Atone extreme Umit of this area, the peoples ofsouthern California used Datura meteloides A.DCmore commonly known as Jimsonweedor toloache (the Spanish rendering of Aztectoloatzin). They elaborated theDatura cultand integrated it thoroughly into their visionquest and their ceremonial hfe.

Until recently, references io Datura in theliterature on the Chumash have been brief andlargely conjectural. Now contemporary workers are synthesizing the unpublished manuscripts of John P. Harrington's ethnographicwork among the Chumash between 1912 an d1922. In particular, Thomas Blackburn(1974) has done a cultural analysis of Chumash narrative texts in which Datura figuresprominently (I refer to myths and storiesin Blackburn's dissertation bynumber when

ever possible). I am also indebted to SantaBarbara historian Russell Ruiz for lore aboutDatura which he heard from old people nolonger living.SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BACKGROUND

The Datura cult among the Chumashincorporated a number of features which hada broad distribution in southern California.Even the word for Datura appeared in muchthe same form in a number of unrelated butgeographically contiguous languages (Gamblen.d.). According to Gayton (1928:27-28),common features of southern California Datura usewere "that it was not taken beforepuberty, that it was usually administered to agroup, and that a supernatural helper wassought." This supernatural helper was theindividual's life-long guardian spirit or dreamhelper. Beyond these common features, Gayton noted three major differentiations inceremonial usage.

First, on the South Coast among theGabrielino, Luiseno, and others, youths tookDatura as part of a puberty ritual integratedinto a much broader ceremonial complex, theChingichnich cult. The initiates underwentordeals and received esoteric instruction.Women never took it; men took it only once,in groups, primarily to make contact with adream helper. There were no seasonal restrictions on its use (Gayton 1928:28). Almost exactly this same pattern prevailedamong the Salinans, on the coast north of


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THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGYthe Chum ash (Harrington 194 2:39 ; Mason1912:162).Second, further north among the southern Yokuts and Western Mono, a Daturadrinking ritual was held every spring. It wasoptional, with no initiatory aspect, and itdid not change a participant's social status.Both men and women could take Datura,repeating the experience if they chose (Gayton 1928:31) .

Third, in the east among the Mohave,Yuma, and Desert Cahuilla, there was no well-developed Datura ceremony. Datura was takenby individuals, at any season, as often as theychose. These eastern groups relied on dreamsfor supernatural power; they usually took Datura for oth er reason s, such as luck in gambling(Gayton 192 8:37; Drucker 1937:34-36).The Chumash version of the Datura cultagrees most closely with the Yokuts patterndiscussed second by Gayton. As with theYokuts, both men and women took Datura,any time after puberty, and it was notincorporated into any initiation rite. Manytook Datura only once, but those with astronger affinity for the supernatural took itseveral times. Unlike their immediate neighbors, the Chumash drank Datura individuallyrather than in groups, and right in the villagerather than at a special camp. Like theYokuts, the Chumash may once have hadseasonal restrictions on Datura use, since theVentureno Chumash called January "themonth of Datura.'' But the Chumash tookDatura as medicine any time of the year, andthere is no mention of seasonal restrictionswhen it was taken for visions. So the year-round use of Datura by the Chumash agreeswith the Gabrielino and Salinan patterns.It is not at all clear how uniform theDatura cult was from one Chumash groupto ano ther. C ertainly am ong the various Yoku ts group s m inor and even major differences appeared (cf. Gayto n 194 8; Driver1937:98-99). Most information on the Chu-

mash-not only about the Datura cult butabout any facet of Chumash Hfe--comes fromthe Ventureiio, Barbareiio, and Ineseiio Chumash; we know much less about other Chumash groups. Fernando Librado of Venturafurnished Harrington with the most detailedaccount of Datura use, while Maria Solares ofSanta Ynez knew the mythological aspects ofDatura best. The available details of theBarbareno and Ineseno usage agree in nearlyall respects with the Venturefio data reportedby Fernando Librado.

REASONS FOR TAKING DATURAThe most important reason for takingDatura was to establish contact with a supernatural guardian: the "^atiswin or dreamhelper. The Chumash believed that the dreamhelper came only to a person who had drunkDatura; this was always the purpose of anindividual's first Datura experience. Onemight take Datura later to strengthen one'sbond with the dream helper, or to meet yet

another helper, or for supernatural power ingeneral. A person might also take it for somemore specific purpose. SimpUcio Pico ofVentura said:When a person took toloache and he hadvisions, he prayed in his visions to thetoloache and it would say to him, "What doyou want?" The person would answer, "Iwant to have power in games," or "1 want tobe a good horseman," or some such request.And he would get good luck from thetoloache.A person might take Datura to communicate with the spirits of the dea d; those whostill missed some loved one, particularly adead child, sometimes took Datura for thisreason. The drinker might want to see his orher future hfe; one young woman saw herselfrich in her vision and later she married a chief.When a person was unhappy, or not doingwell in life, he might take Datura. Daturacould show a man his true name, ignorant


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THE DATURA CULT 9of which he could never hope to prosper inthis world.

The Chumash also took Datura on something of an emergency basis at times, to cureserious wounds and illnesses or to counter theeffects of ill omens and breaches of tabu.These reasons for taking Datura were notnecessarily mutually exclusive; a Venturenonamed Winai is said to have prayed for successat billiards when he took Datura for a brokenleg. But the Chumash believed that Daturataken on this basis was primarily a cure: itwas not likely to grant the drinker lastingaccess to supernatural power.

The Chumash reasons for taking Daturawere all individual rather than collective. Thiscontrasts strongly with the southern patternthat Ga yton recognized. Among the MountainCahuilla, for example, the group initiationwith Datura was held either when enoughboys had reached an age suitable for initiation, or wh en the rite was necessary as acollective prayer against epidemics and shortages of food or water (Gayton 1928:29).The Chumash did not view Datura drinking as obligatory. But they did feel that itgave the individual access to supernaturalpower and hence engendered strength, courage, and success in later hfe. In one myth(Blackburn 1974:myth 19), a boy being givenDatura is told, "Now I'm going to give you amedicine so that you may be braver and manlier and more courageous." As for women, theChumash felt that Datura gave them courage

particularly in childbirthand immunity fromdanger: if a woman who had drunk Daturawas out seed-gathering and a bear came along,the bear would not harm her. In one myth(Blackburn 197 4:m yth 20 ), not even thestrongest dose of Datura affects a supernatural youth who eats only tobacco, and he endsup a reclusewild, mean, and an intemperatehunter who kills for the joy of killing. Thistheme parallels a Western Mono belief thatRattlesnake and Grizzly Bear were vicious be

cause they had not taken Datura (Gayton1928:36-37). So evidently >an


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10 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGYof Nor th A merica (cf. Ben edict 1 923 ). Evidently, when the peoples of southern California began to use Datura, they incorporated itas one more element of a pre-existing vision-seeking complex. But since a decoction ofDatura is almost certain to produce hallucinations, the vision quest in southern CaUfomiadid not include some of the more extremepractices found elsewhere in No rth Am erica,hke self-torture, mutilation, or soUtary vigilsat some remote spot.

The Chumash observances differ in somerespects from those of other southern California peoples. The Shoshonean tribes to thesouth used Datura in a puberty initiation inwhich the initiates ran races or danced allnight while fasting, or were stung by ants andwhipped with nett les (Drucker 1937:35-36).There is no record of such practices amongthe Chumash. The Chumash relied entirely onDatura in seeking supernatural power, whilethe Yokuts also got power from dreams. Toinduce dreams, the Yokuts might bask inthe sun for hours or get up three or fourtimes during the night in the winter to bathein icy water (Gayton 1928:54, 1948:246).Again, there is no mention of such practicesamong the Chumash in connection with theDatura cult.

JWEDATURA SPECIALISTUsually a specialist prepared and administered Datura; he was called in Ventureno

Chumash Msukayayic, 'one who causes intoxication. ' Harrington's informants sometimes rendered this into Spanish as tolo-ac/icro, 'Datura giver.' Coyote was the Daturagiver in the old days when the animals werestill people (Blackburn 1974:myth 29).Am ong the T achi Yo kuts, the giver had tohave Datura as his dream helper (Gayton1948:38), but among the Chumash and mostother tribes, skill in the use of Datura seemsto have been the primary requirement.In Ventura, the Datura givers were five

old men who assembled to administer Daturaand to question the drinker afterward abouthis visions. It is not certain that the officerequired a fixed n um ber, bu t it is quitepossible: initiates into the elite ^antap societyin larger villages usually numbered twelve ortwenty. There is no evidence of such anelaborate organization of Datura givers amongChumash groups north of the Ventureno.Primarily the Datura giver administeredDatura to adolescents taking it for the firsttime; he was paid for his services. But a relative might also prepare the Datura decoction,especially the m othe r or gran dm other . Even amarried man might go to his mother when hefelt the need to take Datura (Blackburn 1974:texts 93, 98). The preparation by a relativerather than by one of the specialists was mostcommon when a person drank Datura on anemergency basis as medicine or to counteractan ill omen.PREPARING D ^r t/ /? ^ - THE DANGERS

The Chumash attributed different strengthsand different virtues to various parts of theDatura plant; they used the root because itwas strongest. One who went out to dig Datura roots purified himself first; otherwisehe would offend the Datura spirit and destroythe efficacy of the drug. He abstained fromsex, meat, and grease for some time before(three days among the Tachi Yokuts [Gayton1948:39]) . He approached the Datura plantrespectfully, praying to the Datura spirit,"Grandmother, I 've come to beg of you oneof your roots." Taking care not to injurethe plant itself, he dug under the plant fromone side and to ok a ro ot, and then filledthe hole back up. One Chumash claimedthat the old people knew just which root topick, a roo t which w ould be sure to induce avision. To prepare the drink, the Chumashmashed the Datura roo t in a special cerem onial mortar and steeped it in cold water.Occasionally they roasted it slightly first.


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THE DATURA CULT 11The preparation of Datura required greatskill. Datura is dangerous. It is not onlyhallucinogenic, but also highly poisonous. A

dosage large enough to induce hallucinationshas very toxic effects on the body; theeffective dose is only a little less than thelethal dose. The Datura giver had to calculatethe dose according to what sort of soil theplant had grown in, the age of the plant{Datura is a perennial), the size of the roots,and the concentration of the finished brew.The Yokuts and the Kitanemuk drank Daturaonly during the winter and early spring; laterin the year they thought it too strong. TheChumash and the Shoshonean groups to thesouth drank it at any season, compoundingtheir risk: here the Datura giver also had totake the time of year into account in measuring the dosage.

Deaths from Datura were not unknownamong the Chumash, despite their long familiarity with the plant. Responsibility for adeath fell on the drinker rather than theDatura giver, according to Russell Ruiz (personal communication). The Chumash behevedthat the Datura drinker who died had violated one of the tabus against sex or meatand hence aroused the animosity of theDatura spirit, or else he simply did not return from the spirit world. He might have"lost the trail" (as the idiom went) andnot found his way back to this world, orhe might have been so caught up in whathe saw that he chose not to return. Thechoice not to return was supposed to be mostlikely when a person had taken Datura inorder to see the dead.

But the Chumash were well aware of thelethal aspects of Datura, as bits of lore aboutthe plant indicate. It was a common ingredient in the poisons made by sorcerers. Theintended victim did not have to ingest sucha poison or even come in contact with it;he would sicken and die if the sorcerermerely painted the Datura poison on some

article he owned. The Chumash also believedthat when a rattlesnake had decided in advance to kill someone (rather than just striking in self-defense), it sank its fangs into aDatura root and sucked in the poison beforebiting the person. Death was certain, and thevictim died immediately.

Many aspects of the Datura cult, from theDatura giver's circumspection in gatheringroots to the drinker's rigorous observance ofthe preliminary tabus, reflect a profounddesire not to offend the Datura spirit. Gayton(1928:40) suggests that the propitiation ofth e Datura spirit was due to feair of its lethalpotential as well as to veneration of itshallucinogenic properties. Among the Wak-sachi Mono, the man giving the'drink firstprayed to the Datura spirit "not to hurt thesepeople who are going to drink you" (Gayton1928:40 fn.).

TKKmG DATURA \The first Datura experience was the mostimportant, and it was apparently the mostclosely controlled. When adolescents had arrived at an age when they were consideredstrong enough to stand the treatment, theywere given Datura. This was probably a fewyears after puberty, but before marriage andbefore sexual experience. The age fifteen ismentioned, though not as a fixed point. Theadolescent observed the dietary tabus fortwenty-one days before drinking Z)a/wra. BothIneseno and Ventureiio informants said that

occasionally more than one girl might begiven Datura at a time, but the Ventureiiospecifically denied that boys were ever givenDatura in pairs or groups.Among the Inesefio, the young man orwoman who was going to drink Daturawent in the evening to the house of theDatura giver, accompanied by parents andperhaps by other relatives. Further southamong the Ventureno, the five Datura givers

assembled and went to the house of the


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12 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

drinker. There is no mention of any ceremony or invocation at this point, as amongsome neighboring tribes. Soon after drinking the Datura decoction, the drinker began to experience dizziness and trembling.As he began to lose consciousness of theexternal world, the Datura giver told himto go to sleep and pay careful attentionto his dreams. The parents and relatives allwent out, leaving the drinker alone with theDatura giver. Among the Ventureiio, at leastone of the five Datura givers was in constantat tendance.

Eighteen to twenty-four hours later thedrinker revived. One who was strong of spiritrevived at noon the next day, while those ofweaker spirit would revive that night or eventhe following day. Larger doses might resultin an even longer period of unconsciousness.When he first awoke, the Datura drinker wasstill hallucinating, but gradually he becamemore and more clearly conscious of theexternal world. The behavior of a person justrecovering from Datura was erratic and unpredictable. A linguistic reflection of this is theverbal derivative momoyic, 'to be affected bymomoyDatura,' which had a connotation ofaberrant behavior in the sense of ' to be or actcrazy.' In post-contact times, after the introduction of alcohol, momoyic also came tomean ' to be drunk. ' Harrington's informantsfrequently referred to those intoxicated withDatura as 'drunk. '

The drink er jus t emerging from the effectsof Datura was sometimes taken out of thehouse, perhaps down to the beach or somewhere away from the village. One of theDatura givers among the Venturefio specialized in singing to the drinker at this point, butthere is no hint what the songs were about.Among the Wukchumni Yokuts (Gayton1948:119), such songs were simply repetitions of hnes such as, "You drankDatura;youshould wake up," and "Get up and drinkmore Datura."

THE DATURA VISIONThe Chumash believed that if the drinker

had prepared himself in advance by observingall of the restrictions on diet and sex, and ifhe approached the experience with a calmmind, then Datura put him in contact withthe supernatural . "Toloache teaches you allthings," one Chumash said. It enabled a manto see beyond surface appearances into thetrue nature of things, to see "the otherwo rld" beyon d "this wo rld," as the Chumashput it. But if a man had not prepared himself,then he perceived only illusionexaggeratedreflections of his own fears and weaknesses(Russell Ruiz, personal communication).

When one took Datura for the first time,the most coveted vision was that of theâtiswin or dream helperusually an animalspirit hke Hawk or Coyote. The helper offered the novitiate life-long protection andguidance, conferred on him some specificboonlike prowess in hunting or skill incuring, and left him w ith a talism an, alsocalled "âtiswin. Not everyone succeeded inthis first Datura experience; there were thosewho saw no thing . The y usually tried again. Agood many people, especially women, tookDatura only once. Some individuals never didgain the favor of a dream helper.

The Datura drinker m ight see m any oth erthings besides a dream helper. Gayton(1928:40-41) points out two beliefs commonto all of the tribes which used Datura: underthe influence of Datura one could contact thespirits of the dead, and one could detect lostor stolen articles.The Datura drinker could see the spirits ofthe dead, and he might speak with them. Certain spots were particularly auspicious for contacting the dead in a Datura trance; the bestknown of these was kaâqtawaq ' north wind, 'north of Ventura, an ancient sycamore tree inwhose rusthng leaves the Datura drinker could

hear the voices of the dead. Datura also en-


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THE DATURA CULT 13abled a person to see the supernatural creatures thought to inhabit various places. Forexample, a person who took Datura at a certain shrine-hill just south of the Santa YnezRiver might see the huge serpent which Uvedin a cave in the bluff below the shrine.The Datura drinker could see lost orstolen articles, even far away. His visionscompressed time and space, so that he couldsee distant places and e vents the re ; he couldsee into the past and future. Any prediction aperson m ade und er th e influence of Daturawas supposed to come true. Since the Daturadrinker could see beyond surface appearances,he could tell who his true friends and enemieswere, and he could perceive any attempt totrick him.

When the Datura drinker was fully conscious again, the old Datura givers gatheredand asked him about what he had seen in hisvisions. They interpreted the visions for him.There was no formal instruction at this point(as in the Gabrielino and Luisefio init iat ion),but the elders took advantage of the opportunity for a little moralizing. Fernando Librado recalled some of these interpretations.If in the dream a bear attacks, it is a sign thatthe dreamer must respect every creature inthe world. If the dreamer kills the bear, thenhe will always be a victor. If one dreams of aknife, it is a bad sign, and he must never use aknife. If he dreams that he has given the knifeto someone, it is a sign that this same personwill kill him with a knife. The dream of aneagle or a hawk is good luck. Any being oneseesno matter how dangerouswill do noharm as long as it is not molested, and thistoo is a good sign.

If the dream was unfavorable, the old menadvised the dreamer what to guard against intime of danger. One young woman dreamedof the ocean. She was told, " Th e ocean is adream, but don't you ever enter it. And if youcome across a man with a quiet heart, neverdisturb him."

J AKmG DATURATO AVERT M ISFORTUNE

The Chumash often took Datura to avertthe misfortune foretold by some ill omen.Thus , an owl or coyote calling out near ahouse, especially at night, announced thatsome mem ber of the house hold was soon todie. Similarly, for a bird to fly into a houseforetold death or misfortune, just as it did fora bird to fall fluttering at on e's feet. It was aparticularly bad omen to be seen as the victimof a misfortune in someone's Datura visions.When Datura was taken to avert misfortune,there may have been a stereotyped vision inwhich the agent responsible for the omenappeared to the dreamer and reassured him.In one story (Blackburn 1974: text 98), thewords used were "Don't be sad; I will donothing to harm you."Drinking Datura could prevent soul loss.The spirit of a person soon to die often left thebody while the person slept; the spirit mightappear to others either in its hum an form or as

a ball of light. A coyote or some su perna turalcreature might also assume the form of a livingperson and appear to others. A person whosespirit was seen straying or who was impersonated by a coyote was in grave danger; he mightbe able to avert death by taking Datura. To alesser degree, the person who saw these apparitions was also in danger, and might well takeDatura himself. Datura countered the ill effects of breaking some tabu. In one story(Blackburn 1974:text 62), a boy out huntingtrespasses on a sacred place and encounters agigantic serpent. When the boy returns home,his parents know that he has met with misfortune, and they give him Datura.

In all of these cases, the individual tookDatura on an emergency basis. The strictobservances which usually preceded Daturadrinking were relaxed or omitted altogether.But drinkers were careful to fast and observethe tabu on sex for a while afterward.


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14 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGYDATURA AS MEDICINE

Datut-a^ was commonly taken as a medicine for ^sgrious injuries and illnesses. Forbroken boi^es and wounds. Datura was ananesthetic aS well as a charm. Some Yokutsgroups thought Datura caused broken bonesto set by themselves (Driver 1937:99). Forsuch purppses. Datura might also be appliedexternally as a poultice. In one story, adespe rately w oun ded man asks his friends toroast Datura roots for him. He eats them "hkeroast potatoes" and then lies as if dead forthree days'.'He is well on his way to recoverywhen he comes to. Recovery was supposed tobe co m plete and rapid after a dose of Datura;complications were blamed on the intervention of an,evil shaman.The Chumash might resort to Datura tocure a lingering illness. In this case, thepatient took Datura after all lesser treatmentshad failed; a shaman sometimes gave a patientDatura when the shaman had not been able todiscover the cure by taking it himself. When agravely ill patient recovered, the shamanmight give him Datura to counter the illeffects of his narrow escape from death. Afterher cure, a Barbareiio woman quoted theshaman as saying, "You were going to die andnow got well, and so it is good that I give youtoloache soon. When you are a little stronger,I will give you toloache." But Datura was notnecessarily a medicine just for serious illness;Datura and seawater were supposed to be thetwo best tonics for freshening the blood.The .Chumash credited this dangerous andpowerful drug with supreme curative virtues.Schultes sheds some hght on how they madesuch a connection:

In almost all primitive cultures, sickness anddeath are beheved to be due to interferencefrom supernatural spheres. For this reason,the psychic effects of drugs are often farmore important in primitive medical practicethan the purely physical ones. Consequently,

hallucinogens above all other plants arefound to be closely connected with magicand sorcery in the treatment of disease andthe struggle against death . . . [19 72:5] .SHAMANISTIC USES OF DATURA

An individual who wanted shamanisticpower took Datura many times in order tobecome "a knower of spirits." He was likelyto acquire a number of dream helpers. Theshaman had ready access to the supernaturalthrough repeated experiences with Datura andhabitual observance of the restrictions on sexand diet necessary to gain the Datura spirit'sfavor. He exploited the powers of Daturamore fully than did the layman. In trying toeffect a difficult cure , the shaman might useDatura. The Datura spirit would reveal to himthe cause of the illness and the cure to follow.The shaman saw in his visions by the innerglow of a plant whether it was wholesomeor poisonous as a medicine. Shamans mayhave taken Datura before important ceremonies, such as the snake dance, which the rattlesnake shaman conducted every spring whenthe snakes came out of hibernation, to protect participants from snakebite during thecoming year.A malevolent shaman might also useDatura to cause illness and even death toothers. In his visions he might divine a man'strue name to use in an incantation; he mightfind out a man's secret weaknesses and workon these. Even drought, famine, and othernatural disasters were attributed to evil shamans. According to Russell Ruiz, repeated useof Datura brought on pronounced changes incharacter; the user became more and moreantisocial. Those with great shamanisticpower acquired through years of Daturadrinking frequently lived apart from otherpeople (cf. Blackburn 1974:text 78), andthey often had reputations for capriciousmalevolence.

Datura and shamanism are mentioned in


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THE DATURA CULT 15connection with charmstonesalso called"plummet stones" or "sinkers" in the l i terature (cf. Henshaw 188 5; Yates 1 889). Charm-stones were highly prized as magical aids incuring illness, bringing rain, putting out firesin the mountains, finding lost objects, orcalling up fish in the streams. In battle, acharmstone worn around the neck rendered aman invisible to his enemies and invulnerable to arrows. The account of charmstonesgiven by Yates differs from that of FernandoLibrado in the Harrington manuscript. According to Yates (1889:304), the shaman'sstandard equipment included a set of either12 or 20 charmstones. The shaman handledthe charmstones only after fasting for amonth and taking Datura. He took part in adance on awaking; at his approach, a charm-stone would elevate itself on one end off thedancing ground for him to pick up. TheHarrington manuscript 's references to charmstones and the shaman do not indicate thatthe shaman necessarily took Datura beforeusing them.

Fer nan do Librado gave a detailed acco untof a layman's quest for the vision of acharmstone. To see a charmstone, a man hadto abstain from sex for six months, and forthe last month he avoided meat, grease, andsalt as well. For the last three days, both heand his family fasted completely. Friends andrelatives gathered at his house on the eve ofthe drinking with gifts of food and money;they sang all night and kept the man fromsleeping. Datura was usually drunk in theevening, but here the man drank it at dawn.He hoped to see a charmstone in his visions,and he would pray for the particular powerwhich the charmstone should confer on him.For the ordinary man, the preliminary austerities and Datura were indispensible in raisinghim to the p roper state of power to handle acharmstone. A charmstone acquired in such away was usually considered the property ofth e chief, and a man had to pay for its use.

It is possible that the rock paintings foundat remote and rugged sites in Chumash territory are of shamanistic origin, and inspired byDatura (cf. Grant 1965). Originally in bril-Uant color, these paintings show non-representational patterns as well as figures of beingsthat are often quite fantastic. These mightwell depict the contents of a Datura vision.Thomas Blackburn (personal communication)poin ts ou t tha t at least a third of theChumash motifs are common phosphenes: thevisual patterns seen behind closed eyes, whichhallucinogens intensify greatly (Oster 1970).

Kroeber (1925:938) notes that the distribu tion of rock paintings in California coincides fairly closely with the area in which theDatura cult was strongest. The Chumashpaintings may have been executed by or foryouths taking Datura for the first time , just asth e Luiseiio initiation used sand paintings.But the remoteness of the sites and thegenerally non-initiatory aspect of what weknow of the Chumash Datura cult makes thisseem unUkely. It is more hkely that shamansmade the paintings in the course of workingmagic, perhaps in connection with Datura.The Harrington manuscript refers to a powerful shaman painting on a rock as part of hissorcery in causing a drought; Maria Solares ofSanta Ynez mentioned two old men whoretired into the mountains at the time of thewinter solstice to make paintings. Among theYokuts, too, petroglyphs were popularly associated with shamanism (Gayton 1948:113).

DATURA IN CHUMASH MYTHOLOGYThe Chumash integrated Datura thoroughly into their mythology. Datura's mythicalimportance to the Chumash, according toBlackburn (1974:100), is all the more strikingbecause its role among neighboring Californiatribes was peripheral. The neighbors of theChumash sometimes personified Datura as apair of brothers or sisters. Among the Chunut

Yokuts , Datura was two beautiful girls decked


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16 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGYwith flowers who danced over the plains inthe spring, and to the Western Mono, Daturawas two brothers who started out as grass inthe pre-human era (Gayton 1928:37). TheChumash saw Datura as the powerful old\^Oman Momoy; momoy is, of course, also theChumash word for the plant Datura. Momoyturned into the plant Datura after the floodwhich marked the transit ion between mythical times "when the animals were still people"(as myths often begin) and the advent of theworld order famihar to the Chumash.

The old woman Momoy was a rich widoww ho hved apart from other people, perhapswith a daughter or a grandchild. In one myth(Blackburn 1974:myth 18), Momoy's grandson turned into a fly; in another (Blackburn1974:myth 15), her granddaughter marriedThunder and gave birth to the twin Thunderswho make thunder in the world today. Momoy was very wise; those who drank water inwhich she had washed her hands could shareher wisdom to some degree. Like many othersupernatural beings, Momoy ate nothing buttobacco. According to one version of the creat ion myth, Momoy made man from the hairsand grime which she removed from her comb.From her sweat Coyote came into existence.Coyote was a trickster, but he was also a wiseold man very adept at sorcery. In many myths(Blackburn 1974:myths 15-20), he treatedvWo-moy as an aunt, and he was the Datura giverin the old days.The old woman Momoy was the spirit ofDatura, and much of the lore about herreflects specific details of the Chumash Datura cult. The Chumash addressed her as"Grandmother" when they dug Datura roots.Momoy was old and wise, and when oneapproached Datura properly, the Chumashsaid, it would "tea ch y ou all thin gs." Momoywas rich, and in his visions a person mightpray to her for wealth, luck, or power. Onehad to abstain from sex for some time beforeand after drinking Datura, just as Momoy

herself was a widow and had no partner.Momoy ate only tobacco, and the Daturadrinker had to fast completely or at leastavoid meat and grease, but even on a total fastthe Chum ash sti ll might take tobacc o.

Momoy knew what happened in distantplaces, and she could see into the future, justas the Datura drinker could. She shared thispower with others by giving them water inwhich she had washed her hands. The dangersof too much Datura are explicit in a myth(Blackburn 1974:myth 19) in which Afomoj^washes first just her hands and then up to herelbows; these doses put her grandson to sleep,but he has no visions. He begs her to batheand give him the water, but she answers, "If Itook a bath, you'd turn into a devil or die."Momoy lived apart from oth er pe op le, jus t asthe person who drank Datura was believed totranscend the ordinary world, and just as theshaman who drank Datura repeatedly stoodapart from ordinary individualsrespected forhis power, but also feared and suspected.Datura is mentioned in another mythological context. There was a long pole, alternately rising and falling, which was the bridgefrom this world to similaqsa, the land of thedead in the west. The souls of those who haddrunk Datura passed safely across the polebecause they were strong of spirit. Those whohad not drunk Datura, and who had no dreamhelpers, fell into the sea to become fish orsnakes or turtles. Tehing of this (Blackburn197 4:m yth 12), Maria Solares added w ithconviction that those people lived in ignorance who did not know the old Indianreligion and who did not drink Datura.

CONCLUSIONThe Datura cult was an essential part ofChumash culture, although it surely did notoriginate among the Chumash. It appeared inmuch the same basic form over much ofsouthern C alifornia, bu t its diffusion throu gh

this area must have been long enough ago that


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THE DATURA CULT 17

neighboring groups had time to differentiatedetails of the cult.

Of all of the peoples of southern California, perhaps the Chumash accorded Daturathe highest place. They relied entirely onDatura in the quest for a dream helper; theyregarded it as the source of all supernaturalpower. As a medicine, they attributed toDatura curative powers both physical andpsychic. In consonance with the many virtuesthey saw in it as well as the very real dangers,the Chumash wove around Datura a mythology unique in southern California.

California State UniversitySan JoseREFERENCES

Bean, L. J., andK.S.Saubel1972 Tem alpak h: Cahuilla Indian Knowledgeand Usage of Plants. Banning: Malki Museum Press.Benedict, R. F.1923 The Concept of the Guardian Spirit in

North America. Memoirs of the AmericanAnthropological Association 29.Blackburn, T.1974 Chumash Oral Tradition: A Cultural Analysis. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.Driver, H. E.1937 Culture Element Distributions: V, Southern California. University of CaliforniaAnthropological Records 1(1).Drucker, P.1937 Culture Element Distributions: VI, Southern Sierra Nevada. University of CaliforniaAnthropological Records 1(2).Gamble, G. L.n.d. Terms for Jimsonweed in Southern California. In Studies in Chumash Linguistics,M. S.Beeler, Ed. Toappear.Gayton, A. H.1928 The Narcotic Plant Datura in Aboriginal

American Culture. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.

1948 Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnography.University of California AnthropologicalRecords 10(1,2).Grant, C.1965 The Rock Paintings of the Chumash.Berkeley: University of California Press.Harrington, J. P.1912- Unpublished manuscript materials, on file1922 at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

1942 Cuhure Element Distributions: XIX, Central California Coast. University of California Anthropological Records 7(1).Henshaw, H. W.1885 The Aboriginal Relics Called "Sinkers" or"Plum mets." American Journal of Archaeology 1:105-114.Kroeber, A. L.1925 Handbook of the Indians of California.Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin

78.La Barre, W.1972 Hallucinogens and the Shamanistic Originof Religion. In Flesh of the Gods, P. T.Furst, Ed. NewYork: Praeger Publishers.Mason, J. A.1912 The Ethnology of the. Salinan Indians.University of California Publications inAmerican Archaeology and Ethnology10:97-240.Oster, G.1970 Phosphenes. Scientific American 222 (2):

82-87.Schultes, R. E.1972 An Overview of Hallucinogens in theWestern Hemisphere. In Flesh of the Gods,P. T. Furst, Ed. New York; PraegerPublishers.Yates, L. G.1889 Charmstones or "Plummets" from California. Annual Report of the SmithsonianInstitution, pp. 296-305.

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