Quechan traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Quechan

Quechan

The Quechan are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the border with Mexico...

 (Yuma) people of the lower Colorado River area of southeastern California, southwestern Arizona, and northeastern Baja California.

The Southern California Creation Myth is particularly prominent in Quechan oral literature. This and other narrative elements are shared with the other Yuman–speaking peoples of southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

, western Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, and northern Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

, as well as with their Uto-Aztecan-speaking neighbors.

Sources

• Curtis, Edward S. 1907-1930. The North American Indian. 20 vols. Plimpton Press, Norwood, Massachusetts. (Creation myth, vol. 2, pp. 73–77.)
• DuBois, Constance Goddard. 1908. "Ceremonies and Traditions of the Diegueño Indians". Journal of American Folklore 21:228-236." (Brief version of Quechan creation myth.)
• Emerson, Lee, and A. M. Halpern. 1978. "Coyote and Quail (Yuma-Quechan)". In Coyote Stories, edited by William Bright, pp. 124–136. International Journal of American Linguistics Native American Texts Series No. 1. University of Chicago Press. (Recorded in 1976.)
• Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz. 1984. American Indian Myths and Legends. Pantheon Books, New York. (Retelling of a narrative partly from Curtis 1909, pp. 77–82.)
• Forde, C. Daryll. 1931. "Ethnography of the Yuma Indians". University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 28:83-277. Berkeley. (Creation myths with comparative discussion, pp. 176–179, 214-221.)
• Gifford, Edward Winslow, and Gwendoline Harris Block. 1930. California Indian Nights. Arthur H. Clark, Glendale, California. (Previously published version of Creation myth, pp. 107–112.)
• Halpern, Abraham M. 1976. "Kukumat Becomes Sick--A Yuman Text". In Yuman Texts, edited by Margaret Langdon, pp. 5–25. International Journal of American Linguistics Native American Texts Series No. 1(3). University of Chicago Press.
• Halpern, Abraham M. 1997. Kar'uk: Native Accounts of the Quechan Mourning Ceremony. University of California Publications in Linguistics 128. University of California Press.
• Harrington, John Peabody. 1908. "A Yuma Account of Origins". Journal of American Folklore 21:324-348. (Brief note on creation myth recorded in 1929, p. 15.)
• Hinton, Leanne, and Lucille J. Watahomigie. 1984. Spirit Mountain: An Anthology of Yuman Story and Song. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. (Includes Quechan narratives collected by Abraham Halpern, pp. 298–313.)
• Luthin, Herbert W. 2002. Surviving through the Days: A California Indian Reader. University of California Press, Berkeley. (Excerpt from Harrington 1908, pp. 461–489.)

External links

• The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis
  Edward S. Curtis
  Edward Sheriff Curtis was a photographer of the American West and of Native American peoples.-Early life:...
  
   (1908)
• "Ceremonies and Traditions of the Diegueño Indians" by Constance Goddard DuBois
  Constance Goddard DuBois
  Constance Goddard DuBois was an American novelist and an ethnographer, writing extensively between 1899 and 1908 about the native peoples and cultures of southern California....
  
   (1908)
• An excerpt from a Quechan song translated by Abraham M. Halpern
  Abraham M. Halpern
  Abraham "Abe" Meyer Halpern was a linguist and anthropologist who specialized in Native American Languages. In the wake of World War II he initiated a second career focusing on United States foreign policy, especially in regard to China...