| Serrano (people) from Wikipedia,
The Serrano are a Native American tribe of Southern California.
They refer to themselves variously as: Taaqtam, meaning "people", Maarenga'yam,
"people from Morongo", and Yuhaviatam, "people of the pines".
History
Members of the Serrano tribe are part of the Shoshonean subset of the
Uto-Aztecan group of Native Americans. Serrano means highlander or mountaineer.
They were an offshoot of the Takic people that arrived in Southern California
around 2,500 years ago. When the Spanish missionaries came into the region,
they helped form the tribal name Serrano, separating them from their neighbors
that were designated as the Gabrielino and Kitanemuk.
The Serrano historically populated the San Bernardino Mountains and
extended to the Mojave River region down to the Tejon Creek.
The populations along the Tejon Creek identified their tribes as the
Cuahajai or Cuabajay. Their dwellings were communal and made of willow
framing. The dwellings were complete with fireplaces for each family and
they crafted baskets and vessels with mother-of-pearl inlays which were
often traded to the native people in the Santa Barbara region. The men
did not wear clothing and the women wore deerskin, otter, and rabbit furs.
The Serrano that inhabited the San Bernardino mountains would go to
the valleys of Apple Valley and Lucerne during the winter and the area
in and around Big Bear Lake during the summer. They hunted small game like
rabbits, utilizing traps along with bows and arrows. They did not hunt
the grizzly bears which they believed were reincarnations of their ancestors'
spirits. They were skilled craftsmen and experts in basketweaving. Their
diet consisted of the game that they caught as well as pinon nuts ground
into a dough and made into a flat tortilla-like food. They also gathered
the acorns from the oak trees to make a flour and then porridge called
wiich. Other staples were roasted agave, prickly pears, and Yucca blossoms.
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel was founded in 1771. The Serrano revolted
against the missions along with the Cahuilla and Yuma tribes in 1812. In
1834 many Serrano were forcibly relocated to the missions. They suffered
devastating smallpox outbreaks in 1840 and 1860 before a reservation was
established in 1875.
Other villages of the Serranos included Akxawiet, Cucamonga, Homhoabit,
Jurumpa, Juyubit, Muscupiabit, Topapaibit (Victorville), Guapaibit (Hesperia),
Paso del Cajon, San Benito, San Gorgonio, San Pascual, (Rancho) San Timoteo,
Temeku (Rancheria), Tolocabi, and Yucaipa. |
