Over the weekend, the 14th annual Chumash Culture Day goes virtual.
The entire event is on social media. It features songs, dances and spoken Chumash. Among their favorite musical instruments, the clapper.
Previously, the annual event was free and open to the public. Besides singing and dancing they sold arts and crafts and conducted a traditional hand-game tournament at the Tribal Hall on the Santa Ynez reservation. Hopefully, they’ll return next year with the real event.
The Chumash lived along the coast from Malibu to the Cuesta grade. They made a lot of canoes in a village just south of Santa Barbara, thus the name, Carpinteria. Even today, Chumash people occasionally gather for traditional hand games in Carpenteria, then afterwards, they go to Robitaille’s candy store to celebrate and honor the winners.
Here in the north county, the Salinan Indian people lived in the south end of the Salinas Valley, although there was some overlap with the Chumash.
