The Intersection of Karuk Storytelling and Education
The Intersection of Karuk Storytelling and Education
The Intersection of Karuk Storytelling and Education
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made at Weɫkwäu at the mouth <strong>of</strong> the Klamath; <strong>and</strong> finished with<br />
interlardings <strong>of</strong> descriptions <strong>of</strong> the ritual <strong>and</strong> taboos. <strong>The</strong>re is no formal<br />
unity to the account; but it seems to be much the sort <strong>of</strong> thing which a<br />
Yurok might now <strong>and</strong> then string together to tell his son or nephew as they<br />
lay in the sweathouse. (Kroeber & Gifford 1949, 120)<br />
Buckley also describes a brief, koan-like poem that was used as a teaching tool. His<br />
description <strong>of</strong> its use bears notable similarity to the modern-day Yurok’s repeating the<br />
end <strong>of</strong> a story, “mantralike”: “Having been given such a song by a teacher it is up to the<br />
student to show the teacher that he knows what it means; that he is capable <strong>of</strong> perceiving,<br />
<strong>of</strong> experiencing the facts referred to.” (1979, 36) Many pikvah also incorporate song, so<br />
what we’re considering is in fact a collection <strong>of</strong> formally <strong>and</strong> thematically linked oral<br />
literature, rather than several discrete genres, a la Aristotle, that apparently st<strong>and</strong> apart<br />
from one another. It seems that while they can be lessons in <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> themselves, they can<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten be used to help guide a student in another undertaking. I would like to consider<br />
three pursuits that have a significant role in education, <strong>and</strong> how pikvah <strong>and</strong> other forms <strong>of</strong><br />
educational oral literature interact with them: sweathouse, classic menstrual practices,<br />
<strong>and</strong> mountain training.<br />
Sweathouse was a st<strong>and</strong>ard element <strong>of</strong> men’s <strong>and</strong> female doctors’ training in<br />
classic Káruk culture, <strong>and</strong> is still used by some men <strong>and</strong> women today. Aboriginally a<br />
semi-subterranean structure, every village had at least one for daily use, which also<br />
served as the men’s dwelling-space. Certain villages had one restricted to only<br />
ceremonial use. Kroeber <strong>and</strong> Gifford include this diagram <strong>of</strong> the Ka’tim’îin sacred<br />
sweathouse in their World Renewal:<br />
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