Chinigchinix

Chingichngish(also spelledChengiichngech,Chinigchinix, Chinigchinich, Changitchnish,etc.), also known asQuaoar(alsoQua-o-ar,Kwawar,etc.) and by other names includingOuiamot,TobetandSaor,is an important mythological figure of theMission Indiansof coastalSouthern California,a group ofTakic-speakingpeoples, today divided into thePayómkawichum(Luiseño),Tongva(Gabrieliño and Fernandeño), andAcjachemem(Juaneño) peoples.

Chinigchinix was born, or first appeared, after the death ofWiyot,a tyrannical ruler of the first beings, who was poisoned by his sons. Wiyot's murder brought death into the world, and as a consequence, the male creator Night divided the first human ancestors into distinct peoples, assigning them languages and territories.

In June 2002,50000 Quaoar,a largetrans-Neptunian objectandringeddwarf planet,was discovered and named after this deity.

Names

The nameOuiamotis ostensibly similar toWiyot(Ouiot), the name of another important figure, the primeval tyrant killed just before the appearance of Chinigchinix. Ouiamot is possibly to be taken as Ouiamot the childhood name of Chinigchinix.

The nameQuaoarwas first recorded byHugo Reidin his 1852 description of Tongva, in the spellingQua-o-ar.Quaoar's parents were Tacu and Auzar, or, according to other accounts, he was born ofTamaayawut(Mother Earth). According to yet other accounts, "He had neither father nor mother".

Both theTongva religionandlanguageare recorded only fragmentarily. As a consequence, the pronunciation of the nameQuaoaris not known with certainty. Hugo Reid (1852) recorded it asQua-o-ar,suggesting that it was trisyllabic. But the Spanishtranscribed itQuaguar,suggesting two syllables ([ˈkwawaɾ],reflecting the Spanish use ofgufor[w]). Kroeber(1925)spells itKwawar,though he notes Reid's spelling as well:Kwawar ( "Qua-o-ar" ). Harrington(1933) gives the most precise transcription,K(w)áʼuwar,in interpreting an 1846 translation of a Spanish text.

Given the general quality of Harrington's work, this might be expected to be the most accurate as well, approximately[ˈkʷaʔuwar],with three syllables.

In English it is/ˈkwɑːwɑːr/,with two syllables.

History

The Takic beliefs are known only fragmentarily, as these peoples were Christianized early, bySpanish missionaries,during the late 18th to early 19th centuries. Only sparse material has been collected by ethnologists from the few remaining native speakers during 19th century. Chingichngish has variously been represented as acreator deity,aculture heroor lawgiver figure or a "prophet", who became associated with the figure ofChristafter the conversion of the Takic peoples.

This character was first mentioned in a description of the beliefs of thenative peopleswho were associated with theMission San Juan Capistranoin accounts written by theFranciscanmissionaryGerónimo Boscanain the 1820s. One version of Boscana's manuscript was subsequently published byAlfred Robinson(1846), who gave it "Chinigchinich" as a title. Some subsequent scholars have characterizedLuiseño religionin general, or certain portions of it, or a set of some more widely shared traits, as a Chingichngish cult (DuBois1908; Kroeber 1925; Moriarty 1969).

John Peabody Harrington(Boscana 1933) thought that Chingichngish might have been a historical figure, but most scholars have interpreted him as a deity.Alfred L. Kroeber(1925) suggested that Chingichngish beliefs were a historic-period native response to cultural shock of the missions, and Raymond C. White (1963) thought that they might have arisen in response to earlier contacts with European sailors along the California coast.

The most distinctive characteristic of Chingichngish beliefs concerned the existence of a set of "Chingichngish avengers" who spied on human beings and enforced the moral code. These figures included Raven, Rattlesnake, Bear, Mountain Lion, and others. There were also ceremonial items sacred to Chingichngish, includingmortarsandwinnowingtrays. Chingichngish beliefs were associated with the initiation ceremonies for adolescent boys, during which the hallucinogenic plantDatura(Toloache, Jimsonweed,Datura wrightii) was ingested, but elements of these ceremonies were much more widely shared than were belief in the specific character of Chingichngish.

See also

• Tongva mythology

References

• Boscana, Jerónimo. 1933.Chinigchinich: A Revised and Annotated Version of Alfred Robinson's Translation of Father Geronomi Boscana's Historical Account of the Belief, Usages, Customs and Extravagancies of the Indians of this Mission of San Juan Capistrano, Called the Acagchemem Tribe.Extensively annotated by John P. Harrington. Fine Arts Press, Santa Ana, California.
• Boscana, Jerónimo. 1934.A New Original Version of Boscana's Historical Account of the San Juan Capistrano Indians of Southern California.Edited by John P. Harrington. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 92(4). Washington, D.C.
• DuBois, Constance Goddard. 1908. "The Religion of the Luiseño Indians of Southern California.University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology8:69-186. Berkeley.
• Kroeber, A. L. 1925.Handbook of the Indians of California.Bureau of American EthnologyBulletin No. 78.Smithsonian Institution,Washington, D.C.
• Moriarty, James R., III. 1969.Chinigchinix: An Indigenous California Religion.Southwest Museum,Los Angeles.
• Robinson, Alfred. 1846.Life in California.Wiley & Putnam, New York.
• White, Raymond C. 1963. "Luiseño Social Organization".University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology48(2). Berkeley.