STORIES OF AMERICAN INDIANS

FEATURING:

Kumeyaay stories of the Brown-Curo family of Barona and Viejas.

Sam's kumeyaay.org site disappeared around October of 2005

Forward by Samuel Brown aka "Howka Sam" of Viejas, Kumeyaay:

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, grandparent, parent and peer storytelling was a part of the Kumeyaay culture where family traditions and morals were passed along by such stories, and many others were told simply for entertainment and humor.

There were designated storytellers, who, for a price, would travel the countryside and enthrall inter-tribal audiences for hours telling stories of heroes, adventure, and mystery.

Now only fragments of the stories exist, and with fading memories this history is rapidly passing. It is the goal of these sites to preserve as much as possible of what remains.

This is an open invitation for any Kumeyaay members to send whatever stories and photographs they have for preservation on these web sites. The stories do not have to be great epics, they can be simple short paragraphs about events in the recent past that offer insight into the culture as it existed only a few years ago.

• We can scan your priceless original photographs at your home, and digitally restore them.
• We can photograph your priceless original items at your home, caption and catalog them.
• We can interview, video tape, and record your oral history, your stories, at your home.

Thank you for your interest.

SAMUEL BROWN

WEBMASTER: www.kumeyaay.org
Examples of such stories can be found HERE:
These particular Kumeyaay stories are from the Brown-Curo family of Barona and Viejas - Howka Sam (Viejas) site expired 2025

ORPHAN BOY, recorded in 1960s by Mary L. LaChappa

Kumeyaay story in Kumeyaay language by Mary L. LaChappa in the 1960s, "Orphan Boy" by Native speaker.

Kumeyaay recording contributed by Daleane Adams (digitally restored by G BALLARD).

Harry Paul Cuero Junior (Campo Band of Mission Indians) pictured playing a gourd rattle and singing cultural stories alongside fellow Kumeyaay chairman Leroy Elliott (Manzanita Band of the Kumeyaay Nation) during a 2006 Sycuan gathering on the East County reservation.

Paul radiated a deeply spiritual aura -- most people who were blessed with his presence respected that.

Bird Singing Lore:

We don't even know the meaning of some of our bird songs anymore because they are in an old, old language. But we know it's all a story that has been passed down from generation to generation.

- Paul Cuero Jr. (1964-2025), Campo Band

Bird singing includes 300 songs that were given to the Kumeyaay from the Creator. Men and women sing them in our language, but only men accompany the singing with rattle playing.

The songs tell a story about Creation and a journey our ancestors made. The first song is about the sun going down, and it is sung at sundown. The singing continues until three o'clock in the afternoon the next day.

The songs are metaphors for life. There are teachings in them. It is like taking a journey through life and relating those experiences to today.

-Campo Kumeyaay Curators, 2003

Juan Meza Cuero, Kumiai:

My style of singing is called Wildcat; in the Indigenous language it is called *nemi*. Even though we are Kumiai, we play differently. That is why they call me. This song can be played anywhere. Speaking of *Kuri Kuri*, it means, in my language, that there was an Indigenous man who sang a song that lasted a long time, and the dancers would say *Kuri Kuri*, which means, "Another, another!" Not the same one—change it, *kuakur kuakur*, as the words change. Depending on where they go, they call the celebration something different. Everyone has a nickname.

I have many songs, 120-something songs... This is a story from here, from the countryside to Ensenada, traveling around with those songs. They are stories like the one about Tecate, the Cuchumá Mountain. I think the Indigenous people gave it that name, which means "The Sleeping Man."

In other words, there was an enchanted mine on that mountain, and there was a man guarding it. People would pass by and say *Cuch-uchma*, referring to the man who was asleep guarding the mine. And Tecate, you know, means *it tacat*, and the brewery liked the name, which is why it is called Tecate, but it actually means "to cut firewood." People from the United States came to cut firewood, and they bought tequila....

-Juan Meza Cuero (1935-), excerpted from Autonomous University of Baja California Institute of Historical Research interview, c.2010. Originallly published in Español -- translated to English via chatgpt.com