There has been a lot of talk that today, May 21, 2011 is going to be the end of the world. Well not exactly the end of the world, but the Rapture when good people will be taken away to Heaven, leaving the earth before the start of the final days.
What did Paiutes believe would cause the end of the world? We found and on old article taken from a lesser known series of books called “Numu Yadua”, created by the Tabuce-ticutta band of Paiutes. Many Paiutes from Yosemite, Mono Lake and the eastern Sierra Nevada ended up living and intermarrying with the Tabuce-ticutta band of Yerington Paiutes of Nevada.
In the book they had an article called “Conversations with an Old-Timer” where elder Paiutes back then talked about the old ways and beliefs. One Paiute elder told the story of what many Paiutes believed was the end of the world. Many Paiutes believe that the world is going to ‘tip’ and that it has tipped before when the earth enters the Milky Way. During the last time the world tipped there was a massive flood. Paiutes living in the top of Mount Grant or Kareya or Kudagwa survived and repopulated the area again.
The elder also talked about what Paiutes believe would happened after you die.
Here is the story:
I transcribed the story.
RETURN OF THE DEAD
Old-timers, you, they say, some day, this world’s gonna tip. That’s not an earthquake. Same thing. You don’t know what’s gonna happen when the earth starts in the way, either some people, they say that this world’s gonna tip upside down. I know that. That’s what my grandmother used to say. All those old people say that.
They say, too many bad people sitting on it, that’s why. So this world’s gotta tip. And those bad people, they won’t come back again. Good people, though, they will. I know one old lady. She likes to talk that. Mamie, Mamie Dick. My wife’s related to her. Through her husband (Andy Dick). They’re brother and sister. I know she used to talk about that all the time (resurrection of the dead). Talk like a preacher, you know. Tell everyone where she been before. Talk to the people like that. When you die, you know, somebody’s got to talk to that person. Tell him he’s gonna go to a better place than this place. Tell him not to come back. “Don’t bother your relations any more. Cause you’re going to a good place.”
And long time ago, those Old-Timers, they say you gonna come back again. When you die – be young again. They have a story on that. You turn into being young again. I know that’s what all those Old-Timers believe…how you’re gonna come back. Be young again.
But one of those Old-Timers, he don’t believe that. Fish Lake Joe. I know him. He’s related to my wife. He’s always saying that. Lots of them Indian doctors, they say when you die, you got a body. No matter if they bury you, you’re just the same like us. You’ll come back again to this earth. Fish Lake Joe, he wanna see that for himself. So he go there. Use his buha, you know. Send his mind there. And you know what he saw?
There’s nobody there! Fish Lake Joe. He went there alright. To that place. And there’s only shadows. That’s what he said: Dead people, they don’t have a body. Only got a shadow. He calls them, you know. Tries to talk to his relations. But nobody won’t answer him. They just like a shadow. And the Owl, Muhu-u was looking at him. Blink 4 times, you know. That’s what Owl did. That’s all he did.
* buha or pooha = magic, spiritual powers.
So Paiutes believed in some sort of a Rapture also where the world is going tip and shifting effecting the world’s population. Only those in a certain location will survive, and those are good people.
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Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Paiute Colony of Ahwahnee.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2011 02:44PM by Yosemite_Indian.
