Cupeño
The Cupeño are a Native American culture from California, characterized by their patrilocal societal structure and intermarriage practices with neighboring groups. Historically, they relied on the natural resources available in their inland environment, such as acorns, berries, and small game, due to their lack of direct access to the ocean. The Cupeño lived in two politically autonomous villages that were connected through trade, marriage, rituals, and a shared language. Their clans, led by male elders, maintained traditional ceremonial practices, including mortuary and world-renewal rites, along with specific rituals like the eagle-killing ceremony.
The Cupeño first encountered Spanish colonizers around 1795, but significant interactions began in 1820 following the establishment of Spanish cattle ranches in the region. Over the years, the Cupeño faced land dispossession, forced labor, and eventual relocation to the Pala Reservation, as legal battles and protests sought to protect their rights. As of 2021, around 1,000 Native Americans resided on the Pala Reservation, with Cupeño descendants often becoming members of various federally recognized tribes while still preserving their unique cultural identity.
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Subject Terms
Cupeño
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: California
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Cupeño
- PRIMARY LOCATION: San Jose de Valle valley, California
- POPULATION SIZE: 133, (2010: DEC American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File: Cupeño Alone)
The Cupeño, one of the Indigenous American cultures of California, were patrilocal and married outside their kin groups. With no direct access to the ocean, the Cupeño relied on acorns, seeds, berries, deer, quail, and other small animals. They occupied two politically autonomous villages united by trade, marriage, rituals, and language. Clans were headed by men through inheritance; they maintained the clan’s ceremonial dance house and paraphernalia. Ceremonies were concerned with mortuary rituals, world-renewal rites, and an eagle-killing ritual.
The Cupeño were first contacted by the Spanish in 1795, but no sustained contact or Indigenous American and White relations with the Spanish were established until 1820 when asistencias were built by the Spaniards to graze their cattle. With control of their lands gone, the Cupeño were forced to work as serfs until, eventually, the “owners” of Cupeño lands wanted them removed in the late 1890s. Years of litigation and national protest prevented this until the California Supreme Court removed the Cupeño to the Pala Reservation in Luiseño territory. Approximately 1,541 Indigenous Americans were living on the Pala Reservation in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau American Community Survey, though not all were of Cupeño descent. Over time, the descendants of the Cupeño became members of several other federally recognized nations of Indigenous Americans, though they remained a distinct group. The Cupeño work to preserve their cultural heritage through initiatives like the Cupa Cultural Center and the Pala Language Revitalization Program, which offers online Cupeño language classes.
Bibliography
Bahr, Diana. "Cupeno Trail of Tears: Relocation and Urbanization." American Indian Culture & Research Journal, vol. 21, no. 3, 1997, pp. 75.
"History." Cupa Cultural Center, cupa.palatribe.com/culture/history/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.
Hyer, Joel R. "It Was My Duty to Protect the Indians." Journal of the West, vol. 46, no. 4, 2007, pp. 28-39.
Karr, Steven M. "The Warner's Ranch Indian Removal: Cultural Adaptation, Accommodation, and Continuity." California History, vol. 86, no. 4, 2009, pp. 24-43.
“Language Revitalization.” Pala Band of Mission Indians, www.palatribe.com/residents/language-revitalization/?utm‗source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.
“Pala Reservation, CA 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171).” US Census Bureau, data.census.gov/table?q=Pala%20Reservation,%20CA. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.
“2010: DEC American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File: Cupeño Alone.” US Census Bureau, data.census.gov/table?q=cupeno. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.