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Mohave traditional narratives

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Mohave traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Mohave people on the lower Colorado River in southeastern California, western Arizona, and southern Nevada.

Mohave oral literature has its closest links with the traditional narratives of the other Yuman-speaking groups of southern California, western Arizona, and northern Baja California. There are also close similarities with the oral literature of the Takic groups of southern California. (See also Traditional narratives (Native California).)

Two features are unusual in Mohave narratives. The Mohave believed that in dreaming, particular while still in their mothers' wombs, they traveled back to the time of creation and directly witness the events of their mythology. The Mohave also provided a rare example of a detailed semi-historical narrative of travels and wars with an extended internal chronology that was generally consistent.

On-Line Examples of Mohave Narratives

  • "Two Myths of the Mission Indians of California" by Alfred L. Kroeber (1906)
  • The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis (1908)
  • References

    Mohave traditional narratives Wikipedia