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In August of 1769 while following an Indian trail a scouting team of Spanish soldiers and Franciscans came across a large expanse of oak trees in what was to become the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles. Impressed by these trees, they named it "El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de los Encinos"--"The Valley of Saint Catherine of Bononia of the Oaks." As they followed the trail they encountered a Tongva Indian village among the oak woodland. These Tongva residents had named the area Syútkanga or 'Place of Oak'.
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Los Encinos Historic State Park, located in the midst of the Tongva village area that later became Encino section of the San Fernando Valley, maintains the native oak tradition with live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) and at least one valley oak (Quercus lobata). Photo: predominantly oak canopy along southern edge of Los Encinos Historic State Park as viewed from above and across Ventura Boulevard looking to the northeast. Note the pond as an expression of a natural spring at the site.
Some oaks, such as this live oak on Ventura Blvd., were saved from the massive removals that accompanied Los Angeles’ rapid urbanization.
Commonly called the Mexican Indian fig for its fist-sized red-to-purple fruits, this cactus plant is now common to Southern California and is found in a variety of settings associated with its Mexican roots. Symbolizing the ancient Aztec vision of the founding of México on an island in Lake Texcoco, this tree-cactus is one of the key elements featured on the flag of modern day México. Originally brought to California by the Franciscans to support life at the missions, the various related species can now be found at sites such as the region's historic ranchos or in backyards of immigrant families of Mexican ancestry. Its fruits and paddle-shaped leaves can be bought at local supermarkets. Opuntia ficus-indica has also hybridized with local native Opuntia species, creating new cactus varieties upon the landscape.
Read more via the Nopalli navigation link above.
A comparison of American Indian creation myths from across the Americas, indicates that there are strong similarities in terms of story content, story motifs and story structural syntax. This commonality of creation narrative speaks to the time depth of these traditions as well as the strength of oral storytelling techniques that were used to transmit these stories. It can also be observed that the Native creation stories were and are clearly linked to ceremonial content, with each ceremonial enactment reinforcing the story and its meaning to the participants. These stories were also reflected in other cultural formats including dress, stone, ceramic and wood inscriptions, knotted cords (e.g. the Andean quipus), landscape mnemonics and books containing mnemonic pictures and/or written language (e.g. Maya script). Stories expressed in cave art inscriptions have also been proposed. (See "Book Recommendation: The White Shaman Mural" this site).
These themes will be explored in a book under development by Craig O'Connor: See "Creation of the Americas" this site.
The widespread "Horned Serpent" motif found in myth and pictorial representations in southern North America, Mesoamerica and extending into northwest South America. Here a Caddo Indian example inscribed on shell from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston item 63-234.8.
Ritual and ceremonial water purification is an ancient practice that in some instances can be traced to mythical stories. Here a couple take a full-water pre-wedding bath. From the Prehispanic Mixtec Codex Selden painted on deerskin.
"The White Shaman Mural" by Carolyn E. Boyd comprehensively documents the enigmatic ancient rock art mural located in a cave shelter along the Lower Pecos River in Texas. Using a suite of the latest scientific techniques and instruments, Boyd and a group of archaeologists and other specialists examined in detail each figure and mark in the cave as to its sequence of application, color, material and context. But beyond this meticulous application of science and technology, the truly deep significance of Boyd's work lies in her interpretation of the mural's meaning as painted by Native Americans an estimated 1,500 to 4,500 years ago. By comparing the rock figures with what is known about the mythology of contemporary Indians of México, such as the Huichol, with Indian traditions of the American Southwest and with traditions of ancient Mesoamerican cultures, Boyd has proposed that the White Shaman Mural depicts a creation account of the birth of the sun as well as other stories such as the Great Flood. A truly pioneering work, the book is available through the Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center:
https://shumla.org/book-order/
Fate Bell Shelter rock art image above from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site website. The Fate Bell Shelter is located near the White Shaman Mural site and contains ancient rock art painted in the same Pecos River Style tradition found in over two hundred caves and shelters across both sides of the Rio Grande river.
In 1922 following in the wake of World War I, a group of Methodists gathered on a mesa above the Pacific Ocean at the outer edge of Los Angeles to dedicate a new planned community devoted to spiritual ideals, education and peace. Ascending the bluffs the visitor entered Pacific Palisades through the street Via de la Paz, the “Way of Peace,” a straight avenue focused on the distant “Peace Hill” a gently rising slope at the base of the brush-covered Santa Monica Mountains. Initially the site for Easter sunrise services, Peace Hill was for a time considered as a site for a "Temple of Peace" where leaders and persons of good faith could meet to discuss and mediate world conflicts--a sort of adjunct to the then emerging League of Nations.
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The photographic image above documents the founding day of Pacific Palisades in 1922. The image below shows an early Easter sunrise service on "Peace Hill" overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the horizon. Images from: Santa Monica Library—Palisades Historical Image Collection.
The book: "A Loss of Integrity, americas [sic] favorite mental patient" by Mr. Craig Powell Galey (2016) describes in Mr. Galey's direct style, the first thirty-five years of his life odyssey: his youthful years living in some of the most prestigious sections of Los Angeles and his subsequent struggles living within the confines of flawed Los Angeles County and California State penal institutions. Extremely colorful, insightful and redeeming, this book is available through Amazon.
Epilogue
In a change of mind in 2018, Craig Galey destroyed most print copies of the book. As of February 2019 a used copy was available on Amazon for $ 920.99
Image: Soledad State Prison, CA: capacity 3,312. Imagery©2017Google, Map Data©2017 Google
In our modern world we are surrounded by glass: that miracle hardened substance that allows us to look right through it. Behind a glass windshield we survey our neighborhood as we move silently along strapped safely within our automobile. Was that a tent I saw behind that bush? From behind an office tower’s tinted window we look down on the streets below seeing people walking and talking; sometimes we observe a person carrying a worn shopping bag or someone bearing an overstuffed knapsack. Or in front of a building we pause to stare at the glass screen of our smart phone. We now witness a breaking news story: city work crews clear a sidewalk homeless encampment. As we contemplate that unfolding but far-removed scene, a clean well-groomed homeless woman walks by us.
Click here to see behind glass.
Early US Navy Encounters in Nanjing, China
The Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue
神功圣德碑
In March of 1989 the author visited Nanjing China as part of a larger trip of exploration. In Nanjing near the Ming Tomb, in a then roofless, poorly maintained structure known as the “Square City” he saw a large ‘turtle monument’ that many years later he found was called “The Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue” ( 神功圣德碑 ). Upon closer inspection of this monument, Craig noticed a number of English inscriptions scratched or otherwise chiseled onto the stele’s front and left side. These inscriptions named at least four United States Navy ships and the date, December 1904. The ship names were noted and along with two photographs of the monument and later passed along to the US Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C. In turn the US Naval Historical Center provided further information on three of those ships as noted in the accompanying table.
Statement of the Author
Dating from around the year of Ming ( 明 ) Emperor Hongwu’s ( 洪武帝 ) death in 1398, a memorial to his life, the “Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue,” has witnessed over 600 years of epochal Chinese history. During this span of time, waves of emperors, rulers, native armies and foreign forces bringing relative peace or violent upheaval, have washed across the lands of the Middle kingdom (中國). Since the time of the prolonged, bloody and devastating Taiping ( 太平 ) Rebellion (1850-1864) when the roof to the Square City surrounding the monument was destroyed, the timeless elements of wind, rain, dust as well as the residue of modern industrial pollutants have left their marks on the tall stele and its original Chinese character inscriptions. The brutish vandalism by US ( 美國 “Beautiful Country”) sailors/ troops who recorded their presence in China in the early years of the twentieth century further defaced the stele’s surface.
But let us consider the tortoise ( 贔屭 and 龜 and 鰲 ). The tortoise forms the literal and spiritual base of the monument. Symbolically, its shell at once represents the vault of heaven arched over the flat earth, and when united with the living tortoise entity with its four limbs reaching to the four directions, it conveys the concept of cosmic immutability and longevity. In ancient times as well, tortoise shells after being subjected to heat and flame, cracked and fractured forming lines and patterns used for divination ( 貞龜 ).
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The “Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue” as photographed in March of 1989. Graffiti noting at least four US Navy ships and the date December 1904 were chiseled onto the monument but cannot easily be discerned from these photos. Note on the above photo apparent bullet holes on square ‘block’ extending above the edge of the turtle’s carapace.
Front view of The “Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue” as photographed in March of 1989. Not discernible in this photograph, graffiti chiseled across the stele face approximately 2.8 meters above the tortoise’s back read “USS QUIROS” a reference to a US Navy ship originally built for the Spanish Navy in Hong Kong in 1894. The ship was captured by the US Navy as a result of the Battle of Manila Bay (Spanish-American War) in 1898. Subsequently the ship was commissioned by the US Navy for various assignments mainly in China. The USS Quiros patrolled the China seacoast and the Yangtze River from approximately 1905 to February 1908. The vessel was later recommissioned and took up the Yangtze Patrol from 1911 to around 1923 when the ship was decommissioned and intentionally sunk.
Author’s sketch sent to Naval Historical Center indicating the locations of the inscribed names of the ships and the date ‘December 1904’ as seen in March of 1989
Sources: Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. (Volume II, 1963 - Reprint with Corrections 1969; Volume V, 1970). Washington, D.C.
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