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The Mono are a Native American people who traditionally live in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains (generally south of Bridgeport, California) and adjacent areas of the Great Basin.

Culture and geography

Throughout recorded history, the Mono have also been known as "Mona," "Monache," or "Northfork Mono," as labeled by E.W. Gifford, an ethnographer studying people in the vicinity of the San Joaquin River in the 1910s.

Today, many of the tribal citizens and descendents of the Mono inhabit the town of North Fork (thus, the label "Northfork Mono") in Madera County, California. People of the Mono tribe are also spread across California, in the San Joaquin Valley area, including Fresno County, and also in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The two clans of the North Fork Mono Tribe are represented by the golden eagle and the coyote. Mono traditions still in practice today include fishing, hunting, acorn gathering, cooking, healing, basket making, and games.

Ceremonies are performed at the Sierra Mono Museum in North Fork, California and an annual Indian Fair Days festival takes place on the first weekend of August every year to revive many traditions and rituals for kin and tourists alike to enjoy.

Tribal groups

The Mono are divided into the Eastern Mono and the Western Mono, roughly based on the Sierra crest. The Eastern Mono are sometimes groups with the Northern Paiute. The Western Mono traditionally lived in the south-central Sierra Nevada foothills.^[1]

Eastern Mono

• Big Pine Band of Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Indians of the Big Pine Reservation

Western Mono

• Big Sandy Rancheria of Mono Indians of California
• Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians of California
• Northfork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California
• Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation^[2]

Language

The Mono speak the Mono language, which is in the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. The native language of the Mono people is referred to as "Nim."

Mun a hoo e boso. Mun a hoo e num. Mun a hoo to e hun noh pa teh can be translated as "Hello to my friends. Hello to the Mono people. Hello to the people from all over."^[3]

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.) Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) suggested that the 1770 population of the Mono was 4,000. Sherburne F. Cook (1976:192) set the population of the Western Mono alone was about 1,800.

Kroeber reported the population of the Mono in 1910 as 1,500.

Today, there are approximately 2300 enrolled Mono Indians. The Cold Springs Mono have 275 tribal members.^[4] The Northfork Mono's enrollment is 1800, making them one of California's largest native tribes. The Big Sandy Mono have about 96 members. The Big Pine Band has 462 tribal members, but it is difficult to determine how many of these are Mono.^[5]

See also

• Mono traditional narratives

Notes

References

• Cook, Sherburne F. 1976. The Conflict between the California Indian and White Civilization. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, DC.
• Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0195138771

External links

• Sierra Mono Musem
• Northfork Rancheria
• Timeline of Mono Historic Events