Native One
hūyū tepaní
sacred fire
ancestral lifeways tribal gathering & cultural Burn
Dunlap, CA
november 7th 8th & 9th 2025
Hūyū Tepaní Sacred Fire Ancestral Lifeways Tribal Gathering and Cultural Burn is a three day tribal led cultural gathering inspired by the element of fire and our ancestral connection to this sacred, powerful force in creating Indigenous culture, tradition and lifeways.
Join inter-tribal community members from Dunlap to Mariposa for a three day long educational ancestral lifeways and skills gathering inspired by the element of fire. This gathering will host a variety of ancestral lifeway skills centering the spirit of fire including buckskin hide pit smoking, friction fire ignition, hot rock acorn cooking in an ancestral basket, open pit fired hand-shaped earthen pottery, baskets made from weaving materials tended with fire including willow, redbud and sourberry. The element of fire will be celebrated in traditional song, ceremony, Indigenous language of fire, Native plant identification, elements of regalia making with fire and a small scale grassland broadcast burn of plants used for traditional purposes of food, medicine and Indigenous lifeways.
This three day gathering will include onsite camping options and full service meals throughout the gathering with opportunities for tribal members to experience the sacred element of fire in our lifeway practices and everyday living. On the last day of Hūyū Tepaní Sacred Fire we will honor the land and Earth with a 5 acre cultural burn on Wukchumni territory in Dunlap, CA.
Hūyū Tepaní Sacred Fire Ancestral Lifeways Gathering is hosted Dunlap Wukchumni/Mono and Southern Sierra Miwuk of Mariposa. Local tribal members over 18 are welcome. Capacity is limited. Register today.
lifeway & skill workshops:
PIT FIRED EARTHEN POTTERY
PIT FIRED EARTHEN POTTERY
November 7 & 8
Hand-shaped Earthen Pottery is an ancestral practice of Indigenous and tribal people all throughout the Americas, across continents of Africa, Asia, Australia and globally. Although California Indigenous peoples are well known for beautiful, ornate woven baskets, we also employed Earthen pottery for cooking vessels, water jugs and other utilitarian uses. The regions of use were often dictated by the quality of the clay of particular tribal areas. Hand-shaped Earthen clay vessels are then fired over an open fire or dug into a pit with hot coals.
Pit firing earthen pottery is a traditional, low-tech method of firing clay in a pit dug into the ground or placed over an open flame. The fire is stoked by using wood, dung, or other organic materials as fuel. This technique results in unique, often unpredictable, colors and patterns on the pottery.
BUCKSKIN HIDE PIT SMOKING
hide smoking w/ john & tiśina
November 8
This traditional method of hide smoking utilizes a pit technique of two pits dug side by side connected by a tunnel shaft that allows punk wood coals to burn in one pit and the hide to be strung up and smoked over the other pit. When the punk wood starts to smolder, the opening to this pit is covered nearly completely, the smoke moves through the tunnel cooling before it rises into the sac of the hide draped over the second pit. As the smoke passes through the membrane of the hide the smoke creates a chemical process that preserves the hide for a multitude of lifetime uses.
Smoking buckskin is a crucial step in brain tanning that preserves the hide's softness and flexibility, preventing it from becoming stiff when wet. The process involves treating the hide with smoke, which bonds with the collagen fibers, ensuring they don't re-stick together when the hide dries. This creates a weather-resistant and durable material.
This traditional pit hide smoking method will be facilitated by John Saucedo, Chukchansi, & Tiśina Parker, Southern Sierra Miwuk/Paiute, of Mariposa CA.
TRADITIONAL ACORN COOKING
traditional hot rock acorn cooking w/ chrissy
november 8
Traditional acorn cooking by California Indigenous peoples uses a "hot rock cooking" method in a water tight woven basket. This involves placing acorn flour, which has been leached to remove tannins, into a tightly woven, waterproof basket. As the basket is used repeatedly for cooking acorn, the starches in the acorn permeate into the crevasses of the basket making it more and more water tight the more it is used. Hot rocks, heated in a fire, are then carefully added to the basket with a looped spoon like stick to bring the acorn mixture to a boil.
Once the tannins are removed, the leached acorn flour is mixed with water in a tightly woven basket. Hot rocks, heated in a fire, are carefully transferred to the basket using a traditional loop stick tool. The rocks are dipped in water to remove ash before being added to the basket. The heat from the rocks cooks the acorn mush. The mixture is stirred with a paddle or stick as the rocks heat the water, creating a porridge-like consistency.
Traditional acorn cooking will be faciltated by basketmaker and culture keeper Chrissy Atwell of Big Sandy Rancheria.
BASKETS & FIRE
baskets & fire w/ jennifer
november 8
Fire is an element that tends our most sacred plants used in California Native basketry including willow, redbud & sourberry. These weaving materials flourish with low intensity intentional fire. Throughout history our ancestors put good fire on the land to cultivate these weaving plants and encourage new shoots to grow long and straight to towards the sky. These long, straight shoots are ideal for weavers and baskets. During Hūyū Tepaní Sacred Fire Ancestral Lifeways Gathering our elder basket weavers will share their legacy and knowledge with tribal members about how the element of fire cultivates our most prized and sacred basket materials.
Basket demonstration and class will be taught by Jennifer Malone, local Wukchumni language keeper and weaver.
ELEMENTS OF REGALIA
fired pinenut & po beads w/ tiśina
november 8
In California traditional Native regalia seeds are beads, shells are beads, stones are beads. The collection and processing of beads varies in contemporary day. Traditional methods of processing these most sacred elements of seeds and stones for regalia can include fire and open flame. In the Wukchumni and Southern Sierra Miwuk traditional territories Gray Pine or Bull Pine are often used as a delicious food source and are made into beads for regalia. These large hard-shelled pinenuts are sometimes baked or roasted over a fame for a dramatic color effect that results in the deepest, darkest black.
In trade across California, shells and other stones are also common. "Po" beads of magnesite baked beneath coals in ochre sand change this porous river rock to colors of salmon and red Earth tones that make these stone beads one of the most prized and valued beads of the California coastal tribes. These beads, along with abalone and clam shell, made their way across the state through ancient trade routes that Indigenous people still traverse today.
FRICTION FIRE INGNITIONS
friction fire ignition w/ ray & tiśina
November 8 & 9
Fire is a sacred element of creation and a fundamental partner of human life. Friction fire ignition, a method of creating fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, is a technique utilized by Indigenous cultures worldwide. This method, often involving a bow drill or hand drill, converts mechanical energy into heat, generating an ember that can be used to ignite tinder. Traditional ecological knowledge suggests friction-based fire starting has been practiced for millennia, with adaptations varying based on local environments and available materials. Indigenous firekeepers used various plant materials abundant in their local areas and often carried coals while traveling to rekindle fire when needed.
Bow Drill:
This method uses a spindle (a wooden shaft) spun against a fireboard (a piece of wood with a notch) using a bow and cord. The friction generates heat and a coal.
Hand Drill:
Similar to the bow drill, but the spindle is rotated by hand instead of with a bow.
Friction fire ignitions will be facilitated by firekeepers Ray Gutteriez, Wukchumni/Wuksachi, and Tiśina Parker, Southern Sierra Miwuk/Paiute. Friction fire ignition by all is encouraged throughout the duration of Hūyū Tepaní Sacred Fire gathering.
song, dance, language, ceremony
song, dance, language, ceremony
november 7 & 8
Song, language and ceremony give the sacred power of fire a voice. Ceremonial dance embodies the movement of flickering flame. Through explorations of fire prayer in our Indigenous languages, participants of Hūyū Tepaní Sacred Fire gathering, will explore the element of fire as a creation story. These stories are brought to life through ceremony and dance as we honor this sacred element. Inter-Tribal song, dance, ceremony and prayer offerings to the land and flames will take place evenings around the community fire. All are welcome.
Fire song and ceremony will be led by local Wukchumni and Southern Sierra Miwuk tribal members.
Cultural burn
cultural burn w/ ray Gutteriez
november 9 8:00am - 12:00pm
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Approximately 5 acres burn on grass lands in sierra foothills.
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Objectives include: Eradicate invasive grasses, administer fire to sourberry, willow, wild tobacco, etc. Reduce invasive plants for preparation of seeding native grasses and wildflowers.
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Control line will be weedeated with a light scrape, wetlined, or blacklined.
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Oak trees in the burn units will be limbed to keep fire out of the canopies.
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Redbud and sourberry will be cut back prior to burning and then treated with good fire.
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Part of the overall goal is to give the participants experience with broadcast burning at a small scale. Small approximately 20 x 20 ft subunits will be cut out of the larger burn unit to give the space to plan, implement and to allow burn teams to think about the different variables involved.
This grassland broadcast burn will be facilitated by Ray Gutteriez, Wukchumni/Wuksachi, of Dunlap, CA.
FOOD & NOURISHMENT
full meal service provided all gathering days
Food will be catered by California chef, artist and TEK skills practitioner JT Beggs who creates delicious, abundant meals of California fresh ingredients with flavors inspired by Indigenous territories from Mexico and the Southwest. Cooking methods include pit fired barbacoa, open fire grilled chicken, wild meats, and savory foods cooked in earthen pottery over open flame accented with wild gathered ingredients, fresh fruits and vegetables. Vegetarian and vegan options can be provided upon request.
Learn More:
for program questions
email: sacredfire@gmail.com
chūtūy & thank you program supporters:
hūyū tepani is funded and supported by university of california berkeley, first people's fund
& southern sierra miwuk nation
