Gabrielino, Native Americans of California (by William)

1. Introduction

The Gabrielino was one of the Native American tribes in California.  The called themselves the Tongva, meaning the People of the Earth.  The name Gabrielino was given by the Spaniards after Mission San Gabriel Arcangel.

The Gabrielino lived in the Los Angeles area 200 years ago and their bordering tribes were the Chumash, Tataviam, Serrano, Luiseno, and Ajachmen.

2. Where They Lived

The Gabrielino lived in the Los Angeles county and the northern part of Orange County.  They also lived on the Santa Catalina, San Clemente, San Nicholas, and Santa Barbara Islands.  To the west of where Gabrielino lived lay the Pacific Ocean.  The east of the Gabrielino were the San Gabriel Mountains as shown on the map. 

3. Houses They Built

The Gabrielino built houses to live in.  They used willow trees, tule or fern mats and animal skins as the building materials.  Each hut could hold 50 people.  The houses looked like domes and had the doors facing the ocean to avoid the cold north wind from the mountains.

4. Food They Ate

The Gabrielino ate harbor seals, elephant seals, sea lions, sea otters, rays, sharks, tuna, sword fish, and dolphins.  These were foods hunted by men in the ocean.  The men also hunted inland for deer, foxes, squirrels, rabbits, ducks, geese, and songbirds.  The women did their part for food too.  They gathered berries, cherries, acorns, wild plants, and pinon nuts.

5. Clothes They Wore

The men, women, and children had different clothes.  Men and boys wore breech cloths made of deerskin or bird skin.  Women and girls wore aprons made of deer skins.  They all could wear sandals made from yucca fibers and capes made from deer skins.

6. What They Made

The Gabrielino made lots of crafts for survival.  The women made feathered capes by skinning a bird and leaving the feathers on the bird skin.  Then they would sew them together.  Their crafts also included basket woven very tightly, mortars and pestles for grinding food, and canoes for traveling to different tribes and the islands.

7. How They Lived

The Gabrielino lived in villages.  In each village, there were about 200 people including a chief and a few medicine men.  In the day time, women gathered, men hunted and children played educational games.  After men hunted, they would go into a sweat lodge which was a room filled with steam for relaxing.  The women were responsible for cooking.  The children and the elderly ate first.  That was how the Gabrielino lived.

8. Conclusion

200 years ago, the spot where we live right now might have been an Indian village of the Gabrielino.  I think we should preserve their culture so our kids could learn about it too.