Chia: A plant of power
In this edition of the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center August 2020 newsletter, reprinted in full with permission, we explore paanihac (Serrano), pasal (Cahuilla), pashal (Luiseño), ‘ilépesh (Barbareño Chumash), nulh’amulh (Kumeyaay), or chia, as this sage plant (Salvia columbariae) is known in a few local Southern California languages. Chia’s tiny seeds offer an important Native American traditional energy food.
The first plants were people
“Among the Cahuilla, plants were not viewed simply as objects which might or might not be useful to man, but as living beings with whom one could communicate and interact….Plants, like any life form, were therefore treated with respect.”
- Temalpakh, by Lowell John Bean and Katherine Siva Saubel