Photograph
- Museum number:
- 13-6838
- Permalink:
- ark:/21549/hm21130006838
- Alternate number:
- 13-5973
- Accession number:
- Acc.4704
- Description:
- Essie Pinola Parrish (center) with her assistants Julia Pinola Marrufo (her sister, left), and Merline Marrufo James (neice, right), in front of dance house. Stewarts Point Rancheria, Sonoma County, CA; 1963. Essie was a prophet of the Bole Mary (dream dances) religion, a mixture of aboriginal and Christian elements. Essie wears Big Head headdress. Star hoops used in WWII to protect men in battle. Per Door Book/Accession Record: Essie Parrish and dream dances group (Susie-Bill tattooed on thumb).
- Donor:
- William R. Heick
- Collection place:
- Sonoma County, California
- Verbatim coll. place:
- Sonoma County
- Culture or time period:
- Kashia
- Collector:
- William R. Heick
- Collection date:
- 1963
- Object type:
- ethnography
- Object class:
- Black-and-white prints (photographs)
- Accession date:
- March 22, 2000
- Department:
- Still and motion photography
- Dimensions:
- width 25.4 centimeters and length 35.56 centimeters
- Comment:
- Per labels provided by Ira Jacknis: Essie Pinola Parrish (center) with her assistants, Julia Pinola Marrufo (her sister, left), and Merline Marrufo James (her niece, right), in front of the dance house. Stewarts Point Rancheria, Sonoma County, 1963. Essie Parrish (1902-79) was a prophet of the Bole Maru religion. The Bole Maru, or Dream Dance, a mixture of aboriginal and Christian elements, was first developed in 1870. As a Dreamer, Essie Parrish also had the power to heal people. In these photographs, she wears a Big Head headdress, worn in the most important of the Maru dances. This headdress was made especially for the photography, as her consecrated ones could not be removed from the dance house. Its design, like all of the ceremonial details of the dances, songs, and costumes, came to her from dreamed revelations. In each hand, she holds a cloth covered doctoring staff, endowed with protective power. The distinctive star hoops were first used during WWII to provide protection for Pomo men in the armed forces, and Pomo continued to employ them as a general protection against evil forces. However, as there is currently no Dreamer in the community, the Kashaya Pomo no longer perform the Bole Maru ceremonies.