Puvungna is the name of an Indian village in which California State University, Long Beach was built on. This village is believed to have been populated by the Tongva, also known as Gabrielino, people. They were indigenous people that called the surrounding Los Angeles region as home. Puvungna still remains sacred to the Gabrielino people as they believe it was the birthplace of Chingishnish. Chungishnish is believe to be the major deity or culture hero in Tongva mythology.
As stated above, the Tongva people are also known as the Gabrielno, Fernandeno, and Nicoleno people. These people were among the most powerful indigenous people that inhabited Southern California. The downfall of the Tongva people were basically eradicated with the building of the Mission San Bariel in 1771. With the construction of this mission the Tongva people were forced to relocate and were exposed to disease. Despite their hardships, the Tongva people were extremely resilient people and resisted any Spanish dominance. They resisted the Spanish rule so much that in 1785 they led a rebellion against them, interestingly enough it was led by a female chief. After California was ceded in the the United States of America, the u.s. government promised the Tongva people over 8.5 million acres of land, but this promise was never followed through.
Since the failed ratification of the treaty that promised land to the Tongva people for reservations, there has been a hasty collapse among the Tongva population. This was due to disease, rebellion, and poverty. It was only in 1994 that the state of California recognized the Tongva people as the original aboriginal tribe of the Los Angeles Area. To this day there are less than 1700 individuals that identify as Tongva or make a claim to have Tongva ancestry. Furthermore, the Tongva language has not been spoken in the last 153 years.
Who knew that right here on our campus we had a Native American place of Worship. I always park in lot 20 and paid no attention to this spot of land until I saw flyers scattered throughout campus, advertising for participation in a cultural exchange and expressions. I attended the “Ekweenax Tovaangard” (taking care of the mother earth”: the puvu indigenous cultural sustainability series that was held on November 4th 2015. What I gathered from this gathering was it was giving thanks for how the land and oceans culturally sustained the people. I believe it was about bringing forth the impact that we are having on mother earth and ways we can move forward in being conscious in our consuming and how we treat mother earth. I.E. coming up with ways to attack global warming, recycling, etc. I hope there are more talks and rituals coming up this spring semester that I will be able to attend. I really enjoyed it.