Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 1998- "The Pennsylvania Geographer "

IT IS ALL SACRED: FOOTHILL KONKOW PERCEPTIONS OF

SACRED PLACES

Dr. Kari Forbes-Boyte

Dean, Behavioral and Social Sciences

Sacramento City College

Abstract

American Indian religions are spatial, with Indians perceiving the land as endowed with spiritual power. This spirituality is structured on a recognition of sacred places. This paper will contribute to the notion of sacred place by describing the religious landscape of the Foothill Konkow of northern California. Information about this sacred landscape was gathered through ethnographic interviews with Foothill Konkow individuals. These interviews revealed a rich world view that identified a diversity of sacred places including holy grounds, subsistence gathering areas, and burial grounds. In addition, this paper describes the significance of these sacred places through an emit analysis and discusses their pertinence to the Foothill Konkow mythological tradition, their symbolic interpretations, and their psychological incorporation into the society. Moreover, this paper will take some of the concepts and characteristics of sacred places as defined by scholars such as Yi-Fu Tuan, Mircea Eliade, and Belden Lane, among others, and apply it to Foothill Konkow notions of sacred place.