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IMMERSE YOURSELF IN NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE
You don’t have to be Native American to open your eyes to Native American culture at the Nuui Cunni Cultural Center at French Gulch overlooking Isabella Lake.
Three suggestions for truly immersing yourself in the Kern River Valley’s Native wisdom:
First, use your hands. The Kern River Paiute Council invites anyone interested to join the weekly potluck lunch/craft class, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays, to learn to make gourds, dream catchers, drums, and other culturally meaningful items.
Second, lend a hand. The center is starting a docent program. Volunteers may, for example, tend the native plant gardens, help in the library of Native American references and stories, or assist in curating displays.
Third, use your glands. Sweat glands, that is. Traditional sweats on the third Saturday of each month are open to visitors, as long as visitors respect the customs outlined by the Native sweat leaders.
Since it opened in April 2002, Nuui Cunni – Paiute-Shoshone for "Our House" – has been the gathering place for American Indians of the Kern River Valley. Among them are the Paiute-Shoshone and the Tubatulabal; the latter a Shoshone band that settled in the valley about 3,000 years ago.
While the Kern River Paiute Council’s Nuui Cunni Cultural Center is dedicated to preserving, restoring, and teaching Native American customs, history, and traditions, it also welcomes all people, Native and non-Native, from the community and beyond. The 3,150-square-foot round house shelters a museum, library, gift shop, and displays of Native American artifacts, crafts and artwork, and facilities for meetings, classes, and cultural events, such as youth activities and culture nights that include drumming, dancing, regalia-making, crafts, counseling, training, direction and encouragement. The 5.5-acre grounds feature a native plant garden, an area for large gatherings, as well as Native grinding stones, dance arbor, tule hut, sweat lodge, and a future wetlands area. Nuui Cunni is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Nov. 1-May 1; 9 a.m.-4 p.m., May 1-Nov. 1.
Contact the center for sweat ceremony guidelines and further info.
Native American Nuui Cunni Cultural Center, 2600 Highway 155, French Gulch Campground, Lake Isabella; (760) 549-0800
