alt=|thumb|A Hupa white deerskin dance by A.W. Ericson

The Hupa (Yurok: / 'Hupa people') are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in northwestern California. Their endonym is for Hupa-language speakers in general, and for residents of Hoopa Valley, also spelled , meaning "People of the Place Where the Trails Return". The Karuk name for them is ("Hupa (Trinity River) People", from = "Hupa River, i.e. Trinity River").

Culture

Arts

Hupa people have been excelling at basketry and elk horn carving and, since the 17th century, petroglyphs.

Ethnobotany

Traditionally, Hupa people have used the acorns of Notholithocarpus densiflorus to make meal, from which they would make mush, bread, biscuits, pancakes, and cakes. They also roast the acorns and eat them. They also use the dyed fronds of Woodwardia radicans for basketry. They also use Xerophyllum tenax to create a border pattern in baskets.

Fishing

Hupa, like many tribes in the area, fish for salmon in the Klamath and Trinity rivers. One of the methods they once used to capture fish was the fish weir, which tribal members would maintain. Hupa share all of their fishing practices with the neighboring Yurok Hupa tribal fishers and their families rely on the Spring and Fall Chinook Salmon runs. Acorns, once abundant, were a main staple until they grew scarce. Because Hupa were not located as close to the sea as their neighboring Yurok Tribe, they traded supplies with them, such as salt in exchange for baskets, or acorns for canoes.

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most Native groups in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber thought that the 1770 population of Hupa was 1,000 and that Chilula and Whilkut accounted for another 1,000. Kroeber estimated the population of Hupa in 1910 to be 500. In 1943, Sherburne F. Cook proposed an aboriginal population of 1,000 for Hupa and 600 for Chilula. He subsequently suggested a population for Hupa alone of 2,900. William J. Wallace felt that the latter estimate was "much too high", and allowed 1,000 for Hupa, 500–600 for Chilula, and 500 for Whilkut. The Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation has a resident population of 2,633 persons according to the 2000 census.

Reservations

thumb|Location of Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation

Hupa descendants have since been incorporated mainly into the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation and other tribes:

  • Hoopa Valley Tribe (na꞉tinixwe) (Hoopa, Humboldt County, Population 2013: 3,139) (Hupa, Tsnungwe, Chimalakwe, Chilula, Whilkut)
  • Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria (Trinidad, Humboldt County, Population 2011: 154) (Yurok, Wiyot, Tolowa sowie Chetco, Hupa und Karuk)
  • Blue Lake Rancheria (yisinchʼin)(Blue Lake, Humboldt County, Population 2010: 58) (Wiyot, Yurok, Hupa, Whilkut)

See also

  • Hoopa, California—the name for the town (Unincorporated community) in the Hupa Valley. The name was changed at various times related to the post office.

References

Sources

Bibliographies

  • Hupa Bibliography, from California Indian Library Collections Project
  • San Francisco State University - Hupa