Salinan traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the

Salinan The Salinan are a Native American tribe whose ancestral territory is in the southern Salinas Valley and the Santa Lucia Range in the Central Coast of California. Today, the Salinan governments are now working toward federal tribal recognition ...

people of the central California coast. Salinan oral literature, as documented primarily by

J. Alden Mason John Alden Mason (January 14, 1885 – November 7, 1967) was an American archaeological anthropologist and linguist. Mason was born in Orland, Indiana, but grew up in Philadelphia's Germantown. He received his undergraduate degree from the Uni ...

, shows its closest links with that of other central California groups, such as the

Yokuts The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts ...

.(''See also''

Traditional narratives (Native California) The traditional narratives of Native Indigenous Californians are the folklore and mythology of the native people of California. In California, most of the native peoples can be categorized into three large groups, Penutian, Hokan and Uto-Aztec ...

Sources for Salinan narratives

* Gifford, Edward Winslow, and Gwendoline Harris Block. 1930. ''California Indian Nights''. Arthur H. Clark, Glendale, California. (One previously published narrative, pp. 193-194.) * Margolin, Malcolm. 1993. ''The Way We Lived: California Indian Stories, Songs, and Reminiscences''. First edition 1981. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California. (One myth, p. 135-137, from Mason 1918.) * Mason, J. Alden. 1912. "The Ethnology of the Salinan Indians". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 10:97-240. Berkeley. (Narratives collected by H. W. Henshaw in 1884 and by the author in 1910, including Earth Diver, with comparative discussion, pp. 186-197.) * Mason, J. Alden. 1918. "The Language of the Salinan Indians". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 14:1-154. Berkeley. (Narratives in the Antoniano and Migueleño languages, including Earth Diver, Theft of Fire, and Bear and Fawns, pp. 60-93, 100-101-105-116.) {{Populations of Native California Groups Salinan people Traditional narratives (Native California)