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yer'erner' -- xosa:k' -- yuxtháran -- lha'-k'wa'sr-t'i

Abalone

These stories are of our beginnings, how things came to be.
One such story is of Abalone Woman a beautiful woman of Wiyot
    country. 
One can only imagine that she was loved by her family, who also knew
    the ways and laws of the people.

Cheryl Seidner, 2002-2003 from "Abalone Woman" (Abalone Tales: Collaborative Explorations of Sovereignty and Identity in Native California by Les W. Field)
"Tears began falling down her cheeks. And as the tears touched the water, the water began to turn all these beautiful colors, and all these shells appeared, and she herself transformed. The young woman transformed into the abalone, and so she became our beautiful abalone shell that we use today for our regalia." 

Lyn Risling (Karuk, Yurok, Hupa) From "Abalone Woman and Dentalium Man" News From Native California Vol 27, No. 4, Summer 2014. 
Picture
Photo courtesy of Mary J. Risling (Me'Dil Institute)
Picture
Photo courtesy of Mary J. Risling (Me'Dil Institute)
Picture
Photo courtesy of Mary J. Risling (Me'Dil Institute)
Picture
Photo courtesy of Mary J. Risling (Me'Dil Institute)

Every abalone has a story. Click a pic to read more...