Staff Report

The 15th annual Chumash Culture Day will be hosted on Facebook Live, featuring California-style Native American singing and dancing, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 23.

The presentation will feature the tribe’s Samala Singers, dancers and contributions from several other tribes throughout California in a broadcast on the “SY Chumash Culture Day 2021” Facebook page, which can be found at https://bit.ly/sycultureday.

“We’re looking forward to presenting our collection of songs and dances from multiple California tribes to a wider audience through Facebook,” said Nakia Zavalla, Culture Director for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. “In this format, viewers can watch our presentation when we go live on October 23, or they can watch it later at their leisure. We hope this will help expose more people, who may be curious about Native American culture, to our special Culture Day.” 

The program will begin with a calling of the ancestors, followed by remarks from Zavalla, songs and dances from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ Samala Singers, then a showcase of singers and storytellers from a variety of California tribes.

The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians is located in Santa Barbara County, California.  Its reservation was established and officially recognized by the federal government in 1901. Today, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians remains the only federally recognized Chumash tribe in the nation. 

The 15th annual Chumash Culture Day will be hosted on Facebook Live, featuring California-style Native American singing and dancing, on Saturday, Oct. 23. Photo contributed