The Native American Program offers many activities that educate campers about the Serrano Indians who once populated the Camp Arbolado area. Serrano is a Spanish word meaning “mountaineer,” or “highlander.” The Serrano Indians were composed of four different groups bordering on each other and who spoke similar languages. These four were arbitrarily captioned “Serrano” by American anthropologists and divided into Serrano Proper, Alliklik, Kitanemuk, and Vanyume. There appear to be at least three major divisions among those people hitherto called Serrano Proper and Vanyume. The third, or western division of the Serrano inhabited the San Bernardino Mountains, including Santa Ana and Mill creeks, Highland, Big Bear, Arrowhead Peak and springs, and the northern slopes to Cajon Pass. These people may all be Yuhaviatam: essentially, “the people of the pine place or pine trees.” Unfortunately, the population of the Serrano Indians in the San Bernardino Mountains slowly dwindled, with only a few small reservations remaining in 1876 in Southern California. The population continued to decline due to disease, accidents, intermarriage, and old age. The Serrano people who are still living are very much aware of their ancestry, but the group seems to have ceased to function ceremonially. Their last reported mourning image dance was held in their Big House on Morango Reservation in 1948.

The Serrano were a friendly, gentle people of a pleasant disposition. They were warlike only under great provocation. The basic living congregation was the village, outside of which there were small satellite camps where perhaps a single family lived. The leader of each village was called Kika and was determined by heredity. He had an assistant called paha who was in charge of ceremonies. These groups consisted of from 25 to a hundred or so people. Their creeks, food gathering, and hunting areas were communally owned, though a system of personal property applied to utensils, tools, mortars, and metates. Among the officials, there was also the tcaka, or singer, charged with knowing the myths of creation and the clan songs. The huremitic was the healing shaman whose power to heal came through dreams or visions. With it he cured by administering herbs, aspiration, and restoring the lost soul of a sick person with psychic activity.

The Serrano Indians were prolific makers of terra cotta pottery as well as baskets and other fibre work such as seed beaters, mats, sandals, bags, and ropes. Most living structures were the inverted cup-shaped and tule mat-covered houses of Southern California and often referred to by the Spanish as “half orange” in shape. The ceremonial house, sweat house, and granary were somewhat different from the conventional dwelling, which was built over a round excavation about ten feet across and two feet deep. The large, tule-covered kitcaterate, or ceremonial house, was also the home of the kika. In it was kept the sacred bundle containing the holy feathers. The sweathouse might have a sunken floor and be covered with mud plaster. The granary was a small, round container made of tule, raised on four legs which supported rough horizontal beams at right angles to each other.

Trade was brisk in food, beads, and ornaments, housewares, clothing, and industrial materials. The main weapon and hunting instrument of the Serrano Indians was the bow, which was five feet or less in length, and generally made from desert willow, mesquite, or ash. Arrows were usually of bamboo-like cane, sometimes of a single shaft, sometimes two pieces joined together. Bows were used to hunt deer and antelope. Obtuse-angled through sticks about two feet long were used to knock down or kill rabbits and large rodents. Snare traps were used to catch small game. Clothing was made from rabbit, beaver, and/or otter skins. Tattooing was applied extensively to the upper portions of Serrano bodies.

Entertainment included storytelling, such as the legend of the great snake that traveled down from Arrowhead Springs. There was a large immortal deer that lives above San Manuel. The stories of creation recount the coming of man and the animals, and provide accounts of how the people came to where they are. A favorite Serrano sport was a football-type game played with a small stone ball. There was a quieter, stick-tossing game played by the elderly. Singing accompanied the peon game where two teams of four persons each tried to outguess each other as to which colored object was secured in a closed fist.

Music was made from whistles of bone and from flutes. Rattles included a kind made by fastening two turtle shells together with pebbles inside. A bull roarer was involved in ceremonies, which were usually accompanied by the rhythm of the dance. Rituals were performed at birth and the girls’ coming of age time. The climax of the tamonin, or boy’s initiation, were dreams and visions produced by the effect of a drink made from jimson weed. Death ended in a cermation rite followed in one month by mamakwot, a night of singing and dancing, and the burning of selected possessions of the deceased. Once a year a mourning ceremony took place extending over one week. Thursday all of the children born during the preceding year were named. Saturday a special whirling eagle dance was held and that night the people sang and danced until dawn.

Below are pictures of a Serrano Indian shelter, a Serrano Indian hunter, and a group of Serrano Indians

The Native American program at Camp Arbolado takes campers on an interactive journey to learn about the Serrano Indians, how they lived, their rich stories and culture, and their legacy. Campers will be making things just like the Serrano Indians did, such as musical instruments, pottery, food, utensils, and personal living items. They will learn songs, stories, and folklore of these Native Americans.

Estimated date when program will officially begin is July 2026.