Contemporary Times
The first modern Tomol was built and launched in 1976 as a result of a joint venture between Quabajai Chumash of The Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The Tomol's name is Helek/Xelex, the Chumash word for falcon. The Brotherhood of the Tomol was revived and her crew paddled and circumnavigated around the Santa Barbara Channel Islands on a ten day journey, stopping on three of the islands. The second Tomol, the Elye'wun ("swordfish"), was launched in 1997.
On September 9, 2001, the first "crossing," in the Chumash tomol, from the mainland to Channel islands was sponsored by the Chumash Maritime Association and the Barbareno Chumash Council. Several Chumash bands and descendants gathered on the island of Limuw (the Chumash name for Santa Cruz island) to witness the tomol Elye'wun being paddled from the mainland to Santa Cruz island. Their journey was documented in the short film "Return to Limuw" produced by the Ocean Channel for the Chumash Maritime Association, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, and the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. The channel crossings have become a yearly event hosted by the Barbareno Chumash Council.
The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash is the only federally recognized Chumash tribe. They have the Santa Ynez Reservation located in Santa Barbara County, near Santa Ynez, California.
In addition to the Santa Ynez Band, the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, and the Barbareno/Ventureno tribal group are attempting to gain federal recognition. Other Chumash tribal groups include the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, descendants from the San Luis Obispo area, and the Barbareno Chumash Council, descendants from the greater Santa Barbara area.
The publication of the first Chumash dictionary took place in April 2008. Six hundred pages long and containing 4,000 entries, the "Samala-English Dictionary" includes more than 2,000 illustrations.
Read more about this topic: Chumash People
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