Kawas Loimis sisters

Overview

The Kawas Loimis sisters live at Waiti Nomken on the upper Bohema Mem. When the Tede Wiu brothers prepare for their second day of battle, a messenger is instructed to summon them. They bring food, arrows and elkskins for Sehinom Chabatu, whom they call their brother, but initially remain behind the fighting rather than joining the front ranks. Curtin’s personage list glosses Kawas as basket.

After the later destruction of Sehinom’s home, one of his surviving Tsudi boys carries a plea to the women: he and the children have nothing to eat. The sisters arrive with provisions, otter skins, arrows and two elkskins apiece. They feed the survivors and the allies who continue to gather, including enormous numbers of Tidok people. As the force marches south, the two baskets never become empty and everyone has enough.

The cycle gives differing kinship addresses. Sehinom calls the women his sisters, while his grandmother calls them her own sisters. Both statements are retained as features of Curtin’s account rather than forced into one modern family tree. Their distinctive narrative power is sustained provisioning; the tale does not describe them manufacturing all the warriors or turning into baskets in an individual transformation scene. The final general metamorphosis statement applies to the first people after the wars.

Origins & earliest records

Wintu narrative Norwan in Jeremiah Curtin’s 1898 collection. His provenance describes California collecting; no individual teller is named for this chapter. These are first-world personages, not a description of living Wintu people.

Records & interpretation

Complete Norwan introduction, personage list and narrative pp. 69–117, through the final returning armies and subsequent metamorphoses, read alongside the complete interpretive note pp. 497–503. Curtin’s solar theory and comparisons with Greek and Algonquian traditions are his interpretations.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind

   Jeremiah Curtin · 1898

   Norwan, complete pp. 69–117; selected profile passages 87–89,96,107–110; interpretive note497–503; collection provenance486–487.

Family, evolution & connections

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textCurtin1898: Norwan, complete Wintu war cycleResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.