Chumash Storyteller to Speak at Museum

A Chumash storyteller will present a program today intended to give children and adults a glimpse into the Chumash world.

Gilbert Unzuela, a descendant of Barbareno Indians, will describe the Chumash interpretation of their world by using animals and birds during his 2 p.m. presentation at the Strathearn Historical Park and Museum.

“He’s very clever about dramatizing the stories,” said Patricia Havens, museum director. “And almost all the stories include a moral.”

Unzuela’s grandmother provided information to John Peabody Harrington, an ethnologist and linguist whose work has resulted in much of the written information on the Chumash.

The museum is at 137 Strathearn Place. Depending on weather, the event will be held outside or inside the air-conditioned visitors center.

Havens said the event will be videotaped so excerpts can be incorporated into a new program on Chumash storytelling.

The program will be shown to third-graders who visit the historical park next year.