Tovaangar (pronounced To-VAA-ngar)
The original people of Los Angeles, the Tongva, defined their world as Tovaangar. It extended from Palos Verde to San Bernardino, from Saddleback Mountain to the San Fernando Valley, supporting about 5,000 people in nearby 100 villages.
Tovaangar means “the world, this hill and everything around it.”
The Tongva (/’toriva/ TONG-va)
We
The Indigenous People
The Traditional Caretakers of this landscape
Are the direct descendants of the First People who formed our lands, our worlds, during creation time.
We have always been here.
Our Ancestors prepared and became the landscapes and worlds for the coming of humans with order / knowledge and gifts embedded in the landscape.
Our Ancestors, imbued the responsibility and obligation to our original instructions,
guided by protocol and etiquette to be part of, take care of and ensure the welfare of the extended family and community, defined in its most inclusive expression, the NATURE,
and to pass those teachings and responsibilities onto our children, grandchildren and many generations to come.
(And to all these that now live here).
Tour with the Echoes Explorer mobile app at the Greenway or listen now.
Language identifies you;
it informs listener who you are.
Click below to hear some of the Tongva language, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times. Click here to open the Los Angeles Times multimedia series, Finding Tovaangvar, including a teachers’ study guide.
“The mocking bird is singing”
Pavaaynax
“Give water to”
“The sun is going to set now.”
Miire ‘eyoomar’
“We are going.”
gabrielinotribe.org
Tongva women were expert weavers. Baskets were so finely woven they were water tight.
They had many uses from food preparation tools to storage bins.
