What is CIR + ICN
What Is Indian Canyon?
Indian Canyon is a living Indian Heritage Area near Hollister, CA. Indian Canyon is the only federally recognized “Indian Indian Canyon is the only federally recognized “Indian Country” for Country” for 300miles along Central Coastal California 300miles along Central Coastal California from Sonoma to Santa from Sonoma to Santa Barbara. This area has always Barbara. Indian Canyon was designated thru a trust allotment issued been inhabited by Costanoan/Ohlone people & still is. The by President Taft in 1911. This land has always been inhabited by original trust patent issued by President Taft in 1911, has Costanoan/Ohlone people and most importantly -- still is.
Costanoan Indian Research 501c3
CIR is an organization based out of Indian Canyon in Hollister, California. Indian Canyon is the only federally recognized “Indian County” between Sonoma and Santa Barbara, and has been sacred land and home for Ohlone/Costanoan people for thousands of years. During the 1700 and 1800s, Indian Canyon served as a safe haven for the local indigenous peoples who were being abducted / recruited / transported to the Spanish Missions. The local Ohlone peoples knew the terrain and were able to traverse the territory into the secluded valley of Indian Canyon. It currently hosts many Native gatherings and offers its land as a sovereign space for any indigenous peoples in need of land for ceremony and education.
CIR’s goals and objectives are to: create local, national, and international programs designed to improve and enhance the cultural image of California Indians through greater public exposure of tribal history; establish greater influence over public policies and programs that affect indigenous peoples and the environment; identify and implement projects that improve the cohesiveness and self-sufficiency of the Costanoan Ohlone people; provide land for indigenous peoples to carry out their tribal ceremonies and share their traditional way of living in harmony with the environment; promote research in the field of West African pygmy goats, and provide support to California indigenous peoples who are fighting for land rights.
CIR is a grass-roots organization that depends greatly on its volunteers, including an all-volunteer staff. CIR makes its land available for all those in need in the community and depends on asking for donations at events to cover related costs such as bringing in toilets, food, etc. CIR has begun to work with a volunteer grant writer with the goal of increasing its foundation and government support and several new funding sources have already been identified for 2023.
Ann Marie Sayers is CIR’s founder and executive director. Ann Marie used the Indian Allotment Act of 1887 to reclaim the land that had been in her family for 3600 years. She now resides in Indian Canyon, at the same site as her great grandfather, and his grandmother, and her grandmother. Her daughter, Kanyon Sayers-Roods, is CIR’s creative director and public relations manager.
CIR and ICN Commitment
Our mission is to serve the Indigenous Costanoan Ohlone community and our ancestors through ongoing protection and care for our land, traditions, and people; to support all California Indians through educational and cultural programs; and to serve the spiritual needs of indigenous people.
Costanoan Indian Research is a registered 501c3 Native American non-profit organization in Indain Canyon, in Hollister. We appreciate donations of any kind : Funds, Volunteer hours, Items, Prayers.Federal ID # 68-0287736
The Importance of Ceremony
"When song, ceremony, and dancing stops, so does the Earth" Ann-Marie Sayers of Indian Canyon.
In addition to the California Native peoples using the site, spiritual teachers and tribal members from the south west, the plains, Canada and the East Coast come to do ceremony at Indian Canyon, as do Indigenous people impaced by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA where Ceremony was illegal up until 1978), Ann-Marie Sayers (the matriarch of Indian Canyon) has declared Indian Canyon availible to Indigenous peoples in need of land for ceremony. Aborigines, Sami people from Finland, Mexico, Central able to all indigenous peoples whom are in need ceremonial lands.
In addition to the California Native peoples using the site, Indian Canyon is proud to host spiritual teachers and tribal members from the South-West, The Plains, Canada and the East Coast. Internation expression and continuation of our relationship to the earth and our own history. Ceremony is an anchor for identity, Sami people from Finland, Mexico, Central America and South America college units for their studies. The earth is our mother & the earth is sacred.
Ohlone/Costanoan origin words
Ohlone (aka Costanoan) is a grouping term created by anthropologists to signify broad-based linguistic and cultural similarities among some 58 independent tribal groups. The language family of the tribes whose homelands extended from present-day “San Francisco Bay south to Monterey Bay” was first name “Costanoan” in 1891 and “Ohlone in 1978.
The word Ohlone (pronounced “oh-lone-e”) comes from the name of a single tribe of people in the region, the Oljon (pronounced “ol-hone”)
This group is also sometimes called Costanoan (pronounced Coh-stah-no-an). This word comes from a Spanish term “Costano”, meaning “Indians from the coast”.
Ann-Marie Sayers and Kanyon Sayers-Roods are honoring their matrilineal legacy. As California Indigenous women. PDF's of Interviews of Ohlone Relatives by CIR+CWW
Kanyon Recently was interviewed by Global Fund For Women : The Portal Series: Reflections On Feminist Leadership Through Crisis With Kanyon CoyoteWoman Sayers-Roods