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Hava Kahnhi: a 2,000 year-old shade house
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments When the Native Americans of the Tehachapi area needed shade during the long dry summers of California’s inland ranges, they had two choices: either utilize shade from an existing source, such as a large tree or boulder, or create their own shade device.

For more than 2,000 years, the Nüwa (Kawaiisu) Indians of Kern County have built a hava kahn-hi, or “shade house” to shield themselves from the summer sun. And they still do.

Last week I was in Walker Basin helping Kawaiisu elder Luther Girado construct a hava kahnhi on his property. Utilizing willows cut from along a creekbed by Luther and a couple of friends, we quickly assembled a serviceable hava kahnhi, the simple but attractive brush shelters under which Indian women once sat in the shade to make their beautiful baskets or prepare meals, often while their babies slept in the welcome shade.

The word hava means “shade” and as most Tehachapi residents know, thanks to Tomo Kahni State Park, kahni means “house,” since Tomo Kahni translates as “winter house.”

A word about pronunciation, however: most people say the word kahni like the American name “Connie,” while every fluent Nüwa speaker I’ve ever heard says “kahn-hi” with an “h” sound at the end. That’s why I prefer to spell the word for house kahnhi with the second “h”, because that’s a more accurate pronunciation.

While other woods were sometimes used, a hava kahnhi was typically made from willow for several reasons. One is that willow is the most ready source for fairly straight, lightweight poles that form the framework of the hava kahnhi. The favored species of willow is puhi-suva, known to botanists as Arroyo Willow (Salix lasiolepsis).

Other willows can and have been used, but puhi-suva yields the most abundant shoots and flexible saplings and is the main source of willow for baskets, houses, utensils, etc.

Another reason why willow is used most frequently is that it is often the only wood available in areas where a shade house is needed. If there are large spreading oaks, sycamores, pines or other trees, then Indian families would camp beneath them and not need to build a hava kahnhi.

In more open, arid or dry areas, like the fringes of the Mojave Desert, there isn’t much shade and the only trees might be the willows that grow right in seasonal streambeds.

Rather than try to utilize shade from the shrubby willows growing along a creek, where there are more insects and level ground can be hard to find, Indian people would simply cut willow poles and carry them a short distance away from the creek, where they could build a good source of shade on flat and even ground.

“The old Indians would sit underneath a tree if they had a good one to use, but if they didn’t, they could always make themselves a hava kahnhi pretty easily,” Luther explained.

Luther’s hava kahnhi began with the cutting of poles, which had their branches and leaves removed. Four larger poles with a “Y” crotch in the end were selected for use as the corner poles, and each one was placed upright about a foot deep in a hole in the ground and tamped into place.

One sturdy willow pole was laid horizontally in the “Y” of each of the two back posts and another was laid across in the front two posts. The two upright poles in the back were left lower than the two in the front, resulting in a sloping shed-type roof.

A number of poles were then laid crosswise on top of the two horizontal support poles. These were evenly spaced about two feet apart or closer.

Finally, the main source of shade was piled evenly on top of the structure: fresh-cut willow boughs, whose abundant long-bladed leaves either blocked or filtered the bright sunlight pouring down on Walker Basin.

“And that’s how it’s done,” Luther said when the hava kahnhi was finished. “When the leaves turn dry and begin to fall off, you just add some fresh branches with green leaves and keep your shade.”

To provide additional cooling if water was abundant, the branches could be soaked in a creek first or water could be thrown on top of the hava kahnhi — as water evaporates, it cools the surface it leaves behind.

When Nüwa elder and Kern Valley Tribal Chairman Harold Williams was building his house on Indian allottment land on Paiute Mountain, he used to spray the hava kahnhi he built with water and lower the temperature another 10 degrees.

The Native Californians who thrived in this area for thousands of years have done so because they have been resourceful and used available materials to make everything they needed. There is still much worthwhile wisdom, beauty and knowledge in the culture they created.

Have a good week.

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