A Sacred Rock of Falcon and Raven
Near Morro Bay, California
Long before any European saw this coast, Morro Rock was a holy place. The Chumash people, who lived along Morro Creek and the bay for thousands of years, call the rock Lisamu. The neighboring Salinan people call it Le'samo.
For both, the great stone is bound up with the peregrine falcon, the fastest bird alive. A Salinan story tells how, on this very rock, Falcon and his kinsman Raven battled and defeated a terrible two headed serpent monster called Taliyekatapelta, a creature that had been devouring the people. In defeating it, they made the world safe.
Because of that deep meaning, the Salinan have been granted special permission to climb the otherwise closed rock for ceremonies at the summer and winter solstices, though the Chumash, who believe the rock should never be climbed, dispute that claim. It is a rare arrangement, since the rock is legally off limits to the public and strictly protected as falcon habitat. There is a quiet fitness to it.
The peregrine falcons that vanished from this coast in the twentieth century and later returned now nest on the same cliffs where, in the old story, the first Falcon triumphed. When you stand below the rock and see a fast dark shape cut across the sky, you may be watching a living echo of that ancient tale.
