Oketo, California

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'''Oketo''' is a former [[Yurok (tribe)|Yurok]] settlement in [[Humboldt County, California|Humboldt County]], [[California]], but experts differ on what the names were of the settlement itself and of the nearby waterway now called [[Big Lagoon (California)|Big Lagoon]]. Yurok author Chenahwah Weitchahwah ([[Lucy Thompson]]) used the name ''Ah-ca-tah'' when mentioning the location of a religious practice but was unclear whether she was naming the village or lagoon. [[Peter E. Palmquist|Peter Palmquist]] placed the village at the south shore of the lagoon.{{Cite book |last=Weitch-ah-wah (Thompson) |first=Cha-na-wah (Lucy) |url=http://archive.org/details/toamericanindian0000thom |title=To the American Indian : reminiscences of a Yurok woman |date=1991 |publisher=Berkeley, CA : Heyday Books in conjunction with P.E. Palmquist |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-930588-47-2 |pages= |at=Map is on page xiv, reference to the village on page 146 |orig-date=1916}} [[Alfred Kroeber|A. L. Kroeber]] said the village was called ''Opyuweg'' (''Chwaltaike'' by the [[Hupa]]), mapping it in more detail.{{Cite book |last=Kroeber |first=A. L. (Alfred Louis) |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofindian00kroe |title=Handbook of the Indians of California |date=1976 |publisher=New York : Dover Publications |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-486-23368-0 |pages=10–11 |orig-date=1925}} [[T. T. Waterman]] said the lagoon was named ''Oketo'' and pinpointed the village most precisely as ''Opyuweg,'' setting it west of a southern promontory of the lagoon and of a settlement called ''piNpa''.{{Cite journal |last=Waterman |first=T. T. |date=May 31, 1920 |title=Yurok Geography |url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp016-006.pdf |url-status=live |journal=University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography |volume=16 |issue=5 |at=Map 31, "Rectangle I," facing page 263. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120121619/https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp016-006.pdf |archive-date=November 20, 2015 |via=University of California at Berkeley}} Coastal Yuroks call themselves Ner-'er-'ner or Ner-er-ner and upriver Yuroks call themselves Pue-lik-lo' or Polikla.{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.yuroktribe.org/our-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240214022706/https://www.yuroktribe.org/our-history |archive-date=February 14, 2024 |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=Yurok Tribe |language=en}} In his notes, C. H. Merriman recorded that ''Oketo'' was the name the Polikla or Pue-lik-lo' used for a Ner-er-ner village at Big Lagoon.{{Cite web |last=Merriam |first=C. Hart |title=Ethnographic And Ethnosynonymic Data From Northern California Tribes |url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/arfs016-001.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150913221258/https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/arfs016-001.pdf |archive-date=September 13, 2015 |access-date=February 14, 2024 |at=at PDF page 21, manuscript page 6}}

'''Oketo''' is a former [[Yurok (tribe)|Yurok]] settlement in [[Humboldt County, California|Humboldt County]], [[California]], United States, but experts differ on what the names were of the settlement itself and of the nearby waterway now called [[Big Lagoon (California)|Big Lagoon]]. Yurok author Chenahwah Weitchahwah ([[Lucy Thompson]]) used the name ''Ah-ca-tah'' when mentioning the location of a religious practice but was unclear whether she was naming the village or lagoon. [[Peter E. Palmquist|Peter Palmquist]] placed the village at the south shore of the lagoon.{{Cite book |last=Weitch-ah-wah (Thompson) |first=Cha-na-wah (Lucy) |url=http://archive.org/details/toamericanindian0000thom |title=To the American Indian : reminiscences of a Yurok woman |date=1991 |publisher=Berkeley, CA : Heyday Books in conjunction with P.E. Palmquist |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-930588-47-2 |pages= |at=Map is on page xiv, reference to the village on page 146 |orig-date=1916}} [[Alfred Kroeber|A. L. Kroeber]] said the village was called ''Opyuweg'' (''Chwaltaike'' by the [[Hupa]]), mapping it in more detail.{{Cite book |last=Kroeber |first=A. L. (Alfred Louis) |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofindian00kroe |title=Handbook of the Indians of California |date=1976 |publisher=New York : Dover Publications |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-486-23368-0 |pages=10–11 |orig-date=1925}} [[T. T. Waterman]] said the lagoon was named ''Oketo'' and pinpointed the village most precisely as ''Opyuweg,'' setting it west of a southern promontory of the lagoon and of a settlement called ''piNpa''.{{Cite journal |last=Waterman |first=T. T. |date=May 31, 1920 |title=Yurok Geography |url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp016-006.pdf |url-status=live |journal=University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography |volume=16 |issue=5 |at=Map 31, "Rectangle I," facing page 263. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120121619/https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp016-006.pdf |archive-date=November 20, 2015 |via=University of California at Berkeley}} Coastal Yuroks call themselves Ner-'er-'ner or Ner-er-ner and upriver Yuroks call themselves Pue-lik-lo' or Polikla.{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.yuroktribe.org/our-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240214022706/https://www.yuroktribe.org/our-history |archive-date=February 14, 2024 |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=Yurok Tribe |language=en}} In his notes, C. H. Merriman recorded that ''Oketo'' was the name the Polikla or Pue-lik-lo' used for a Ner-er-ner village at Big Lagoon.{{Cite web |last=Merriam |first=C. Hart |title=Ethnographic And Ethnosynonymic Data From Northern California Tribes |url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/arfs016-001.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150913221258/https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/arfs016-001.pdf |archive-date=September 13, 2015 |access-date=February 14, 2024 |at=at PDF page 21, manuscript page 6}}

Weitchahwah said a major religious performance called ''Wah-neck-wel-ah-gaw'' was performed there biannually and, when Europeans first arrived, it was also still held at [[Orick, California|Orick]], ''Reck-woy'', and ''Pec-wan,'' her birthplace. Kroeber says Opyuweg was the largest settlement at Big Lagoon, and among the largest along the Ner-'er-'ner coast.

Weitchahwah said a major religious performance called ''Wah-neck-wel-ah-gaw'' was performed there biannually and, when Europeans first arrived, it was also still held at [[Orick, California|Orick]], ''Reck-woy'', and ''Pec-wan,'' her birthplace. Kroeber says Opyuweg was the largest settlement at Big Lagoon, and among the largest along the Ner-'er-'ner coast.

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