Tule and Its Many Gifts

Published October 31, 2023

NHM Online Presents: L.A. at Play, an exploration of creators and collectors of figurines and dolls that connect to L.A. history, culture, and fandoms.

"Having people knowing more about us and speak the Tongva name and speak about the Gabrieleno people, it’s a way of uplifting the voices that have been erased for generations…The tule doll connects us to the earth a little bit deeper and its part of passing on our traditional knowledge to the next generation."

Kimberly Morales Johnson is part of the thriving and vibrant Gabrielino Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians whose ancestral lands encompass the Los Angeles Basin and various Channel Islands. Morales is an educator by profession and currently pursuing her doctorate in Native American Studies. She uses her platform as an educator to promote knowledge and awareness of traditional foodways, oral traditions, and intergenerational knowledge.

Kimberly Morales Johnson gathers tule in the Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

In this final installment of L.A. at Play: Dolls & Figurines, Morales Johnson graciously shares her ancestral knowledge on the making and meaning of traditional tule dolls. Click here to watch Morales Johnson explain her timeless connection to the city and lands of Los Angeles and the role of tule dolls in her culture.

Generational Knowledge

Tule is gathered as a way to reconnect to Mother Earth. When Mother Earth has an abundance it’s part of the caretaking to go back to Mother Earth to gather the gifts she’s given.

Tule, a type of sedge, is a tall plant that grows in shallow waters at the edges of ponds, lakes, and marshes and grows throughout California. Descendant communities throughout the state found tule useful for weaving its fibers into baskets, mats, thatched roofs, and dolls. Morales Johnson abides by the ancestral knowledge that tule is not simply a natural resource, but rather, it is a plant relative. This familial relationship between people and the natural world engenders a greater respect for the natural landscape and the gifts it provides. It also underscores the most important aspect of creating a tule doll: the passage of knowledge and traditions from one generation to the next.

Morales Johnson, and her niece Ellie, make an offering to the tule before it is sustainably gathered.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

When Morales Johnson weaves a tule doll, she brings into the act of creating both the memory of her elders and the promise of the future generations, namely her children Samantha and Seth and niece Ellie, who will continue to be bearers of proud and ancient traditions. Describing an experience when she went gathering tule with her daughter, Morales Johnson recalls discussing offerings to the tule with her relative, Auntie Barbara:

"We were talking about what gifts to give, and then my daughter, without any prompting, just started singing a song. Auntie Barbara said, ‘That’s it honey, that’s what I’m talking about. Give the plants your gift.' It was one of those moments where every time I go back to the tule, I can hear my daughter singing and I could hear Auntie Barbara being so proud of her connection to Mother Earth."

Ellie (left), and Morales Johnson share a laugh during the process of making a tule doll.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

To partake in the making of a tule doll is to engage in a continuum of centuries of oral tradition derived from the voices of elders and ancestors. The knowledge of its creation, from the gathering to the weaving, allows for this practice to assume a lifespan like that of an organic being. If it is forgotten and not tended to, it will pass away and fade into memory. However, through the intercession of living knowledge bearers like Morales Johnson, the practice of weaving dolls continues to invigorate the next generation.

Morales Johnson and her son, Seth, at the Natural History Museum.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Reflecting on the lessons that making a tule doll can teach, Morales Johnson says:

"There’s this sense of pride in knowing that they have a connection to Mother Earth for generations…to see that reclamation of our culture coming back has empowered this next generation. But there were a couple generations who really had to fight to keep what we knew, and we have."

The Making of the Doll 

Click through the slideshow below to see highlights from the process of weaving a tule doll.

Dolls as a Cultural Unifier

To the core of our being we are human people, and dolls are a way of showing that...it's a connection of humanity and a connection of goodness to try and bring a smile to somebody's face.

When people ask Morales Johnson how she came up with the idea for the doll, or where it comes from, she responds, "This wasn't me. This was something that was handed down to us from ancestral knowledge."

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

The making of a tule doll affirms the core function of a doll: to bring joy. Throughout recorded human history, dolls have been created for the express purpose of being loved and cherished, and often, dolls were created with whatever natural material was readily available. As Morales Johnson demonstrated, the practice of creating dolls by hand is not one relegated to a bygone era. Cultures worldwide continue to use natural materials to create dolls; scroll through the photos below to see examples of other handcrafted natural-fiber dolls in the care of the Natural History Museum.

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