Cahuilla communities held significant celebrations when male or female children reached adulthood. In the past, boys underwent "Kichaa-a" in which older women led a ritual that tested their fortitude by inflicting pain without eliciting any vocal reactions from initiates.
**Girls’ Menstruation Rites*:
When a Cahuilla girl attained menstrual age, which signifies womanhood, special rituals were executed that included an “exile” period away from home, followed by elaborate dances.
Mourning Ceremonies:
Funerals played a profound role in Cahuilla communities as a tribute to the deceased and honoring life after death.
Mourning practices varied according to individual tribes in the federation. Typically, funerals lasted an entire night and concluded with sunrise prayers led by respected community members or ceremonialists called 'pechanga,'. The duration or mourning could even persist multiple nights, particularly for prominent persons of the communities. During this period, laments from relatives, friends, and other tribal members are heard. Ritual mourning songs accompany these lamentations in the Cahuilla tradition. These traditional Cahuilla mortuary ceremonies continue at Malki Museum from dusk (4-4:30pm) during the day of passing or the following night of passing through sunrise as a celebration of life lived and completion of life, with prayers led by Cahuilla shamans from across several communities.
First Corn Ceremony:
Every summer when harvesting the First Corn, communities engage in an annual, multi-day festival. Ritual ceremonies and dancing constitute a joyous expression of thankfulness to spirit powers. Each dance symbolizes gratitude for successful rains in cultivating maize, one of the tribe's main dietary necessities.