Elaine Low Senior TV WriterHalf Mexican and half Chumash, showrunner Karissa Valencia grew up “torn” between modern life and Native culture.
That meant attending pop music festivals and using cell phones, while also going to sweat lodges, powwows and ceremonies important to her family’s tribe, who live on a reservation in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara.One of her favorites is the bear ceremony, when the Chumash honor the bear emerging from hibernation in the spring.“It’s so beautiful to see, and it really is an indigenous philosophy and belief that everything has a spirit and everything is alive,” she told Variety.That “love for Native magic, but also superheroes and creating really fun cartoons for kids” is the origin of “Spirit.
Read more on variety.com