Talk:Calafia

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This topic has nothing to do with South America, Central America, or Brazil. It's a Spanish legend that was brought to North America. Lagringa 18:29, 3 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, yes it does because they did come from South America —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.134.167.71 (talk) 22:29, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

As a matter of fact, the name of the legendary Amazon Queen was not Califia, but Calafia, as it is stated in many ancient transcripts made by Spaniard Padres and sailor explorers. Also it is believed that when Hernán Cortés arrived to Airapí the aboriginal name for La Paz, capital of Baja California Sur, it was so hot that he said that they had arrived to a "callida fornax" latin meaning "hot furnace or oven" from that expression derived, possibly, Calliforniax; later simplyfied to California. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.176.127.183 (talk) 04:56, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

According to historian and emeritus member of the University of California faculty, Erwin G. Gudde, the name of the queen is spelled "Calafia" (not "Califia"). A complete discussion on the name "California" and how it is related to the name of the mythical queen, can be found in his book California Place Names under the heading "California." (UC Press, Berkeley/ Los Angeles, 1998). "Avenida Calafia" of San Clemente, and its adjacent beach also use the same spelling as Gudde. Many restaurants, hotels, resorts, and other businesses throughout the three states of California (California USA; Baja California, Mexico; and Baja California Sur, Mexico.) also use the same spelling. Public buses in Tijuana are referred to locally as "Calafias," and there is also an Aereo Calafia airline of Cabo San Lucas, B.C.S (see wikipedia).

Whence, then, comes the spelling "Califia?" I know that there is a park named "Queen Califia's Magic Circle" in Escondido. It seems to me, however, that besides the occasional mispelling, the sources (including those located in the U.S.) overwhelmingly agree with Gudde's spelling. While "Calafia" is a very common name in Baja California (where the official language is the same as that in which Las sergas de Esplandian was written), there I have never found it spelled with the additional "i", as it unfortunately is in this article.

The confusion seems to be linked to a common error in pronouncing the name in English. Whereas the proper pronunciation of the name is [cah-LAH-fee-ah], English-speaking Californians often mistakenly place the accent on the second-to-last syllable, thus sounding something like [cal-i-FEE-uh]. The mispronunciation can be heard in the song "She's the Coming Sun" by the alternative rock band "Lassie Foundation." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Twanvaldez (talk • contribs) 02:45, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Major changes
I moved the article from Califia to Calafia because that's the spelling taken from the book by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. I removed a lot of text revolving around the hajj of Mansa Musa to Mecca in 1324 as none of it was supported by mainstream sources; it appeared to me to be original research. I added a great big section which describes the character and actions of Calafia in de Montalvo's novel. I added some text discussing the etymology of Calafia. Binksternet (talk) 04:11, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Veracity of the depiction?
The image for this article is called "aztec_man.gif" on the website it came from. I asked the uploader about this here (permalink). 107.215.218.145 (talk) 11:24, 17 March 2023 (UTC)


 * The Aztec Man file name is wrong. The figure is the central character in a 1937 triptych mural titled "The Origin and Development of the Name of the State of California" painted by Lucile Lloyd. It is commonly called the Califia mural. Binksternet (talk) 14:24, 17 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I agree. The original triptych is on this page: https://capitolmuseum.ca.gov/exhibits/murals/ and if one looks at the whole image here: https://capitolmuseum.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/wpa_murals1.gif, the context is clearer. Renaming the image would be nice. Glennglazer (talk) 14:47, 17 March 2023 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 10:08, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * EMBRAER 145 DE CALAFIA AIRLINES (cropped).jpg

Rivera's mural Allegory of California
I submit that Diego Rivera's mural in the City Club does not show Calafia, despite a couple of outlier sources saying otherwise. Most of the literature about this female figure describe her as the Spirit of California or a goddess of California. She is an allegorical figure rather than a fictional character. Rivera's painting shows the embodiment of abundance, holding a full sheaf of agricultural products. The fictional warrior queen Calafia has nothing to do with abundance. I hold that the outlier sources should not be highlighted in this article. Binksternet (talk) 21:04, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * "According to Diego Rivera's autobiography, the large, looming female figure represents Calafia, for whom the state is named"; the SFWeekly article claims that the representation of the figure as Calafia comes from Rivera's autobiography. That would not be an outlier source. Provide contrary evidence. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 00:23, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree with Cristiano, source is good and the opinion of the artist is canonical. Glennglazer (talk) 00:24, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Except that the SFWeekly author is wrong. Rivera's autobiography does not make any such claim. He talks about Helen Wills, the tennis star, as the inspiration for the image, and then he says it was altered to look less like Wills and more generally like an allegorical figure. The SFWeekly author links to this page as proof that the figure is Calafia, but the link does not support such a claim. The SFWeekly source is flat wrong.
 * Every major piece of literature covering the City Club mural by Rivera talks about how the central figure is an allegory of California's abundance. None of them say Calafia. It's ridiculous to propose honoring the ephemeral SFWeekly while ignoring the major literature. Binksternet (talk) 00:40, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Well, the historic landmark resolution from the SF Board of Supervisors states "WHEREAS, According to Rivera’s autobiography, the large, looming female figure represents Calafia, the Spirit of California, with her right hand mining the earth for hidden treasures of the State of California, and her left hand holding the treasures that grow on its surface;" On top of that, even the City Club itself states the figure is Calafia. But if that's not enough heres another source from the Helen Wills Institute at UC Berkeley referring to the figure as Calafia, a USF art history professor doing so in her book's blog, and even an Atlas Obscura article for the little that is worth too. I don't know what more is needed. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 00:48, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The SF Supervisor resolution is also wrong, because nowhere in Rivera's autobiography appear the words Califia or Calafia. He never said this. He said it was the Spirit of California, or words to that effect. This is like an echo chamber of errors, with one idiotic source making shit up, and others parroting it. All of your sources are recent, and all of them suffer from the Woozle effect. They are all faulty and all of them should be thrown out in favor of sources from before the fucking internet poisoned this topic. Calafia is a fictional warrior queen. Rivera's painting shows peacetime abundance. Not the same. Binksternet (talk) 01:03, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I have no problem taking what you're stating as a fact, if you were to provide any sources that contradict these ones presented. We cannot simply take your word that "every major piece of literature" states that these are all incorrect, especially in the face of the presented statements from the the City Club, Helen Wills Institute at UC Berkeley, the Board of Supervisors, and numerous other publications like SFWeekly or Atlas Obscura. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 01:24, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * As to your point on Calafia being a warrior queen and this being an allegorical figure, I see no contradiction. Calafia has been used in various pieces of art as allegory of California simply by virtue of the name and its connection to California's history and myth. Calafia can be whatever the artist desires her to be and not necessarily always depicted as a warrior. In fact, the Calafia statue in Sacramento depicts her as supporting a workloads on her head, while the Calafia statue in Turlock is quite peaceful and un-warlike. This mural in Riverside depicts her as a little girl honoring immigrants and this mural in San Luis Obispo depicts her in a sort of art-pop way. Your argument on this level means nothing. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 01:28, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * As an example of the literature on the topic, art historian Celia Stahr wrote in Frida in America that Rivera could have chosen to represent Calafia who was black, and that he was probably familiar with the Calafia origin story of California, but he instead chose to portray a white figure: "Instead, this Communist sympathizer chose to do the exact opposite—to reaffirm Western concepts of beauty and power by emphasizing a Greek connection. Perhaps he wanted to appease the predominantly white stock traders..." This is on page 63 of the 2020 book. Stahr is a PhD in art history at the University of San Francisco. Binksternet (talk) 01:32, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * That source doesn't refer to her as not being Calafia, but merely mentions Rivera's choice of skin tone. And considering the variety of skin tones used to this day in murals depicting Calafia, that is hardly an argument to its dismissal as Calafia. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 01:34, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The Stahr book is definitive as it asserts that Rivera could have chosen to represent Calafia but he did the "exact opposite". It's a complete denial of your position here. Binksternet (talk) 01:48, 21 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Well it says the "exact opposite" of "elevate the status of African Americans" is to "reaffirm western concepts of beauty". It says nothing of changing the thematic personification of the figure to be or not be Calafia. I hardly consider this definitive evidence the mural is not depicting or inspired by Calafia. Also, the skin color in the mural is not too different from other depictions which have used indigenous or Mexican templates for Calafia's image. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 02:06, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Actually, this blog post from your very same Celia Stahr, PhD states that "Diego's mural references Calafia, a black woman warrior who ruled over a Queendom of black women on the mythic island of California. Apparently, Diego was familiar with this queen, yet he made his allegorical female figure white. " AKA you are reading too much into her words in the previous citation of her. She remarks on the oddity of his changing her skill color but does not change her assessment that it is Calafia. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 02:56, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I think we need some community input from anyone other than myself and Binksternet. Thoughts anybody? Cristiano Tomás (talk) 02:12, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Stahr's carefully considered book text, subject to editorial oversight, is much more authoritative than her blog. Binksternet (talk) 02:34, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

The historiography of this issue
I looked for the earliest instance of a writer connecting Rivera's Allegory of California with Calafia or Califia and found that none of them happened in the 20th century. During the first 70 years of people writing about the mural, none of them thought that the central figure was Calafia. A late-century example of this is mural expert Masha Zakheim (1931–2014) who wrote an essay about the mural included in her 1998 book Diego Rivera en San Francisco. Nothing in Zakheim's book connects the mural to Calafia. The 1997 book Rivera by art historian Andrea Kettenmann is a masterwork biography. On page 46 Kettenmann describes the mural without naming Calafia or Califia. Exactly the same as scores of Rivera studies preceding it.

The earliest instance of Califia/Calafia tied to Rivera that I found is this self-published webpage which Google search indicates is from February 2003. The author is Elisa Rolle, known for covering LGBTQ issues, but not considered an expert on Rivera, or art, or myth. Rolle writes that Califia is "the Earth Mother" which is wildly inaccurate.

Another self-published webpage I found is identified by Google search to be from September 2009. It is a Diego Rivera biography published by the self-identified Rivera Experts who make money from evaluating Rivera artworks. The "Experts" write that Rivera "metamorphosed her [Califia] into Mother Earth, a goddess of abundance with her giant hands gathering up the rich plenty of the State of California." So if these unnamed folks can be considered actual experts of art and myth, they would be saying that Rivera ended up not painting Califia, but Mother Earth instead.

After these appeared online, a few more showed up in blogs and public relations webpages. A photographer made the connection to Califia in 2010, and the City Club publicity team made the connection in 2011. Finance guy and magazine reader Kevin Moss of Berkeley was quoted by Sports Illustrated in July 2011. These folks are starting to prove the power of the internet to shape discourse. More such webpages are found in 2012 and later. The Woozle effect builds. People see the previous blogs and copy those ideas forward.

What I'm trying to do here is remind everyone that the first 70 years of literature on the topic represents the mainstream viewpoint. The mainstream viewpoint doesn't cite false words as belonging to Diego Rivera's autobiography. The mainstream viewpoint doesn't conflate a fictional black warrior queen with an allegorical light-skinned goddess of abundance. Binksternet (talk) 03:32, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

Queen Califa
Queen Califa was not a fictional, but a nonfiction character. A lot of references and research have been published in the book “They Came Before Columbus”! Please wait falsehood from U.S school books. In is disappointing to call a “Wikidata” of facts, when you spread false information. I learned back about Columbus or any other European discovered this continent because they’re were people on is!! 2600:8801:12AD:4600:64B4:D4BD:1BD1:60AB (talk) 21:06, 20 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Can you cite a specific page of They Came Before Columbus, or quote a passage about Calafia? Because I'm not seeing support in that book for your assertion. Binksternet (talk) 21:29, 20 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Greeting Wiki Representative,
 * In response to the definition,California is named for her. There are several spellings, specifically with a K. Khalifa,Kalifa, along with Califah.
 * Part of the definition claimed to be "fictional" has part of the truth, "an island of California ". The State's name is part of the "facts". If possible, replace the word "fictional", for She is a real woman and was a real living being, not a myth or story.
 * Thank you and thank you for your time. 75.142.10.60 (talk) 21:57, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Calafia is a fictional character. She never existed in California or anywhere else. The fictional island she ruled was close to Asia, not North America. Binksternet (talk) 23:48, 17 October 2023 (UTC)