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The native peoples living near present day Oceanside told of a divine redeemer and teacher called Chinigchinich. The story of this god is still much debated as to whether it was in existence before the Spanish arrival or whether it was a syncretic belief system i.e. a mixture of native and European beliefs. Some of the Kumeyaay knew of this myth even though it was first discovered among their northern cousins, the Juaneños.

The only report we have of this religious belief is from Father Geronimo Boscana, a friar at Mission San Juan Capistrano in the 1820s. According to him, the local Indians believed that the earth had been created by a divine brother and a sister. They also created the first human named Ouiot who was self generating, having his own children without a woman. After achieving an old age his children conspired to kill him by poison. But before he died he vowed to return. Just as they were cremating their father, the Coyote appeared and spoke that he wanted to die with his captain. The Coyote jumped into the fire, while tearing a piece of meat from Ouiot's stomach and eating it. Soon after that Chinigchinich was born. This being then created man and woman saying (in Boscana's terms) "him who obeyeth me not, or believeth not in my teachings, I will chastise. To him I will send bears to bite, serpents to sting, misfortunes, infirmities, and death."

Thus Chinigchinich became the "all-powerful" god of the natives. The reported practice of the shaman eating a piece of the flesh of the dead body just prior to its cremation was supposedly a recreation of the birth of their god. Eventually Chinigchinich was taken up into the heavens and became the stars while dancing a sacred dance. This myth and many related others were told by Fr. Boscana . How much they reflected a real belief system of the natives or were the result of influence by Christianity is hard to say.