The original Lake Miwok people world view included Shamanism, one form this took was the Kuksu religion that was evident in Central and Northern California, which included elaborate acting and dancing ceremonies in traditional costume, an annual mourning ceremony, puberty rites of passage, shamanic intervention with the spirit world and an all-male society that met in subterranean dance rooms.

[2][3] Kuksu was shared with other indigenous ethnic groups of Central California, such as their neighbors the Lake Pomo, also Maidu, Ohlone, Esselen, and northernmost Yokuts.

However Kroeber observed less "specialized cosmogony" in the Miwok, which he termed one of the "southern Kuksu-dancing groups", in comparison to the Maidu and other northern California tribes.

[4] In their myths, legends, tales, and histories, the Lake Miwok participated in the general cultural pattern of Central California.

"[7] The natives of Clear Lake suffered tremendous loss of life and were virtually decimated during the regional smallpox epidemic of 1837 that came from Fort Ross.