Cherokee

            Our adventure to Cherokee was different than what I had expected. In my mind, I had imagined more residencies and less urbanization, along with a strong traditional vibe that filled the air everywhere you went. Instead, as we pulled into Cherokee, we drove along a strip of commercialized shops that appealed to the tourist mentality of a need for souvenirs and a false display of what it means to be a Native American. There were men dressed in extravagant head dresses and clothing that would be typical in an old western film, ready to dance if you paid them. This was not my ideal visual of first impressions as I arrived.

            Once we arrived to the museum and began walking around and reading all about the Cherokee lifestyle, history and struggle that their people endured, I began to gain a new sense of respect and understanding. The museum revealed a great amount of information, in fact too much to take in with just one visit, but I believe that they couldn’t have portrayed their story in a better way. Their use of visuals and artifacts was spectacular, especially the all too realistic characters on display that really captivated the Indian persona and physical attributes, making me feel as if I were actually back in time standing amidst a real native.

            After gaining such a large amount of knowledge about the Cherokee people’s past and struggle among the white man, I was able to look at the strip of tourist’s shops in a new light. Rather than having a sense of misunderstanding, I now understood that their use of commercial shops to appeal to the tourists is their way of fitting in and surviving in a white man’s world. It’s just another way in which they have adapted their lives in order to manage with their constant defeat and struggles they are constantly forced to face.

The Green Corn Ceremony

            On my previous blog I discussed in brief a few traditions found among the Cherokee. As I was researching, I came across another one of their customs called the Green Corn Ceremony, otherwise known as the busk (“to fast”). I was intrigued to gather more information regarding this annual traditional ceremony practiced by Indian tribes of the Southeast.

            Tribes such as the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Timucua, along with a few others perform this annual ceremony in celebration, along with appreciation of a successful corn crop. Corn was their single most important crop, therefore playing a significant role in their religious and ceremonial life. Corn harvesting typically fell upon the Big Ripening Moon (July-August), usually linked to the ripening of the second crop of corn, lasting a total of eight days in larger towns and only four in smaller ones.

            The renewal of life was seen as a sacred quest for spiritual purity and a time when people were to forgive debts, grudges, adultery, and all crimes (except for murder). It began when the first corn crop became edible, initiating the cleansing of the village by old fires being extinguished and worn pottery broken. In celebration, residents would fast, one form of attaining purity, and a significant component of the ritual. The Feather Dance is performed around the fire at the opening ceremonies in recognition of all Creation, along with an Old Woman’s Dance performed by the women to renew the relationship among women and plant life.

Traditions Among the Cherokee

            When one thinks of traditions, family and ritualistic activities come to mind. The definition of a tradition is a custom or belief that is passed on throughout generations over an extended period of time. A multitude of traditions and customs can be found among cultures around the world from beliefs to family routines. Because we will be visiting Cherokee this Friday, I figured it would be appropriate to take a closer look at some of the traditions found among the Cherokee people.

            A prime example of traditional beliefs can be found among the Cherokee, whose objective is to preserve their heritage and culture, in addition to their spirituality through story telling and ceremonies. The Cherokee people for many centuries understood Ye ho waah to be the Chief Supreme Being who was both God and King, occasionally appearing on earth as man.

            Another common practice among the Cherokee people involves the placement of cultural and business matters, which are conducted around the Council Fire. The fire pit used is at the same hallowed place where countless fires have been built for similar affairs and is built by a designated person known as the Fire Keeper, who builds the fire slightly higher each time. Another essential element that must be fulfilled with every fire is the incorporation of a bundle of twigs holding a sprig each of Hickory, Maple, Locust, Beech, Sycamore, Ash, and Oak.

            Weddings are another ritualistic tradition that can be found in practically every society around the world, yet they can be greatly diverse from one culture to another. Just as many celebrate weddings with food and feasts, the Cherokee did the same, but with a different agenda. The role genders play with food, along with the vitality for survival is portrayed through wedding ceremonies via the exchange of food among individuals.

Letter to Edna Chekelelee

Dear Edna Chekelelee,

            As I read some of your stories I recognized you often use a humorous tone, and although I did not have the pleasure of hearing you orally tell these stories, I could easily sense your light-hearted personality. Your use of wit was especially meaningful in my eyes because I believe it reveals a deeper quality that is often found among Native Americans. Though you are telling stories of your ancestors suffering, you find a way of inserting clever commentary to ease the listener or reader, preventing them from sensing any uneasiness for what their ancestors may have inflicted upon your people. Do you choose to tell your stories in this fashion or is just what comes naturally?

            Your choice of stories is also admirable. You enlighten your audience by telling them stories of the importance of nature, while also incorporating personal stories such as “Feathers,” which I believe is my favorite that I read. Your canny response of them wanting a chicken instead of an American Indian made me laugh aloud. The introduction says you’ve been telling stories for an extended period of time, so I’m assuming you have plenty you’ve collected over the years. Do you have a favorite, if so which is it?

            Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your stories because they have allowed me to gain a new appreciation and understanding of oral storytelling. If you have any recorded stories that you’re personally telling I would love to hear them.

Sincerely,

Alex Sierra

Reservations

            I wanted to take a closer look at reservation life after seeing the living conditions reflected in The Business of Fancydancing and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. In both of these examples poverty and poor living conditions were prevalent throughout the reservation, something I had not known because I’ve been raised in metropolitan areas along the East Coast, not a common spot for reservations. Below is a map that shows locations of reservations throughout the states, illustrating the distribution of reservations and their widespread presence in the Midwest to west, along with the lack of reservations around highly urban areas.

            In the United States there are a total of 310 Indian reservations spread throughout, which are populated by America’s poorest 1%. Typically, poverty stricken areas are at a higher risk for alcoholism, corruption, and school dropout rates, and because these reservations are closed off from Americans, the Indians that inhabit the land are even more at jeopardy because they don’t commonly venture far from their homeland.

            In addition, this land that they occupy is not the best for producing sufficient crops to support themselves. The lack of quality among the land is due to European settlers designating specific land for them to live among, usually the worst and poorest of quality.

            The poverty found within Indian reservations is different than the hardship we find in our cities. Their isolation is the most harmful because it prevents them from having opportunities arise that would assist them in bettering their lives. In order for them to truly seek a better lifestyle, they would need to leave the reservation where they would be an alien among our society and struggle to not only find a mean of income, but be accepted among a different culture as well. 
           In The Business of Fancydancing, Seymour left the reservation and was faced with struggles from different directions, one that included being disowned by his tribe. Granted, Seymour was presented with the opportunity to attend a university, which assisted his transition, but this is not a common occurrence. His childhood friend, Aristotle, also attended a university off the reservation, but eventually retreated back to what he knew on the reservation because he could not handle the transition from a life on the reservation to a life among the white man. 

What I've Learned So Far

            My perception of what a Native American is has changed. Before this course I was a bit naïve and thought they lived freely and happily among our society or on a reservation. After watching several of these films and reading books such as Tonto and Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven, I have realized that they are not only fighting an ongoing battle with the Western world, but they are also fighting a battle among themselves—one that involves identity. For so many years their ancestors farmed and studied the land they inhabited, evolving into one form of identity. The intrusion of white settlers among their soil pushed them away forcing them to leave the one thing they identified the most with, and developing into a greater loss of self.

            Just as I mentioned in class on p. 123 of Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit, the Indian problem will not just simply go away. In fact, my expanding knowledge of Native Americans has grown drastically thanks to this course, including the realization that there is such a problem that still persists today. Who are we to put limits or borders on people? We are all equally as human and therefore deserve equal treatment and use of land. Until we recognize that our issues will continue to persist and problems among “races” will not seize.

            So far in this semester I have grown an appreciation for the strength and bond that native people have among one another. Regardless of all the issues they’ve endured, they have stuck together through it all and continue to recognize and show their pride in their ancestry and heritage. Their culture continues to be preserved through traditions, both oral and physical, ensuring future generations retain the knowledge and familiarity of their ancestors and where they came from.

Spirituality

                  Spirituality is a very difficult topic to discuss with others because of its close connection to religion, as well as the great personal impact it has on people individually. For some, spirituality may involve a particular religion, such as Christianity or Hinduism, but for others it could just involve a personal, or spiritual connection they feel within themselves. People’s background and point of origin can also greatly impact their view of religion.

                  As humans we don’t understand or can’t explain a lot of events or occurrences, therefore we have created religion. In one of my courses we just discussed the term “sui generis,” meaning something entirely of it’s own kind, in order to define what religion is. It’s something entirely set apart and different from anything else that human beings have encountered, and as thousands of years have passed, so has the development of religion.

                  Today, there are a wide variety of religions that one can follow or accept as true, which is unsurprising given the years of advancement among human beings. Some individuals regularly attend some ceremony or form of worship, while others make journeys in search of spirituality, such as Muslims making the trek to Mecca.

                  For myself, spirituality comes to me through the form of a journey that does not involve just one trip, such as going to Mecca, but rather my journey through life. This voyage I view as life is what’s going to strengthen my connection with others, along with the universe, through a series of events that will assist in my individual development. There’s a close connection with my spirituality and the list of values I chose for myself in my last blog. The significance of consciousness to me strongly correlates with how I wish to be spiritual because in order for me to be conscious, I must be aware of the here and now, making me responsive of the struggles, beauty, and people I encounter, assisting and strengthening my personal development. I consider myself to be a very open-minded individual because of this consciousness I choose to live.

                  In conclusion, I’m going to leave you with this link to a mediation song that I enjoy when I wish to feel a larger sense of spirituality and peace.

Values

                  We all have personal values we carry with us throughout life, impacting who we transform into and some of our decisions along the way. I had never actually sat down and thought about what was most important to me in my life, so when we discussed this in class on Tuesday and were asked to write our top five values, I struggled a bit. To some, these values could be meaningless, but to me they are what make my life significant. Here is a list of my top five values:

1.        1.  Health

2.        2.  Family

3.        3.  Respect

4.        4. Honesty

5.        5.  Consciousness

                  As I read The Sacred Tree, I really got a sense of what Native Americans value in their lives. Although there are other ideals and morals that they may follow, I got my own impression of what they would write down for their top five values. Below are these five values, along with a short explanation of why I believe this is a top priority of theirs.

1.         1. Interconnectedness—their connection with the earth and one another, along with a balance among all living things.

2.         2. Health—use of medicinal herbs and rituals.

3.         3. The present—the consciousness of being present in the here and now; living in the present.

4.         4. Human development—journeys and events transforms us into who we are.

5.         5. Memory—the power of the mind to remember and learn.

                  I believe that we share a lot of similar values, if not directly, then definitely in some form. The one that stuck out to me the most is the importance of consciousness/the present in both lifestyles. Being aware of our state of mind at all times and awareness of the here and now is definitely a top priority we share. Although these values do not pertain to every Native American, I believe that they are a somewhat accurate portrayal of what The Sacred Tree wishes to convey to the reader.

Alcoholism Among Native Americans

                  Stereotypes, good and bad, exist for every ethnic group. The label placed on Native Americans as drunks has crossed my mind once or twice prior to this course, but was never a fixed perception. After reading The Long Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven, along with watching Reel Injun, Smoke Signals, and now The Business of Fancydancing, my perception of Native Americans as drunks is beginning to stick. In all of these cases, the native people who are still on the reservation are illustrated as sloppy drunks whose only desire is to drink.

                  What most impacted me are the scenes where the children are continuously forced to witness their parents’ foolish actions. In Smoke Signals, Victor commonly sees his parents at house parties where they continuously exceed their alcohol limit and act out. The Business of Fancydancing also recounts several memories that Seymour and Aristotle have of experiencing the impact alcohol had on their parents. The carelessness of the parents is an enormous burden on the children, and largely impacts them as they grow by influencing them, increasing their chances of following in their parents’ footsteps.

                  Curious, I researched alcoholism among Native Americans to see what I could find and came across this article online that illustrates the severity of the problem. According to a federal report, nearly twelve percent of deaths among Native Americans are related to alcohol. This is more than three times the percent of alcohol-related deaths in the general population, which I found shocking. On a positive note, the article does propose the idea of instituting “culturally appropriate clinical interventions” as an attempt to reduce the amount of alcohol consumption among Native Americans.

Applied Ideas to Trickster Tales

                  On Tuesday we watched the brief 5-minute video of Gerald Vizenor discussing the Trickster and oral tradition as a primary literary source. He clarified that myths have no pattern, but involve a lasting need to tell stories that are intended to bring people together through hope and love and a brilliant act of imagination. After watching the short film, we broke up into groups, where we discussed our assigned sections. My group had three very different stories that involved the skeleton man and because we ran out of time for my group to speak, I wanted to point out our observations, because our three stories didn’t necessarily fall into the either category of agreeing with Vizenor or not.

                  Our stories had no meaning or morals and all abruptly ended, similar to other trickster tales that we have been reading in the last few weeks. One of the dissimilarities we pointed out was that our main figure (the skeleton man) was not an animal like we have normally come across in previous tales. In addition, our trickster was one-dimensional, focusing on their desires only and lacking personality.

                  The one story that stood out the most in our eyes was How Masaaw Slept With A Beautiful Maiden, which had no foundation, along with being very disturbing. Many of the other trickster tales we’ve read have told stories that explain how things came to be or a moral, but this one tale had no aim. The skeleton man took over a grandmother’s body and proceeded to trick the granddaughter to sleep with him, and then returned the grandmother to her body. The grandmother and granddaughter then discover they’ve been tricked and the story ends.

                  Vizenor mentioned that trickster tales never contained a cruel or unkind trickster, but this story discards that thought because of the actions of the skeleton man on the granddaughter. Generally trickster tales are told to give meaning to contradictions, love, mortality, and many other uncertainties, but this story, along with the other two in our assigned section, lacked significance or meaning.

A new type of Indian

                 We often describe physical characteristics of Native Americans as tall, lean, straight black hair, dark reddish-brown skin complexion, that when all combined form a class of their own. As I was researching, I came across a term I had never heard before—Black Indians. Automatically, my assumptions were that this type of Indian arose around the time of slavery, but in fact, interaction between Africans and Native Americans began even before European settlers brought African slaves to the Americas. Granted, this group of individuals did not actually multiply until the new American government began to thrive, forcing the connection between blacks and indigenous Indians to strengthen.

                  I vaguely researched the history of Black Indians because I was more curious about learning someone’s story of their personal struggle than a broad spectrum of people. One I came across was Atiatoharongwen (Colonel Louis or Louis Cook), who is one of the most historically well-known North Americans of black and Indian descendents; his father a black man and mother a Saint-François Abenaki. During a French and Indian raid on the Niagara frontier, him and both his parents were captured. It is unknown what happened to his mother, but his father was made a servant in Montreal, leaving Atiatoharongwen, who was assumed black, to become the prize of a French officer, until the Mohawk warriors of Iroquois Confederacy intervened. The Mohawk people plead for his release and was eventually handed over has one of their own people, where he ascended his status in politics and became a warrior, a chief, and a staunch US ally. Below is a depiction of Colonel Louis Cook raising his tomahawk in John Trumbull’s The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec.

                  If you want more information on Colonel Louis Cook, I recommend checking out this website that provides a detailed biography. 

A New Take On Colors

            We may not realize, but colors are a key element in our lives. Beginning in childhood, we are exposed to a diverse assortment by means of books, toys, and pictures. There’s something about colors that enhances our senses, as well as transforming our mood.

            For example, take a second to look at the colors below and reflect on how you feel:

Yellow.

Green.

Red.

Blue.

            How did you feel? Happy? Sad? Angry?

            It is believed that colors are shades of our perception. They can affect our state of being and influence our subconscious mind, and it is believed that the more vibrant a color, the stronger the affect it has on our inner self. 

           

Yellow: power

Green: life

Red: sense of belonging

Blue: communication

            So my real question now is, how are these colors perceived in Native American culture? In addition, how were colors applied to their everyday lives? We always see photographs with their bodies covered in vibrant paints, jewelry, and attire.

            The picture above is a good representation of the array of vibrant colors that can be found in the traditional Cherokee dress. But what do some of these colors symbolize for them?

Yellow: sunshine, day and dawn; as a face paint it symbolized death and only worn by those in mourning

            Green: plant life; earth; as a face paint it is worn under the eyes and believed to empower night vision

            Red: wounds; sunset; thunder; earth; day; as a face paint it symbolized violence

            Blue: the sky, water, female, clouds, lightning, sadness

            Although these are just a few of the main colors that we see in our everyday lives, there are many more that have much meaning that I may explore further in the semester as we further engage in my curiosity with their dress. 

Dreams

In my religions class we are currently discussing the connection between culture and religion. As I was doing my reading for the class, a few Native American examples of culture were introduced that I found interesting, one of which was their interpretation of dreams. One view that Indians have of dreams is that the soul quits the body at nights and goes out to hunt, dance, and visit--all things attractive to the soul, which a waking man must strive to obtain in order to prevent his soul from quitting his body altogether. A second vision of their dreams involve human souls coming from without to visit the sleeper, who sees them as dreams. Native Americans suppose the dream is a visit from the soul of a person or object dreamt of, or a sight seen by the rational soul who has gone out for an excursion, as the sensitive soul remains in the body. I thought this was an interesting take on dream interpretation and I'm fascinated over their view on what dreams are because I've never really thought about them in that way before. I always interpreted dreams as more of a quick glimpse into our subconscious mind rather than a spiritual experience--it's interesting to view other cultures different views of what a dream is.

A New Approach

So today in class we took a new approach to learning and rather than just sitting and discussing the Tales that we've been reading this past week, we were asked to act them out. I was a little hesitant at first because I am a very introverted person, but once I got into my group and started talking to my group members we all seemed to be in the same boat and connected pretty well. As each group went up and presented itself, the class laughed as they viewed the groups own personal take on the Tale they were assigned. I really enjoyed reading these in the book but when we were asked to physically act them out in front of our peers it took on a whole new dynamic. It allowed me to sit back and laugh aloud and actually put faces to the character as they interacted among one another, allowing me to visualize the story in a way I would have never by just simply reading. I learn best visually and by beings hands on (one reason I'm a science major), so taking that method of learning and incorporating it into a literature class, which in my previous experiences is not often, was great. Also, like Dr. Hobby said it was a great way of getting to know my fellow classmates. This is my first semester not having anyone within my same major in any of my classes so I'm very out of my element in this course, so his emphasis on getting to know one another is comforting.

First thoughts..

            I’ve always viewed my interest in the American Indian culture as a form of respect and intrigue for their traditions because of my love for nature and all living things. Initially, I signed up for this course with the goal of broadening my knowledge of their traditions and history, and while I still believe my understanding of those will grow, I now have an additional goal in this class after watching “Reel Injun”—to develop a new perception of native people throughout these next sixteen weeks. The documentary traces the American depiction of Indians through film. The representation of Indians through the use of film from the silent era to today has had a major impact on our vision of what an American Indian is. The film discusses how Americans tend to group all Indians into the same group rather than acknowledging the variety of tribes and people that exist. Before hearing this, I must admit I too was one of the many Americans they discussed who visualizes headdresses and chanting around the fire when I think of Indians. True, I do recognize the difference in tribes and that not all Indians dress like that, but I admit that growing up these films did impact my perception of what an Indian was. After recognizing my conventional view of Indians within the first week of classes, I believe it will give me a new way of thinking and analyzing American Indian culture as I begin to develop my knowledge of these people and their history.