Spirit of Adventure E-term 2016: The Spirit of Cherokee

By Matthew Shaw

Today we ventured into something that was new for all of us. We all drove to the Cherokee Indian Reservation and had a museum tour and listened to a speaker talk about how the Cherokees have lived throughout the years. We learned that the diseases from Europe killed 95% of American Indian people in the Americas from 1500-1650. After we walked around the museum and saw a bunch of the different artifacts, we went into the woods to see how these were made. We walked through the forest where the Indians had little huts set up to show the skills they use each day. At the end of the tour they showed us how the houses were made, and explained up to twelve people lived and worked as one.

Afterward, we all then took a trip back to the museum where two Indians took us outside and then explained to us how arrowheads were made. He said that it could take up to twenty years to have the skills to be able to craft a knife from flint. Then they broke off little pieces of the flint and gave them to everyone and that’s when we all had the chance to try and make our own arrowheads which was a great experience. The last part of our trip involved learning some of the dances that they did for spiritual and social reasons. This was very fun for all of us because it got everyone involved and we all ended up singing, dancing, walking around the class and having fun. Learning the culture of these Indians was very interesting, and one of the best experiences I believe we have been through. I would love to go back there and learn more about how they lived everyday life.