Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Spirit of Adventure E-term 2016: Lost in Cherokee

By: Katie Blundell



May 15, 2016 - In the Spirit of Adventure e-term we had the chance to explore the culture of the Cherokee Indian Tribe through a museum and village tour. The elders of this tribe stated that they have lived on these lands forever and that their creator gave them the land and their language. These people used flint stone to create arrow heads for war and for hunting. While exploring this beautiful culture we made our own arrow heads out of flint by striking it with another rock. The Cherokee Indians used traps to capture their food, the traps ranged in size for bears, rabbits, and fish. All of the villages of these people were on the west side of the river.

In 900 AD-1600 AD the Cherokee people started to grow corn, beans, squash, gourds, and tobacco. The tobacco was not used for recreational use but instead for prayer ceremonies. Each town had a peace chief, war chief, the uku- spiritual leader, and the clan mother. This tribe had laws against selling their land and they were not allowed to marry someone in their own clan. Today there are 315,000 citizens in the Cherokee community and 10,000 live in Cherokee, NC on the reservation. While on this e-term we participated in traditional animal dances and also a friendship dance with the Cherokee natives.

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