Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 22, 2006 16:08:29 GMT -5
nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8251
Keetoowah: People of the Sacred Fire
56th Annual Celebration
PICS AT THE WEBSITE
TAHLEQUAH OK
Liz Gray 10/17/2006
Suzy Bark (81) and grandson Shane Martin (5) enjoy the day together at the Keetoowah Celebration.
Several people stopped to visit Ms. Bark and spoke respectfully to her in Cherokee. “She speaks english real good if you want to interview her,” said her granddaughter, Brook Panther. Brook sings with the Keetoowah-Cherokee Choir and was getting ready for her performance.
_______________
HE’S GOT EVERYTHING HE NEEDS. Little Cole Grimmett enjoys a snowcone during the turtle races at the Keetoowah Celebration. With him was his mom, Michelle Grimmett and both grandmas, Annett Hogner and Mary Edwards.
_______________
Barclay Pratt (Pawnee & Keetoowah) was busy beading OU emblems on feathers at his family’s art booth. “We’ll make Texas feathers, too,” said his mom, Dru Pratt. The feathers can be worn on hats or hung on rearview mirrors. If interested, call Dru or Barclay at 918-695-7083.
_______________
Boss Cummings and his son, Oodie Cummings cook the hog meat for the dinner on Saturday.
Boss Cummings has been a part of the Keetoowah Celebration since it started. He’s been cooking hog meat for their celebrations for over 40 years. He is the one on the right in the photo above proudly wearing his Army jacket. With him is his son Oodie Cummings.
“This is how, since I was a little boy, we celebrate; with hog meat, beans and potatoes,” said Cummings.
They used to kill the hogs “on the spot”, according to Cummings. The women would go to the creek and clean the guts. “We didn’t waste nothin,” said Cummings. “Only thing we threw away was the hair and the squeel.”
Boss Cummings is considered an elder among the tribe – those with wisdom to give - those who have a life of experiences that needs to be passed on.
“I like to keep the traditions alive. But it’s more than a tradition. It’s who we are and how we live. As an elder I like to keep the medicines and the language alive,” he said.
He meant what he said. As he and his son were talking about how many more pounds of hog meat they had to cook, they were casually talking in Cherokee.
At the Keetoowah Celebration there were many conversations being made in the Cherokee language. Groups of men and women sitting among the shade trees were talking in Cherokee. People watching the various sports were talking in Cherokee. Announcers and MC’s were talking the Cherokee language at every opportunity. Sometimes mixed in was the English language. Words like Walmart, hamburgers or lawnchairs would crop up during the discussion. “When we run out of Cherokee words we use English,” said one woman at the dinner on Saturday.
“As an elder I really push the language and our way of life, foods and our medicines. Most of all, worshipping our Creator. Without Him we are nothing,” said Cummings. “What we are doing here is like the Sacred Fire. We worship God and lift up His name in song. We hope with his guidance, our prayers and songs that we all meet at the Creator’s table. Once again we will all be as one.”
Cummings was a Staff Sergeant in the Vietnam War in 1968. He was with the 9th Infantry in the MeKong Delta. His son, Chad Cummings usually attends the Keetoowah celebrations with his dad but is currently serving in Iraq.
Chad Cummings is a S.A.W.gunner with the 1st Platoon B-Co 1 36 Infantry. Maybe next year Chad will join his dad and brother once again to celebrate life thru the Keetoowah traditions.
History of the Keetoowah (Kituwah) Band of Cherokee’s
Legends of the Kituwah people say that the name was given after seven of the wisest men of the ancient Cherokees went to the highest peak and fasted for seven days and nights, asking the Creator for guidance. This peak is known today as "Clingman's Dome." On the seventh night of their fast, the Creator told them, "You shall be Kituwah." (Benny Smith, The Keetoowah Society of Cherokee Indians, Masters Dissertation, Northwestern State College, Alva, OK, 1967)
Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Dugan confirms this, "One name for the tribe is 'people of Kituwah'." ("Where Myth Meets Reality," Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2004)
Kituwah Mound, located near what is present-day Bryson City, North Carolina, is understood as the "mother town" and the place where the Creator gave the laws and first fire to the people. The Eastern Band cultural office reports that "This place wasn't just a town, this was the mother town, the place where the Cherokee began."
The 1859 Constitution of the Keetoowahs stated very eloquently, "...we began to study and investigate the way our nation was going on, so much different from the long past history of our Keetoowah forefathers who loved and lived as free people and had never surrendered to anybody; they just loved one another for they were just like one family, just as if they had been raised from one family."
Additionally, the Keetoowahs have always been known to be the most traditional and conservative of the Cherokee, holding on to the old ways of the full-blood Cherokee. Legends say that if these ways ever discontinue, the Cherokee will be no more. This has been spoken about by contemporary Kituwah spiritual leaders, who say that the people themselves will not die physically, but it will mean that they will be the same as the non-Indian. "The Sacred Fire of the Keetoowah is said to have burned since the morning of creation. Keetoowahs are the keepers of Cherokee tradition," said Cherokee Senator George Waters from Vian (Keetoowah-The Eternal Fire, Maggie Culver Fry, Oklahoma Today Magazine, Vol. 14, 1964)
The Kituwah People originally lived in the southeastern part of the present-day United States, on lands forming present-day Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
[Information taken from “Cherokee History as You’ve Never Heard It.” Published by the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. If interested in purchasing book call their giftshop at 1-918-456-6131.]
Keetoowah: People of the Sacred Fire
56th Annual Celebration
PICS AT THE WEBSITE
TAHLEQUAH OK
Liz Gray 10/17/2006
Suzy Bark (81) and grandson Shane Martin (5) enjoy the day together at the Keetoowah Celebration.
Several people stopped to visit Ms. Bark and spoke respectfully to her in Cherokee. “She speaks english real good if you want to interview her,” said her granddaughter, Brook Panther. Brook sings with the Keetoowah-Cherokee Choir and was getting ready for her performance.
_______________
HE’S GOT EVERYTHING HE NEEDS. Little Cole Grimmett enjoys a snowcone during the turtle races at the Keetoowah Celebration. With him was his mom, Michelle Grimmett and both grandmas, Annett Hogner and Mary Edwards.
_______________
Barclay Pratt (Pawnee & Keetoowah) was busy beading OU emblems on feathers at his family’s art booth. “We’ll make Texas feathers, too,” said his mom, Dru Pratt. The feathers can be worn on hats or hung on rearview mirrors. If interested, call Dru or Barclay at 918-695-7083.
_______________
Boss Cummings and his son, Oodie Cummings cook the hog meat for the dinner on Saturday.
Boss Cummings has been a part of the Keetoowah Celebration since it started. He’s been cooking hog meat for their celebrations for over 40 years. He is the one on the right in the photo above proudly wearing his Army jacket. With him is his son Oodie Cummings.
“This is how, since I was a little boy, we celebrate; with hog meat, beans and potatoes,” said Cummings.
They used to kill the hogs “on the spot”, according to Cummings. The women would go to the creek and clean the guts. “We didn’t waste nothin,” said Cummings. “Only thing we threw away was the hair and the squeel.”
Boss Cummings is considered an elder among the tribe – those with wisdom to give - those who have a life of experiences that needs to be passed on.
“I like to keep the traditions alive. But it’s more than a tradition. It’s who we are and how we live. As an elder I like to keep the medicines and the language alive,” he said.
He meant what he said. As he and his son were talking about how many more pounds of hog meat they had to cook, they were casually talking in Cherokee.
At the Keetoowah Celebration there were many conversations being made in the Cherokee language. Groups of men and women sitting among the shade trees were talking in Cherokee. People watching the various sports were talking in Cherokee. Announcers and MC’s were talking the Cherokee language at every opportunity. Sometimes mixed in was the English language. Words like Walmart, hamburgers or lawnchairs would crop up during the discussion. “When we run out of Cherokee words we use English,” said one woman at the dinner on Saturday.
“As an elder I really push the language and our way of life, foods and our medicines. Most of all, worshipping our Creator. Without Him we are nothing,” said Cummings. “What we are doing here is like the Sacred Fire. We worship God and lift up His name in song. We hope with his guidance, our prayers and songs that we all meet at the Creator’s table. Once again we will all be as one.”
Cummings was a Staff Sergeant in the Vietnam War in 1968. He was with the 9th Infantry in the MeKong Delta. His son, Chad Cummings usually attends the Keetoowah celebrations with his dad but is currently serving in Iraq.
Chad Cummings is a S.A.W.gunner with the 1st Platoon B-Co 1 36 Infantry. Maybe next year Chad will join his dad and brother once again to celebrate life thru the Keetoowah traditions.
History of the Keetoowah (Kituwah) Band of Cherokee’s
Legends of the Kituwah people say that the name was given after seven of the wisest men of the ancient Cherokees went to the highest peak and fasted for seven days and nights, asking the Creator for guidance. This peak is known today as "Clingman's Dome." On the seventh night of their fast, the Creator told them, "You shall be Kituwah." (Benny Smith, The Keetoowah Society of Cherokee Indians, Masters Dissertation, Northwestern State College, Alva, OK, 1967)
Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Dugan confirms this, "One name for the tribe is 'people of Kituwah'." ("Where Myth Meets Reality," Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2004)
Kituwah Mound, located near what is present-day Bryson City, North Carolina, is understood as the "mother town" and the place where the Creator gave the laws and first fire to the people. The Eastern Band cultural office reports that "This place wasn't just a town, this was the mother town, the place where the Cherokee began."
The 1859 Constitution of the Keetoowahs stated very eloquently, "...we began to study and investigate the way our nation was going on, so much different from the long past history of our Keetoowah forefathers who loved and lived as free people and had never surrendered to anybody; they just loved one another for they were just like one family, just as if they had been raised from one family."
Additionally, the Keetoowahs have always been known to be the most traditional and conservative of the Cherokee, holding on to the old ways of the full-blood Cherokee. Legends say that if these ways ever discontinue, the Cherokee will be no more. This has been spoken about by contemporary Kituwah spiritual leaders, who say that the people themselves will not die physically, but it will mean that they will be the same as the non-Indian. "The Sacred Fire of the Keetoowah is said to have burned since the morning of creation. Keetoowahs are the keepers of Cherokee tradition," said Cherokee Senator George Waters from Vian (Keetoowah-The Eternal Fire, Maggie Culver Fry, Oklahoma Today Magazine, Vol. 14, 1964)
The Kituwah People originally lived in the southeastern part of the present-day United States, on lands forming present-day Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
[Information taken from “Cherokee History as You’ve Never Heard It.” Published by the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. If interested in purchasing book call their giftshop at 1-918-456-6131.]