Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 27, 2006 11:59:53 GMT -5
Cherokee tribes meet in council for first time at shared site
The Associated Press
CHEROKEE, N.C.
www.fayettevillenc.com/article_ap?id=87343
By the light of a mountain dawn, a small group of Cherokee runners carried flaming torches down a mountainside Friday to the tribe´s historic homeland and a reunion with tribal members who fled the Smoky Mountains nearly two centuries ago.
The joint council between leaders of the Eastern Band Cherokee and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma was the first ever such meeting between the tribes. Both trace their origins to the ancient city of Keetoowah that once stood a short distance from what is now a reservation for the Eastern Band.
The meeting was held under a blue-and-white striped tent next to a mound that is all that remains of Keetoowah (gih-doo-WAH).
"It´s our original site," said George Wickliffe, chief of the Keetoowah Cherokee and leader of a delegation of about two dozen who came from in and around the tribe´s headquarters in Tahlequah, Okla. "This is where we all come from, all of us. The original fire still exists."
The 8-mile torch run began at the Mountainside Theatre, home of the Cherokee outdoor drama "Unto These Hills" and site of an eternal flame kindled in the 1950s. That fire can be traced to a flame Cherokees took with them when the U.S. government forced them out of the Smokies in the late-1830s and marched the tribe along the Trail of Tears to what later became Oklahoma.
That fire originated in a tribal fire that burned at Keetoowah, according to Eastern Band spokeswoman Lynne Harlan.
The Eastern Band, which numbers about 13,500 members, descends from Cherokees who remained in western North Carolina after the rest of the tribe was removed. The Keetoowah Cherokee, who fled the mountains in the late 1820s and also ended up in Oklahoma, are known as the "Original Settlers" and count about 12,000 members.
Cherokees descended from those who traveled the Trail of Tears compose the much more populous Oklahoma Cherokee Nation.
On Friday morning, tribal elder Tom Belt prayed in the Cherokee language with about eight Eastern Band runners _ boys, girls, young women and men _ and reminded them that long ago the Cherokee were told that their tribe would one day be separated and later made whole again.
"In our life, we rarely get that chance we we´re able to do one thing for our people," he told the runners. "This is that time. It (carrying the flame) is not a small thing."
Such ceremonies, Belt said, "are markers that tell us we are still one people."
The runners, including 10-year-old Isaac Teasdale, carried wooden torches carved in the shape of eagle talons. Isaac´s mother, Kris Teasdale, said her son was asked to run because she and he have taken Cherokee language classes for the past three years, part of a push by the tribe to keep the tongue from dying out.
"We have a fluent speaker in our church," Kris Teasdale said. "She wants people to learn it."
A language campaign and other attempts to preserve and carry on Cherokee cultural heritage are being financed largely by proceeds from the tribal casino in Cherokee. Gaming proceeds also helped underwrite the 1998 purchase that returned the Keetoowah site to Cherokee ownership, Harlan said.
"I think it´s just a wonderful time, a historical moment," Eastern Band council member Marie Junaluska said of the visit by the Keetoowah Cherokee. "It´s long overdue."
Shawn D. Dorris
Forever JD's girl.
Nigada aniyvwi nigeguda'lvna ale unihloyi unadehna duyukdv gesv'i. Gejinela unadanvtehdi ale unohlisdi ale sagwu gesv junilvwisdanedi anahldinvdlv adanvdo gvhdi.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
The Associated Press
CHEROKEE, N.C.
www.fayettevillenc.com/article_ap?id=87343
By the light of a mountain dawn, a small group of Cherokee runners carried flaming torches down a mountainside Friday to the tribe´s historic homeland and a reunion with tribal members who fled the Smoky Mountains nearly two centuries ago.
The joint council between leaders of the Eastern Band Cherokee and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma was the first ever such meeting between the tribes. Both trace their origins to the ancient city of Keetoowah that once stood a short distance from what is now a reservation for the Eastern Band.
The meeting was held under a blue-and-white striped tent next to a mound that is all that remains of Keetoowah (gih-doo-WAH).
"It´s our original site," said George Wickliffe, chief of the Keetoowah Cherokee and leader of a delegation of about two dozen who came from in and around the tribe´s headquarters in Tahlequah, Okla. "This is where we all come from, all of us. The original fire still exists."
The 8-mile torch run began at the Mountainside Theatre, home of the Cherokee outdoor drama "Unto These Hills" and site of an eternal flame kindled in the 1950s. That fire can be traced to a flame Cherokees took with them when the U.S. government forced them out of the Smokies in the late-1830s and marched the tribe along the Trail of Tears to what later became Oklahoma.
That fire originated in a tribal fire that burned at Keetoowah, according to Eastern Band spokeswoman Lynne Harlan.
The Eastern Band, which numbers about 13,500 members, descends from Cherokees who remained in western North Carolina after the rest of the tribe was removed. The Keetoowah Cherokee, who fled the mountains in the late 1820s and also ended up in Oklahoma, are known as the "Original Settlers" and count about 12,000 members.
Cherokees descended from those who traveled the Trail of Tears compose the much more populous Oklahoma Cherokee Nation.
On Friday morning, tribal elder Tom Belt prayed in the Cherokee language with about eight Eastern Band runners _ boys, girls, young women and men _ and reminded them that long ago the Cherokee were told that their tribe would one day be separated and later made whole again.
"In our life, we rarely get that chance we we´re able to do one thing for our people," he told the runners. "This is that time. It (carrying the flame) is not a small thing."
Such ceremonies, Belt said, "are markers that tell us we are still one people."
The runners, including 10-year-old Isaac Teasdale, carried wooden torches carved in the shape of eagle talons. Isaac´s mother, Kris Teasdale, said her son was asked to run because she and he have taken Cherokee language classes for the past three years, part of a push by the tribe to keep the tongue from dying out.
"We have a fluent speaker in our church," Kris Teasdale said. "She wants people to learn it."
A language campaign and other attempts to preserve and carry on Cherokee cultural heritage are being financed largely by proceeds from the tribal casino in Cherokee. Gaming proceeds also helped underwrite the 1998 purchase that returned the Keetoowah site to Cherokee ownership, Harlan said.
"I think it´s just a wonderful time, a historical moment," Eastern Band council member Marie Junaluska said of the visit by the Keetoowah Cherokee. "It´s long overdue."
Shawn D. Dorris
Forever JD's girl.
Nigada aniyvwi nigeguda'lvna ale unihloyi unadehna duyukdv gesv'i. Gejinela unadanvtehdi ale unohlisdi ale sagwu gesv junilvwisdanedi anahldinvdlv adanvdo gvhdi.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)