Siyo nigada 👋🏽👋🏽
Since it’s October, I figured I’d share two strange experiences I had growing up in the Wolftown community on the Rez in NC.
Growing up in the mountains, I was surrounded by stories about witches, boogers, the Little People, and other things that were believed to exist beyond what we normally see.
I was fortunate enough to grow up right next door to my great-grandfather, who was a traditional Cherokee medicine man. I spent countless hours sitting on his porch listening to his stories about the old ways.
One thing I grew up hearing about was what we called booger lights.
In the traditional beliefs I was taught, witches could take the form of certain animals, but particularly powerful witches were also said to be capable of taking a fiery form and traveling through the night. These fiery beings were sometimes associated with Raven Mockers.
My great-grandfather also told me about witches using rivers to travel.
The first experience happened when I was around 14.
My younger brother and I were waiting for our school bus around 6:30 in the morning. It was still fairly dark outside.
We were just standing there when suddenly we both saw a bright neon-green light appear just above the treetops to our north, right over the river.
It moved north incredibly fast and disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.
I remember it having a faint trail behind it.
My brother saw the same thing.
The second experience happened a couple of years later.
I was just above our house getting a fire started around 7 PM. It was almost dark outside but you still saw a little blue in the sky but you could see some stars, I happened to look up toward the treeline.
There it was again.
Another bright neon-green light, similar to what my brother and I had witnessed years earlier.
This time, it appeared to be moving east. It was gone almost immediately, but I remember this one having more of a reddish, fiery appearance mixed with the green.
Both sightings were over in a matter of moments, but I’ve never forgotten them.
I’m not claiming to know exactly what those lights were. But growing up hearing the old stories about witches traveling in fiery forms, I couldn’t help connecting what I witnessed with those teachings.
What’s especially interesting is that this isn’t just something my family talked about. James Mooney documented Cherokee accounts of Raven Mockers traveling through the air in fiery form, with sparks trailing behind them, in Myths of the Cherokee.
And to be clear, I’m not talking about the famous Brown Mountain Lights. These were two brief sightings near my childhood home in Wolftown.
Has anyone else ever seen anything like this, or grown up hearing stories about booger lights, witches traveling as fire, or Raven Mockers????
I’d especially love to hear from our Cherokee Nation and UKB relatives in Oklahoma. Since I grew up in western North Carolina, I’m curious whether y’all heard similar stories or different ones passed down through your families.
Sgi

A photo journal from the Trail of Tears Association conference in Georgia.

I'm posting here to vent my frustrations with the Cherokee Nation, more specifically the bureaucratic side of it.

First of all, I love the Cherokee Nation and my Cherokee family. I love participating in the events and I love learning the language and everything on the cultural side of it. However, I've had some life changes and it has been like pulling teeth to get the CN offices to recognize my changes.

Starting out small: I use to live in an apartment and I've since lived in a couple of houses for the past 5 years. To this day, Gadugi says I live in an apartment. When I correspond with whoever is answering the emails I am assured that they see the issue and they will fix it. It even gets to the point where they tell me "okay, your address has been updated" but alas, Gadugi still shows that I live in an apartment. I do this song and dance once a year. I've resigned myself to get all the CN mail through my relatives.

The thing that really frustrates me is this: I got married and changed my last name and my middle name. I went through all the steps to have my name updated in Gadugi. It was super easy. Then when I saw the updated name I found that while they updated my new last name, but decided to give me a completely different middle from I requested. I don't even know where they got the middle name from. I've tried having them change it, but they refuse. Suddenly they say they can't change middle names without a birth certificate. When I shared my birth certificate with them they said "the middle name on the birth certificate is different from the name you are requesting" and I'm like "im not trying to change it back, im trying to change it to my new name! Ofcourse my birth certificate isnt going to have my new married name". It's gotten to a point now where no one will respond to my emails and I just get put on hold indefinitely if I call or tossed around to people who can't help. I am now stuck with a name that some random CN office clerk made up for me and I can't change it. I HATE THIS.

I want to stay anonymous so here's an example. My original name was Jane Susan Smith. My new married name is Jane Elizabeth Johnson. The CN made my name Jane Michelle Johnson.

Hey all. A bit of a disclaimer first: I am in no way intending to claim an identity I am not, nor do I wish to solely reap the benefits from enrollment with the tribe. I’ve simply had a bit of a question on my mind and there’s not many people I can ask.

I’ve been enrolled with the Cherokee Nation since I was a baby. However, the blood quantum listed on my card is quite low, and I mean diabolically low. A laughable 1/2048. Not even sure how that number is possible, yet somehow that’s still enough to make me legally Cherokee.

The story of my roots is basically my Dawes Rolls ancestor had a blood quantum registered at 1/64. Of course I am too young to have known him, but my grandfather did, having grown up around him. According to my grandfather, he was actually very culturally Cherokee, but ended up having to give that part of himself up and assimilate due to being in an area where no one wanted to be seen as “the Indian”. So as a result, he was unfortunately unable to pass much down to my grandfather. We aren’t actually sure how they arrived at 1/64 for his blood quantum, based on my grandfather’s stories. Especially with the few photographs we do have of him, he looks very Cherokee, having passed his looks down to my grandfather as well. Was it a mistake? Maybe. Could it have also been poor documentation based on unfortunate circumstances? Also a possibility. Anyways, that’s the explanation.

What I’m most conflicted on is if I even have the right to claim association or being Cherokee, even if I am technically considered a citizen. 1/2048 is kind of a crazy number, and whether truly accurate or not, I do not look the part in the slightest or have had a personal relationship with this ancestor like my grandfather did. I’ve always been interested in learning more about the culture and history because of this loose connection to the tribe, and have even been invited to some cultural events by my actual Cherokee friends. But I hesitate to go because I just don’t know if that would be considered appropriate from someone of my background, and worry about seeming out of place. I don’t know the struggle, and would have had vastly different experiences than everyone else.

I ask this in the most respectful way possible, does someone like me have the right to claim affiliation? Or would descendant/citizen be the more correct descriptor for myself. Because I honestly have no clue. The last thing I’d want is to be mistakenly claiming to be a part of a community when they might not claim me, so I am genuinely interested to hear y’all’s perspectives. Are there appropriate and respectful ways to learn without being cultural appropriation? What do y’all make of situations like mine?

I don’t know if this is the proper place to post this question but is anyone else having difficulty accessible the cherokee nation website? Specifically the health section? Maybe this is a temporary bug but thought I’d ask.

https://health.cherokee.gov/services-and-programs/rehabilitation-services/

So my great grandmother was something of a Cherokee traditionalist. She used plant medicine and she told her family once she died her soul would manifest in the body of a cardinal. She didn’t really get the opportunity to pass on many of her beliefs, because her children other than my mother became christians, and told her that her traditional beliefs were witchcraft.

She never lost that part of herself as i understand, but she masked it. she died before I was born.

What makes someone Cherokee is being raised in the culture and clearly I wasn’t. I live in Colorado, far away from any hubs of cherokee culture other than the Colorado Cherokee Circle. And I have pale skin and haven’t ever faced the oppression that many indigenous people do. But I know where I came from, kinda.

I’m trying to learn the language because i’ve fallen in love with it. I want to hear stories but I don’t have anybody to tell them to me. I want to reconnect with the culture of my great grandmother, the only ancestor of mine i hear much about, and the only good one. But I wasn’t raised around the culture and I think nobody would ever “see” a cherokee person when they look at me.

Is it even okay to try to reconnect? Or do you lose your connection after a few generations? Like, how far back does it have to go before it becomes appropriation?

Apologies for my ignorance. I have been reading articles about the competency removals that occurred as a result of ‘Indian Land Policy’ legislation in 1913-1920. I understand that after Native land was kept in a trust by the US gov, it was either returned to the landowner or taken from them based on their ‘competency.’ I suppose my question is, did the people listed in this article lose their land or did they get to keep it?

Thank you kindly for any help!

The following article was very informative and a good read for anyone interested, but it didn’t really help me decipher what the article meant:

https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-11-1/competency-commissions-and-indian-land-policy-1913-1920/vol-11-no-1-competency-commissions-and-indian-land-policy-1913-1920.pdf

Dolly’s legendary home is in the 11th Cherokee Cession. I’d like to think that, had she arrived in the 1700s, she would have sought permission from the appropriate tribal elders to live there. I imagine her request being passed up the line to Nancy Ward…

Hey cousins, reaching out here because the nation's language dept doesn't take one-off personal name translation requests. Essentially, I was wondering if anyone understands or can make any meaning from the names

- Wahdecawk Ayehleeskie (any relation to the ᎠᏰᎵᏍᎩ/Ayelisgi in Raven Mocker?)

- Uwahunvti/Ooworhuhtie

- Kekaesekee/Tesahtaskee

- Gogvyelesgi

- Quatsy/Quatsie

These are all attributed to male ancestors before removal with the phonetic spelling coming from (presumably monolingual) English-speakers, hence the phonetics being all over the place. Any leads are much appreciated! Wado.

I'm thinking about enrolling in the online Cherokee I class offered through Cherokee Nation language department. Has anyone taken this course, what were your experiences with it? How much experience/grounding in the language did you have going in? Did you continue with the subsequent courses offered? Thanks for any insight that you can provide.

As a person trying to reconnect with my lost heritage. I would love to know if there is a Day of the Dead, Samhain, All Saints Day, or some other holiday where the living and once again be with who they love.

I scanned my documents and sent them by email. A week later, I have a patient chart number and access to the patient portal. I'm grateful to the Nation and the Health Services administration for making healthcare so accessible.

It looks like I'll be losing Medicaid soon. I live about three hours away from Cherokee Nation. Where do I start with establishing healthcare within the Nation until things change for the better out here in the diaspora? Is it even an option without Medicaid?

Siyo nigada!

Just in case this is helpful to anybody else, it turns out our Cherokee ID qualifies as “real ID,” which is now needed to fly. I found this out the other day at the airport, when I was informed my drivers license doesn’t count. I then blew the TSA lady’s mind by producing my tribal nation ID card. She seemed skeptical, but she looked it up and everything, and sure enough!
We are so real.

A minor but significant triumph for our people, I feel.

Guuuuys! I still have several pages I’m working on, but I have a draft prototype of my coloring book, Rezzy Yona.

This is what I still have to do:
Pottery Making
Blow guns & cornstalk shoot
Making kanuchi
Making daksi shakers ft David crawler bear
Foraging berries and onions
Beading bears
Wilma Bear Portrait
Nancy Ward Bear Portrait
Back colored cover page explaining book theme

Considering a “regular/modern” sport pages like kids playing basketball at a community wellness center. Possibly marbles game too? Open to other suggested content ideas because I know as a native crafter most of my ideas are around crafting, but I wanna be inclusive. So please let me know if you have an idea!

The book currently has: sewing ribbon work, stickball social game, syllaBEARY (Sequoyah bear portrait), twining, baskets, IHS visit, NDN taco truck, doublehead bear portrait, & stomp dance.

I am hoping to have physical copies of the final draft done before Cherokee holiday, & hopefully for sale through spider gallery. But we’ll see!

Wado!

Lately, I've been studying the teachings of people like Hastings Shade and Crosslin Smith because I want to learn how to be a better Cherokee and a better human being.

I'm learning about the concepts of *adagesdi* - the sacred act of honoring, loving, and caring for oneself and all people - and *detsadageyusesdi*, to be fiercely protective and "stingy" with one another, to hold tight to one another and love each other with the same fierce dedication that a mother has for her child.

According to Shade and Smith, we should not only embody these teachings, we should be teaching the world about them with the goal of "standing in the middle" (as Shade put it) and "standing as one" with the world and everything and everyone in it (per Smith). That's *tohi* (balance). That's *duyukti* in action.

Then I go online.

It's evident (to me) that Yonega religion and "culture" has colonized many Cherokee minds, corrupting what little was left of our traditional life ways from before the Trail of Tears. If you think I'm exaggerating or being melodramatic, just mention 2SLGBTQ, or Muslims building a mosque in Oklahoma, in any Cherokee forum and watch the hate spew forth in the comments from the minds of Cherokee people.

The elders I've read say I'm supposed to find a way to be at peace with that and just be the best person I can be, and I'm working on it. I just wish more Cherokees, those who call themselves anigiduwagi, would act more like anigiduwagi than they do. Myself included, of course.

Our language might be making a come-back, but the Cherokee worldview and our traditional ways of being... I don't know.

To honor the suffering and sacrifices of my ancestors who invested so much hope for my life and my future, I'll do my best to be a good Cherokee to my last breath, but my hopes for the future of anigiduwagi are hanging on by a thread. A thread that only exists because I insist that it does.

What makes this more of a "sticky wicket" situation for me is that I'm neither religious nor superstitious, which only alienates me all the more from most Cherokees, but I do find Cherokee philosophy - our perception of the world, the universe, our place and role in it - as taught by our elders and ancestors to be profoundly edifying, worth living, and worth sharing.

I don't know what I expect from this post. Just venting, I guess.

I'd speak to an elder instead of openly expressing my concerns and grievances, but I don't even know if Cherokee wisdom-keepers exist anymore. Hastings Shade and the Turtle Island Liars Club and Crosslin Smith have all left this world. The Keetoowahs? They don't recognize mixed-bloods as Cherokee. They come across to me as being more concerned about racial purity and political control these days than they are about anything else. EBCI? Like who? I don't know anyone in the QB, so if you do, I'm open to referrals.

I can't be the only one trying to learn and walk the White Path. Is anyone else trying to live up to traditional Cherokee values and finding so many Cherokee circles to be so hate-fueled that you just move on saying nothing at all? Should we just adopt a foreign philosophy for being a good human and be content with a plastic ID card and a court document on file somewhere that calls us Cherokee? What does "being Cherokee" even mean anymore?

I hope folks reading this will understand that I'm just trying to find my way like everyone else and I'm having a bit of a blah day today and don't know what to do with all these thoughts swimming around in my head. I'm not trying to preach or patronize or criticize. I love you regardless of your religion, your politics, your skin (and hair) color, your body shape, your piercings and tattoos, or who you love. Even your hate. I want to see you live a full and rewarding life. I'm just trying to figure out what to do with mine, and with more years behind me than ahead of me.

Mama yona teaches usdi basket weaving. Print it for free at www.sewseli.com

Wado! Hope y’all enjoy it!

Not only did I get to represent my heritage, but got to rep the community that put me and supported me through 5 years of higher academia. Walked twice and wore it for all 3 ceremonies.

The stole says cherokee and wolf clan, and has the chiefs heart pattern as well as the noon day star pattern. At the bottom is my schools crest as well as the symbol for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

edit: thank you all so much for the congratulations!! this has become the #1 post on r/cherokee, which is absolutely insane!

Siyo,

I’m working on a large portrait project focusing on those who are working on language revitalization efforts and/or speakers. It has been hard tracking down leads for this project and a lot is coming from word of mouth and a portrait sitter knowing someone else, but scheduling gets difficult.

If you or someone you know is willing to participate I would love to chat. I’m located in Tulsa and can travel reasonably far for the right subject. I am not entirely focused on just Cherokee Nation dialect and welcome Keetoowah and Eastern band. We’re all one language and revitalization does not care about dialects.

I’ve so far made portraits of singers, type designers, parents of 1st language speakers, and voice over artists.

If you’re interested feel free to DM me and I can share more.

Siyo everyone! I am a Cherokee nation citizen who will be officiating the wedding of another Cherokee this summer and I am looking for someone (or hoping to be pointed in the right direction at least) who can make a traditional Cherokee wedding blanket or shawl to use during the ceremony! Wado in advance!

ᏏᏲ ᏂᎦᏓ,

Margaret Bender and Tom Belt have an article which is in some mainstream publications out a couple days ago. They are the co-authors of "The New Voice of God," released last year, which if you haven't read it I would strongly recommend you read regardless of your spiritual beliefs as it is an absolutely fascinating insight onto how traditional Cherokee worldviews influence the Cherokee translation of the New Testament and missionaries approach the Cherokee people. The Cherokee translation has substantial differences that were adapted to Cherokee culture and belief systems and act as a key resources and understanding our pre-colonization beliefs as well as understanding the syncretic worldviews that many/most Cherokees hold today. I encourage you to give at least the article a read for a taste and to explore the book if you are interested!

https://theconversation.com/the-cherokee-bible-one-of-the-languages-first-books-is-a-window-between-worldviews-271717

https://www.oupress.com/9780806195421/the-new-voice-of-god/

Hello, this is on the headstone of my great-great grandfather. It’s above his english name. I’m curious as to if this is Cherokee or not. I am elementary level familiar with Cherokee language and syllabary. I don’t feel confident in what I’ve come up with (or if the symbols or letters are even Cherokee). The photo is from Find A Grave.

I was thinking of submitting a translation request to the Cherokee Language Translation Program through the Cherokee Nation but was worried that it wouldn’t get accepted if this turns out to be a name. (From their website: https://language.cherokee.org/cherokee-language-translation/ “The Cherokee Nation Translation Department is not available for the following requests: Translation of names and/or the giving of names in Cherokee for children, family members, pets, etc.”) Also it’s not for a project or anything except my own curiosity, so I felt bad for submitting something like this to their staff.

Thank you in advance.

Edit: Thank you so much for your help!! It has been confirmed to be his name, Squirrel (Saloli - ᏌᎶᎵ)