History of the Cherokee People
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History of the Cherokee People The story you are about to hear/read has gone through many changes over the long time span covered in the story. Traditionalists will claim that there is only one version that is correct; usually theirs, and any other expressions of the story are heretical. For myself, I can say that through research of as many documents as exist regarding these stories, and they are woefully few, it is clear that the stories have been changed and modified over time. An example would be the story of the first two Cherokee; in the John Howard Payne manuscript you find a version of the story that seems to bear only a superficial relationship to the same story recorded in two versions by James Mooney fifty years later. Keeping to the primary tenets of the Cherokee belief system wherein it is clear that “balance” is of primary importance and the fact that we Cherokee are a matrilineal and matriarchal society, even the most causal observer can’t help but notice the seeming bias of almost all the stories to the patriarchal or masculine perspective. I have attempted to return the stories, as much as reason allows to what I think was the original form. It is my firm opinion that when we look at history, no matter how it is presented, it is our responsibility to as much as possible remove outside influences and mine the intent of the story and present it as best we can to our posterity. Earnie L. Frost In the beginning was a situation that is beyond our ability to comprehend; there was nothing, no space, no time, no light, absolutely nothing. In the midst of this nothing there occurred awareness, awareness of self and of another. This awareness evolved into recognition of self and of another. Awareness and recognition evolved into thought and still there was nothing. Awareness, recognition and thought of nothing could not be because awareness, recognition, and thought are something and something cannot be if there is nothing. Something in the midst of nothing causes possibility; the awareness considered this moment and then knowing occurred and the awareness’s joined together and the joining made sound, tones, and suddenly there was light expanding out in all directions at once. The light moved at blinding speed in all directions chasing the tones, catching the tones and carrying them along with it, filling the void of nothing with light and sound and time. Time came into being because with the sound came a beginning. The mingling of light, sound and time created vortexes and eddies that evolved into hot gases. Some of these gasses erupted into hot burning fires that we call suns, the burning suns created new tones and some of the hot gases cooled and formed solid masses; these solid masses created more tones and the tones were attracted to each other and they danced together forming planets, moons and solar systems and universes all connected by tones – vibrations. The planets as they cooled emitted new vibrations, new and different sounds and the vibrations began to take forms and the thing we called life appeared in this universe and evolved into all the forms that we recognize. It is for this reason that we say that words have immense power because it was with sound, the word, which The Creators, (that initial awareness,) created all that is! The Christian bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(1 John: chapter 1 vs. 1) In that period no one had yet determined to divide time into sections, past, present and future, but now we just say that the initial creation took six epochs or days and we are now in the seventh epoch or day. Human beings, our sound, our tones formed and solidified in the sixth day. Now here is a mystery; The Creators assure us that we humans are created in the image of The Creators. Just what can that mean? If in the beginning there was nothing and then awareness, did the form evolve from the awareness or did the form come from the sound? Or did the form always exist By Earnie L. Frost Page 1 of 60 History of the Cherokee People as a possibility and only become “real” with awareness? With the Creation all possibility came into being waiting anxiously to become probability through awareness of their existence, then manifest into being through the actions of the sounds, the words Elohi (the Earth) is a great island floating in a sea of water and is suspended at each of the four cardinal points (left, right, up, and down) by cords (gravity) attached to the sky vault, which is unbelievably dense rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the creatures and people will die, the cords will release and let the Earth sink down below the surface of the great ocean and all will be water again as it was in the beginning. When all was water the animals were in Galunlati (the place beyond the vault), but they were anxious to enter the creation, but all was water and they were not meant to live in water. They wondered if there was anything below the water that would afford them the opportunity to experience the Creation as a part of the Creation just as the fish were doing. The animals held a grand council and finally it was decided to allow Duhyunisi (beaver’s grandchild), the little water beetle to go and see what it could learn. The little beetle darted about in every direction over the surface of the water until it became almost exhausted because it could not find any place to rest for a time, so it could regain its’ energy. Finally it dove below the waters surface and found the bottom where it collected some soft mud and carried it to the surface. On the surface it began to grow and spread on every side until it became the island that we call Earth. At first the land was flat and muddy and not a suitable habitat for most of the animals, yet they were anxious to enter the world and experience it. They sent out different birds constantly to see if the earth was yet dry enough for them, but the birds were never able to find a place to land and returned each time with the sad news that it was not yet time. After much anxious waiting it seemed to them it should be time so they sent out the Great Buzzard, the mother of all buzzards we see now, to go and make the world ready for their arrival. The Great Buzzard flew all over the land, low to the ground. The ground though more solid than before was still soft. By the time the Great Buzzard reached what is now Cherokee country she was tired. Though she was chosen because she was able to soar without flapping her wings longer than anyone else could even she had to flap her wings occasionally to stay in the air. The earth was not yet secured in her permanent mooring and her travels around the sun were still a bit erratic and she would occasionally convulse in tremendous shudders and quakes. She experienced one of these great tremors and the land rose suddenly upward so fast the tired buzzard had to flap her wings frantically to rise above the land. To the animals watching it seemed that her flapping created the mountains and valleys, the watching animals became worried that the whole earth would be mountainous and they called her back to Galunti. When the earth was mostly dry the animals came to her and spread across the land finding and settling in places that suited their natures. At first the land was always dark or dim until the clouds finally dispersed and the sun shone through moving from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot this way and Jiska gili (the red crawfish), had his shell scorched bright red, so that his meat was spoiled; and the Cherokee do not eat it to this day. The earth was moved until the sun was another hand-width higher into the sky but it was still too hot. The earth moved again and again until the sun was seven hand-widths in the sky at midday, then it was just right and the earth anchored herself to this track so that her inhabitants had the ideal place to live and thrive. Some of the animals preferred the darkness that was present when they first arrived so they became the hunters of the night, the owls, the panthers, and several more. Of the trees only Page 2 of 60 By Earnie L. Frost History of the Cherokee People the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly and the laurel thrived in both light and dark so they never lose their leaves or go to sleep in the winter so they are the greatest for medicine. Humans came into the world after the animals and plants preferring to wait until all the other members of Creation were in place before they came to find a place for themselves in the Creation. At first there were only a brother and sister until they learned from the behaviors of the animals and they joined together as one and in seven days a child was born to her, and thereafter every seven days another. This continued until it became a possibility that the world could not provide for them all.