THROUGH THE EYES OF HAWK. . .
TSALAGI: Cherokee
THROUGH THE EYES OF HAWK. . .
circa 2000 Dec. 2006
By Soaring Hawk
Cherokee is a name bestowed by others and is derived from
mispronunciation by White traders' from the east of Choctaw and Creek words meaning
"Cave-Country People" because of their penchant for residing in mountainous
areas. Spaniards arriving from the south called them Chalaque because the Overhill and
Kituwah dialects of Cherokee residing west of the Appalachian chain use an "L"
sound in place of the "R" that occurred in the "eastern" dialect. The
Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokees in North Carolina now call
themselves Tsalagi (pronounced Chah-lah-kee or Jah-lah-kee depending on the dialect of the
speaker.) The original name that these people used to refer to themselves was Aniyvwiya
(pronounced Ah2-nee2-yuhn2-wee4-yah1)
and has been translated as "True People, Real People, or Pure People." Aniyvwiya
represents the people called Cherokee whereas Aniyvwiyai (pronounced Ah2-nee2-yuhn2-wee2-yah4?ee1)represents
all Native Americans and is frequently translated "native people."
See Cherokee syllabary page for explanation of pitch and
glottal stop in Cherokee grammar.
Prior to occupying the southern Appalachian region, the
Cherokee were inhabitants of the Allegheny area of Ohio and Pennsylvania surrounding the
Great Lakes not far from the territory of their relatives, the Haudenosaunee, who are now
called Iroquois. The name Allegheny is derived from the Delaware name for the Cherokee,
which is A-le-ge-wi. The northern Ohio area is still covered with earthworks erected by
the Cherokee during their protracted war with the Delaware who were rapidly expanding
eastward and would eventually reach the Atlantic Ocean. It was as a result of this war
that the Cherokee moved south seeking a new home in keeping with their mountaineer
disposition.
The Cherokee are part of a large collection of tribes east
of the Mississippi River known as Eastern Woodlands Tribes. They were distinguished from
the Western and Plains tribes in that they were primarily agricultural people living in
wooden houses, were matrilineal in genealogy, democratic in government and monotheistic
trinitarian in spirituality.
The primary crops were corn, squash, gourds, and beans. This
diet was supplemented by foraging for nuts, roots, and berries and by fishing and hunting
for turkey and deer. As matrilineal, and in some cases matriarchal, societies, women of
the Eastern Woodlands Peoples were the government and retained all rights in property
collectively and in offspring individually. Property belonged to all the women
collectively and a house belonged to all the women of an extended family and a married
male lived with the clan of his wife. Regardless of what a child's father was, a child was
the offspring of the mother and retained her tribal and clan heritage and children's
genealogy was counted through the mother and her mother. Government consisted of a council
of women elected by the members of a clan, village, or band presided over by a clan mother
which was a position similar to what we know as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The women also elected men to serve the will of the council
much as we elect politicians to serve the will of their constituents today. These men were
not rulers¾they were servants.
Called Uku (pronounced oo-koo) by the Cherokee or Sachem among the Haudenosaunee, they
served at the council's discretion and could be impeached by the women of their clan at
any time for ineffective or unfaithful service. They were the first to deal with outsiders
with whom the clan or village came into contact and were sent as emissaries by the council
to investigate and negotiate. The white men with whom they came into contact made the
mistake of assuming that these men were leaders, "chiefs," in the manner of clan
chieftains of Ireland and Scotland where a clan was ruled absolutely by the oldest male of
the clan. It is a shame that the People have come to adopt this European concept of
"Chief," replacing in many cases the Uku's traditional role as Servant of the
People.
In religious practice prior to assimilating much of European
culture and practice, the Cherokee believed in One Creator, a Spirit, who made the world
and all creatures in it. They are the only indigenous people for whom I have seen a
written record of their belief in a Trinity in Heaven, which they called the Elder Fires
Above. These similarities to Christian faith made the assimilation of Christianity by the
Cherokee relatively easy. This evidence, along with their reputation as
"civilized" people, make it impossible to view the Cherokee as either
"pagan" or "heathen" but supports the presumption which they have
always maintained¾that they are
"children of the One God. "
OTHER PAGES BY SOARING HAWK
homepage
Haudenosaunee/Iroquois
Haudenosaunee Prophecy
regalia
syllabary (Cherokee writing)
Ahnentafel genealogy report for Darryl Earls
( including links to family photos)
E-mail me
tawodi@bellsouth.net
Web address
www.soaring-hawk.com
Recommended Reading Book List
Cherokee Beliefs and Practices of the
Ancients---Out of the Flame by James Adair,
Edited by Willena H. Robinson
pub. 1998 by Cherokee Language and Culture 4158 East 48th Place, Tulsa, Oklahoma
74135-4739
Note: Adair's Twenty-three arguments in favor of the Southern Tribes being
descendants of ancient Hebrews originally published 1775 London as part of a larger work
entitled History of the American Indians.
Hawk comments: One man's observations of Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw and Cherokee
cultures of the American South during the middle of the 16th Century. Contains
random comparisons of local words with Hebrew words in Hebrew text with some
transliteration and translation. Adair's observations on Southeastern Tribes
culture, language and religion is remarkably subjective yet laced with his ethnocentric
views of European superiority. The exception is his vitriolic hatred of French,
Spanish and Italian Roman Catholics, especially in argument twenty-three. He
lambastes the "Romanists and Papists" ferociously, citing early Spanish writings
as examples of ethnocentric excess and exaggeration. One commentator stated that it
is questionable as to where Adair got his information on Spanish texts considering that he
never learned the Spanish language.
Native American History by Judith Nies
pub.1996 by Ballantine Books
Note: Parallel American-World History from 28,000B.C. to 20th Century.
Hawk comments: Excellent example of historical-archaeological information in
chronological format. Author stated that this work was not her original intent; that
she had intended to focus on contemporary strip-mining of Hopi and Navajo lands in the
20th Century that resulted in the largest removal of American Natives since the 1800s.
We can only be thankful that she yielded to the guidance of whatever muse was
pushing her.
History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the
Cherokees by James Mooney
pub. 1992 by Bright Mountain Books 138 Springside Rd. Asheville, North Carolina 28803
Note: Complete text of two separate books republished as one volume. Mooney
was an Irish immigrant employed by the American Bureau of Ethnology and lived among the
Cherokee and Kiowa long enough to learn their languages and document their culture during
the latter part of the 19th Century.
Hawk comments: While Mooney lived among the tribes long enough to achieve a measure
of empathy for them, he never assimilated to the point that some Europeans did as depicted
in the popular movie Dances With Wolves. Although Mooney never stopped being an
employee of the U.S. government while living among the tribes, he did not always act in
accordance with government objectives. Most notable is his role in incorporating the
Native American Church in Oklahoma, an action that led the Bureau of Indian Affairs to ban
him from setting foot on any reservation in the country for the remainder of his life
since he was perceived as being too sympathetic to Native causes.
Who were
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Native American History
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Today in Native American
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NC Cherokee Reservation
Genealogy--Home Page
Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah Oklahoma
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Copyright 1999 Darryl R. Earls Last revision 06 May 2007
