Native American Unit Home - Regalia
The word "Cherokee" comes from a Muskogee word that means "speakers
of another language". In their own language, "Cherokee" is spelled
"Tsalagi".
In the earliest years of North America, the Cherokee Indians inhabited the states of the Southeast. During the 1800's, the Cherokees were forced to move to Oklahoma. This move is known as "The Trail of Tears". Today, the posterity of the early Cherokee Indians live in the original homelands, with a large number in North Carolina.
Each Cherokee band was lead by a war chief and a peace chief. The peace chief could be a woman or a man, but only men could be a war chief. Within families, the women and men had equal amounts of power. Cherokee men were in charge of hunting, war, diplomacy, and sometimes farming. Cherokee women took care of most of the farming, family, and the property. The Cherokee children played with one another, went to school, and did chores. A popular Cherokee sport was lacrosse.
Cherokee
Indians lived in settled villages. Each house in a village was made of river
cane and plaster, with thatched roofs. Villages also had larger buildings for
ceremonies and lacrosse fields for entertainment. In order to protect the villages,
the Cherokee Indians built walls around their community. These walls were called
palisades.
To travel from village to village, the Cherokee built canoes out of logs. They did not have horses or other modes of transportation like cars, buses, or airplanes. The Creeks, Shawnees, and Chickasaws lived near the Cherokee Indians. These tribes often fought with each other.
The majority of the food that Cherokee ate came from their farms. The women harvested corn, squash, beans, and sunflowers. Men hunted deer, turkeys, and fish. With these foods, Cherokee families made a lot of soups and stews.
Deer was not only used for food. Much of the Cherokee clothing was made out of deerskin. Cherokee women wore skirts, poncho-style blouses, long jackets, or dresses with ribbon or feathers. Women had long hair, and did not paint or tattoo themselves. Cherokee men usually shaved their heads, and tattooed their bodies. Men painted themselves with bright colors in times of war. All Cherokee Indians wore moccasins on their feet.
I think it is very neat to learn the differences between how Cherokee Indians lived long ago and how we live now. I feel sorry that the Cherokee Indians were forced to move out of their homelands. A lot of Cherokee Indians died on the Trail of Tears. Today, Cherokee Indians live on reservations with their own laws.
Bibliography
Lewis, Orrin and Redish, Laura. "Cherokee Indian Fact Sheet."
Native Languages of the Americas. 2006. 13 September
2006.
http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/cherokee_kids.htm.
Note: No sponsor site available.
Sheppard, Donald E. and Wolfe, Jeremiah. "Fire in the Mountains."
History of the Cherokee. 1997. 13 September 2006.
http://cherokeehistory.com/html
Note: No sponsor site available.