OSIYO! (O-SEE-O)! In the Cherokee (Tsalagi) Sal-la-gee Native Language. You see, you have already learned two words of a Native Language. Ugh! And How! Was not a part of our vocabulary, only in Hollywood.
The glamour and glitz of the "Hollywood Image" of all of us having jet black hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin, is just as ridiculous then as it is now. Some "B" grade movies were quite interesting though, with all the make-up (or lack of) and the hair (wigs made out of horse tail). And of course let us not forget the famous line, said in broken English in almost every movie..."White man speak with forked tongue!"
Also, in the movies, they have all of our people dancing around a huge bonfire, whooping and hollering and wailing into the night. Last but certainly not least...the image of how we as Natives, ambushed wagons filled with families, raided and burnt homes, killing other human beings just to be killing for no reason.
In this issue, I would like to explain how those "images" you remember growing up with, watching on a big screen at the movie theatre, or on the television at home were so terribly one-sided.
Please bear with me folks, this is not to be a criticizing, pointing fingers of blame for what has happened in the past or even into the present. As with all articles, these are only to be help mates of understanding and teaching what we truly are and how we did and do live today. Why we want to hold on to our beliefs so tightly, just as with any other culture. As in the famous words of Paul Harvey, "Now for the rest of the story"...
First off, the stereo-type that all us looked like the brother and sisters of the "Plains" being mostly in the open western regions, and the desert areas, would of course be of a darker pigmentation of skin.
The brothers and sisters of the "woodland" regions, where there are more mountains and tress and foliage, and are not out in the direct elements of the sun, would be of a lighter pigmentation. Both would be completely up to the individual either way, as to how dark or light one might become, and to the "natural" tone and color one might be to begin with. As far as hair and eye color, that always varies in degrees however you look at it with any race. The facial features also vary, some more prominent than others, some high cheek bones, some rounder faces, some longer noses, shape of the eyes, and some with the shovel teeth. These are all heritable traits from previous generations of our race. The stationary fact is, these outside variations do not diminish who and what you are on the inside.
The way the Plains dress compared to the Woodland, is a huge difference also. The Plains way of dress is mostly what you will relate to and have always seen portrayed, with the beaded buckskins and large feathered headdresses. The Woodland people did not usually wear the headdresses of the plains, and they wore mostly clothes made of cloth, not just buckskins alone. The Cherokee men wore a style of turban, with feathers attached to the side. The location of any Tribe or Nation, generally did denoted the style of dress, also depending on the climate at the time.
Lets’ speak now of the language all of us is suppose to speak. The European/English language was and is not spoke universally as some may think. That kind of was changed at the tower of Babel...
The English language itself is one of the most difficult to learn, ask any instructor of any well known university. However, any new language a person is not accustomed to speaking fluent, will sound broken and faulty. English even today is generally a secondary language, next to ones’ own racial origin. In the homes when I was growing up, the English Language was forbidden to speak.
When we as children was taken to the schools outside our Native homes, we were forbidden to speak our own languages of our own Native tongues. Talk about confusion!
Thank Goodness, present day, it is required on the reservations that children from pre-school on through high school, to read and write their own Native languages and pass the courses of each, before one is allowed to graduate to go into a collage. This does insure maybe through a few, that our Native languages are not forgotten and die completely away. Even now, there are some of the Native American collages that require students to learn their own individual tribal languages fluently, to promote the usage, and increase the continuance of such, further on in their lives and future families.
The English language was harsh sounding to us, as well as ours to the English speaking people that made way to a lot of short cuts, or what we call today "slang". The English made up many names for our tribes and Nations, by shorting or condensing our names down, so they were easier to pronounce, to a description of where we lived, or how we appeared to them.
Understand that a lot of what is considered simple words in English, becomes very complicated translated into our tongues of speech ...Sample: the word "work" in the English language, compared to the same word in the Tsalagi (Cherokee) language: di ga lv (wi) s da ne di. Although much adaptation has taken place, we as Natives still do not have certain words for certain things. We are asked frequently, how we say certain words or phrases in our languages, only to reply we have no such words.
On the subject of dancing around a fire, whooping and hollering...we love to dance and cut-a-rug like any other human being anywhere on Earth. This does not make us any different preferring the light of a good bonfire at night to dance around, compared to the light of a ballroom dance floor, or dance hall. Some of those places sure have us beat on the noise!
There are some very important differences, I would like to share at this point. Yes, we do dance for enjoyment, but the "Dance Circle" or "Dance Arena" is also a sacred place to us as Natives. This is our place of worship and prayer to the Creator of all, it is our Church. We enter it with reverence and humbleness as most does in a establishment of brick or wood. Our roof is the canopy of the universe, the walls extend as wide and far as the whole universe extends to...never ending! And our floor is Earth Mother whom we were formed by the Creators’ own loving hands, and where the Creator breathed the breath of life into our very spirits or souls. We as Natives believe we are in Church EVERYDAY, not just one or two days a week. We also believe that the Creator is only perfect, and he knows we as human beings make mistakes everyday. He loves us His children so very much, that all He asks of us in this life is to do the very best we can, and to live right and do good among our fellow human beings. By doing so, we can cross over and stand before Him and all our Ancestors that went before us, and no fault will be found in our lives in the judgment.
Now speaking of animals, we Respect them and are their caretakers just like Earth Mother. There is a big difference between worship and respect. So many times when people look at us Natives then and now, it has been a complete misunderstanding and misinterpretation of our relationship with the animals. When there is a need not just want, we wear their hides to clothe our bodies and their meat to nourish us. In return, we offer tobacco to the Creator for bringing us the animals for such purposes. But also we offer it in honour and respect to the animal that gave us its life to do so. Our beliefs are, you never take something without giving something back in return. When we as Natives, wear pelts, or claws from animals, or carry a fan made out of plumage from birds etc., it is done out of the utmost respect and honour of that animal(s). They were here on the Earth long before mankind arrived.
Lastly, the one sided image of all Native Americans, raiding and killing all the white people in the movies and on T.V. without any mercy for any age group... The full truth is rarely ever shown , where it was our homes and families that was totally destroyed by the invading settlers and military force.
It was never explained in these shows for years, why we fought. It was out of defence not offence.
Treaties of so called Peace was never kept. We was only handed a rolled up piece of paper with writing on it, that we could not read, telling us we had to leave lands that we grew up on, and our ancestors before us, and ancestors before them generations of generations of generations. If we did not, we all would be wipe off the face of the Earth....Just so the "Foreigners" who left their lands could push us off ours for their greed. It is also conveniently forgotten at times, we did offer to share our lands and food with the multitudes, instead we were slaughtered and lied to. When we fought back, then we were labelled "savages and animals", not worthy to live on our lands, but to be exterminated to make room for others not of our race. All of this is not just in the past, but sadly is in the present, just in different forms always raising its ugly head up!
This is where changes has to be made for the betterment of all! This is where learning from one another the whole truth, and whole history, become aware of each others feelings and beliefs, not just assuming or quick judge. This is how wounds old and new can be healed. Sure, we don’t live in the past of what our ancestors on either side did, but until the past is healed through understanding, the future cannot be healed for our children or our children.
"Let us face the winds together"
