ecovlke's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cv Hesse (My Friend) Cv Hesse (My Friend) The summer ceremonial cycle is now upon us. The tribal town ceremonial grounds have already started their dances for the season. The Posketv or Green Corn will be coming for the different ceremonial grounds as early as next month with the last being in August. The women's Ribbon Dance and the men's Feather Dance are an important part of the Posketv. I want to attend some dances this summer. I have a good friend who goes to almost every ceremonial ground during the summer weekends. I saw him in Wal-Mart a couple of weeks back. He told me that he has a rattle and an eagle wing for me. He is a good man. I've known him for 14 years. I met him while a student at the Indian college in Muskogee. He was working at the Indian orphanage located on the far end of the campus. He sang the Creek Hymn "Heleluyvn" at our baby's funeral back in June of 2000. I see him everywhere. If I go to a stomp dance, he's there, a pow wow, he's there, any Indian function really and he's there. I think there must be 20 of him sometimes. He sings Creek songs and also the songs of the Plains Indians with the drum group Red Land Singers. He knows a lot of songs so he sits in with a lot of the different Plains Indian drum groups at pow wows. The Creek Nation Festival is next month down at the tribal capitol of Okmulgee. I'll have to go check that out. They usually stomp dance there on Friday night. Our ceremonies usually take place at night, and last until sun up. It feels good to take part in these things. It's funny, Andrew Jackson tried to destroy us, and we're still here, stomp dancing in the new millenium and buying things to get ready for the dances with money that has his picture on it. I have a lot of Creek ceremonial songs on cassette. I collect music from other tribes as well. This passage by Leon Bell of the Tallahassee Ceremonial Ground sums it up best I think: "The members of the sacred grounds start watching for signs, as the warm days begin to be more and more, to return to their respective grounds to begin their age old ritual. For when the time is right, the sacred fire will be rekindled again to start the cycle all over again. The Creator of this earth, with his many fine things to be thankful for, is the reason for maintaining and caring for the sacred fire. For it is through the fire and smoke as we dance that feelings of goodwill and harmony displayed will be received by the Creator. When members of a sacred ground announce that a dance is to be held, the visitors know that to take part in the festivities of the dance, one must have goodwill, kindness, and harmony in their hearts. For being in the presence of sacred ground, nothing else will do. Our elders used to say that when the people of the world display less of goodwill, kindness, and harmony, the world will turn cold. So keep the sacred fires burning, and keep dancing. As you dance, your feet will help maintain the firmness of the ground, so the earth can support the many things on it, as it was intended. The members and participants of the ceremonial grounds understand that the sacred fire is seperated from wherever the Creator's residence may be, by no thicker than the leaf on a tree. So the ceremonial ground is afforded the same respect as the Creator's residence." Here is an English translation of a Creek ceremonial song: This tribal town/As I am here/As I speak, I sustain/All of my friends/With them, I sustain/The elders that were once/This very tribal town/Vocalizing as they socialized/They danced this way/Vocalizing as they sang/They would mingle together/The elders that were once/The town up high/They have gone to/Vocalizing as we socialize/Bereaved/As we would become/As I speak, I sustain/I come as I am/To this tribal town/To all my friends/To them I patronize/The elders that used to be/As they used to vocalize/This tribal town/They would dance this way/As I vocalize I sustain/The red race we are/As we vocalize and sing/In the future forever/We will socialize/When the elders used to socialize/They would sing this way and socialize/At this tribal town they would socialize/When the elders used to socialize/At this tribal town/As I come here/The elders that used to be/They vocalized as they socialized/To all my friends/With them I sustain/The elders that use to be/They vocalized as they sang/At this tribal town/They vocalized as they socialized/Whenever the moment/My existance has ended/Eastwardly direction/I will be going back/As you all will be/Vocalize and sing/Keep dancing this way/At this tribal town/Vocalize and socialize/Socialize forever/This is my tradition so/I vocalize/Where my friends socialize/As I am with them, I vocalize/As we are dancing/We will socialize/Waa-hee-yaa-waa-hee-waa-hee-yea-hee/The turtle shells sound is very nice/The homemakers are the ones/Dancing with them/At this moment let us quit. I'm glad that I am Indian. It feels good to be Indian. We got the letter for our upcoming baby's daycare from the Tulsa Creek Nation Child Developement Center today. Here are some interesting Mvskoke (Creek) Indian facts: With a tribal enrollment of over 52,200 people, there are only 35 people who are fullblood Creek under the age of 18 who are registered tribal citizens. This is do to the mix marriages with other tribes and non-Indians. There are many fullblood Indians under the age of 18, but they have the blood of more than one tribe in them. I'm fullblood, but my enrollment shows me as being 1/2 Creek. My other half, the Osage half, is not shown because I am not enrolled with the Osage Nation. You can only be enrolled with one tribe. The Creek word for Santa Claus is Pocvhvtke. The Creek word for beer is uetokse. The Creek word for whiskey is uehome. The Creek word for television is estvhake sahakvt. The Creek word for a stereo is hayetskvt hervt. The Creek word for cigarettes is hece mokketskv. 7:06 p.m. - 2002-05-14 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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