In compiling a brief introduction to the Seven Sacred Ceremonies of the ancient Cherokee I have used several sources. This article represents information from my all these sources and library research. I have tried to include all souces in my footnote, including my mother's texts. For those I may have omitted or

Not fully described my apologies.

I have not attempted to outline ion full all the ceremonies. This is a brief text of a very complex subject I agree with Rob Woods when he says it is never a good Idea to present information from a single source, especially with such a complex subject. As I become more informed through research I hope to do an individual article on each ceremony. There is no question that each ceremony will require several pages. Hopefully, in subsequent articles more in depth research will be possible, and details from a variety of sources can be included.

There are two numbers which are sacred to the Cherokee, Four and Seven. Four represents the primary directions, north south, east and west. They encircled the place of the sacred fire. Seven is the most sacred number of the Cherokees. It is represented in the seven directions: north, south, east, west, above, bellow, and "here in the center" (Lewis & Kneberg, p. 175), the place of the sacred fire. The number Seven also represented the seven ancient ceremonies that were the yearly Cherokee religious cycle. However, only six of the ceremonies took place each year, the seventh being celebrated every seventh year.

The ceremonies were held between March and November, and were based on the phases of the crescent or new moon. The First New Moon of Spring Ceremony was the first. This ceremony took place "When the grass began to grow and the trees send out their pale new leaves..." (Lewis & Kneberg, p. 176-77), around the first new moon of March. This festival initiated the planting season and incorporated predictions concerning crop success or failure. The First New Moon of Spring Ceremony lasted for seven days and included dancing and the re-lighting of the sacred fire by the fire maker. The ancient ceremony included the sacrificing of a deer tongue in the sacred fire. All the home fires were to be extinguished and rekindled from the sacred fire’s coals.

There is an interesting story I will relate at another time of a fire maker. He used a flint and stone he had

obtained from a white trader and the fire would not light.

The month of August was time for The Green Corn Ceremony. It was performed when the new corn was ripe enough to eat. It was considered incorrect for New corn to be eaten until after the ceremony took place. The Messengers, who were sent to notify the towns of the nation about when the celebration would take place, gathered seven ears of corn on their journey. Each ear was from a field of a different clan. After the messengers returned, the chief and his seven councilors fasted for six days. The ceremony began on the seventh day. Again, the sacred fire was extinguished and rekindled. As with the First New Moon Ceremony, a deer tongue was to be sacrificed in the sacred fire. Kernels from the seven ears of corn that the messengers had gathered from the clans were also sacrificed. A powder made from sacred tobacco was sprinkled over the fire. Afterward, the Chief offered a prayer, dedicating the corn to the Creator. Food was made from the new corn and was brought to the townhouse and everyone, except the Chief and his councilors, were fed this food. For another seven days the Chief and his councilors could only eat corn from the previous year’s crop.

The Ripe Corn Ceremony was held in late September. It was the only ancient ceremony that survived into the 20th century. It celebrated the maturing of the corn crop and was held outdoors in the square ground. In the center of the ground a leafy tree was set. The celebration lasted four days and was also marked by feasting as were most Cherokee ceremonies. During the ceremony the right-hand man of the Chief per-formed a special dance during which he carried a green bough. A man’s dance was also performed in which each man carried a green bough. This ceremony would not sit right with some of today's feminists as the women were excluded from the square during this dance.

The Great New Moon Ceremony took place in October when the new moon appeared. Autumn being the season when Cherokee stories say the world was created, this ceremony represented the celebration of the new year . Each family brought produce from their field to share, such as corn, beans and pumpkins. Ceremonies included dancing, purification by immersing seven times in water, called "going to water" (Mooney, p. 230). Some early Christians said the Cherokee copied this ceremony from the Baptism of the Christians. The purification ceremony included predictions of health for the coming year by the "priest" using the sacred crystal. This ceremony and its procedures strengthen my beliefs in the sacred crystals.

The performance of sacred crystal reading has been attributed to different persons.

"Atohuna" was held ten days after the New Moon Ceremony. "Atohuna" was the reconciliation or "Friends Made" ceremony. The ceremony dealt with relationships between two people of the same or opposite sex. According to Tribes that Slumber, "these relationships were bonds of "eternal friendship in which each person vowed to regard the other as himself as long as they both lived." (p.183) It was a ceremony that was a pledge of universal fraternal or paternal love. It also "entailed reconciliation between those who had quarreled during the previous year." (p. 183) It symbolized the uniting of the people with the Creator and purification of body and mind. The New Moon Ceremony was said to have been the "most profoundly religious" (p. 183) of all the ceremonies. As with other observances, it also involved the rekindling of the sacred fire.

The sixth ceremony in the cycle was the Bounding Bush Ceremony. Few details are now known about this ceremony. Apparently, it was non-religious in nature and was celebrated by feasting and dancing. In the dance, men and women alternated in pairs. Two male leaders carried hoops with four spokes, each with a white feather at the end. The remainder of the dance is described as follows: other pairs in the center and at the end of the dancing column also carried hoops. All of the remaining couples carried white pine boughs in their right hands. The dance movement was circular, and in the center was a man with a small box. He danced around within the circle, singing as he did so, and as he passed by the dancers, each dropped a piece of tobacco in the box...(Lewis & Kneberg, p. 185) The dance ended at midnight and was repeated on three successive nights. On the fourth night there was a feast before the dancing. Dancing resumed at midnight. This time people dropped pine needles into the box. At the end of the dance, near daylight, the dancers formed a circle around the sacred fire: "One by one, they advanced three times toward the fire, the third time tossing both tobacco and pine needles into the flames." (Lewis & Kneberg, p. 185)

Every seventh year the Uku Dance replaced the Great New Moon ceremony. In this dance the Chief, or Uku, led the nation in a ceremony of thanks giving and rejoicing. At the conclusion of the four day observance, the Chief was "reinvested with his religious and civil powers by his right-hand man. "Uku was one of several titles conferred upon him. During ‘Friends Made’ ceremony, for example, his title meant ‘one who renews heart and body.’ " (Lewis & Kneberg, p. 185) Before the chief performed his dance, he was ritually bathed by his councilors with water warmed by the "Honored Woman." He wore special regalia for the occasion and performed a dance around a specially prepared circle in the center of the square ground. Prior to dancing, the Chief was carried from a specially prepared throne, painted white. His feet were not allowed to touch the ground until he was brought to the circle. As he danced, he moved slowly around the circle, inclining his head to each spectator. Each spectator bowed in turn to the Chief.

This is only a brief description of the ancient Cherokee Sacred Ceremonial cycle. There were also a number of other dances performed for special purposes, such as marriage or joining, name bestowing, hunting, etc. throughout the year.

Compiled by Equa Unega Wahuhi

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Sources:

Lewis, Thomas M. N. and Madeline Kneberg. Tribes that Slumber Indians of the Tennessee Region. Knoxville, Tennessee: The University of Tennessee Press, tenth printing 1994; 196 pp.; Rob Woods, The

Sacred Seven Ceremonies; Mooney, James. History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Asheville, North Carolina, 1992.; texts of Nightingale, mother of Equa unega wahuhi.

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