On the relationship between the Anglo-Saxons and Indians in the United States at the beginning of the 19th century. At first, the article gave the impression of being biased, but when checking the information presented in it, all the information was confirmed and something even more unexpected was discovered (at least for me).

Here, for example, is what Wikipedia writes about the Cherokee Indians:
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By the beginning of the 19th century, Christianity became the dominant religion of the Cherokee.
...
In 1825-1826, the leader of the Cherokee tribe - Sequoia (George Hess) approved the Cherokee syllabary alphabet created by him in 1821 at the tribal council, and in 1828 began publishing the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper in the Cherokee language.
....
Wealthy Indians owned plantations, led an aristocratic lifestyle, owned hundreds of black slaves, and created the first network of free schools in the United States. In the Cherokee Territory, by the middle of the 19th century, there were about 30 free schools, almost all the teachers in the school were Cherokee. Overall, the Cherokee Territories had one of the highest levels of education among the Territories of North America.
Following the example of the United States, the Cherokee created their own constitution, code of laws, an elected government and a president, traditionally called the "Great Leader".
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This is what Sequoyah looked like - the spiritual leader of the Cherokee people in the 1830s, something like Cyril, Methodius, Guttenberg and Mahatma Gandhi rolled into one. It is interesting that he did not get a name in honor of a huge tree, but on the contrary, the sequoia tree was named by the botanist Stefan Endlicher, who discovered it, in honor of the brilliant Indian.

And this is what the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper looked like (clickable):

Please note that the newspaper is bilingual, each article is present in it in two copies: on English language and Cherokee. The National Committee and Council, constantly mentioned in the texts of the articles, are the main authorities of the Cherokee state, and the material in this newspaper page contains a list of laws passed by these bodies in November 1825. This list includes, for example, a law on how high a fence must be in order for entry into a fenced area to be considered illegal. Or a clarification that due to the reorganization of the light cavalry, the duties assigned to these units are not canceled, but must continue to be carried out by the appropriate officers.

Each law is signed by the two highest officials of the Cherokee state - President Gouvisgouvy, also known as John Ross (most of his portraits were made after 1860, he is much older there):

and Speaker of the Ganundalega Parliament, better known among the Anglo-Saxons as Major Ridge:

Pathkiller, mentioned at the end of every article, is the great chief Nunnehidini, old and sickly, like Yeltsin in 1999, but formally retaining the highest office in the Cherokee state and endorsing all laws and regulations.

Such a state was destroyed by the Anglo-Saxons in the 19th century.

Every now and then there are people in the world who consider themselves descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel.
James Tissot. Escape of the prisoners. 1896–1902 Jewish Museum. New York

Everyone knows that the North American Indians are Mongoloids. Among them, only the Cherokee tribe stands out - they do not look like traditional Indians either in appearance, or in clothes, or in beliefs.

I decided to talk about this with an expert on Cherokee mythology, Israel Oren. Oren is well versed in the culture of the Indians, since he himself is an ethnic Cherokee who converted to Judaism. His real name is James Ray Feddis. Having passed the conversion ceremony - conversion to Judaism, Feddis exchanged California with its paradise climate for sultry Israel. Previously, the Feddis family lived in Oklahoma, on an Indian reservation.

– At the age of eight, I learned that the Jews, whose ancient ancestors we heard about in Sunday school, still exist, and I decided to convert to Judaism. When I grew up, I managed to fulfill my childhood dream,” Oren-Feddis told me.

When he was 21, he applied to a Reform synagogue to convert. It was not difficult - for a hundred dollars he was given a certificate stating that he was a Jew from such and such a date. James was not satisfied with the conversion procedure, considering it purely formal. Arriving home, he simply put the certificate in the closet.

After some time, James decided to move to Israel. Since repatriation from the United States was extremely rare in those days and American settlers were valued worth their weight in gold, a certificate from the Reform synagogue quite passed as proof of the Jewish origin of an Indian.

In Israel, James (who took the name Yisrael Oren) began to seriously prepare for an orthodox conversion, studying at a yeshiva, a religious educational institution. After converting, he went to the ruins of the Yehuda Hasid synagogue in Jerusalem and burned all his belongings there, leaving only what was on him.

So the former Indian from the Cherokee tribe turned into an Orthodox Jew. He joined Lubavitcher Hasidism (known as the Chabad movement) and became a student of Kabbalah. Israel moved to the city of Kiryat Malachi, where the community of Lubavitcher Hasidim is strong. Soon he got married. He has 12 children, so there is no need to be bored. Israel visits the Hasidic synagogue every day. Since the Cherokee Indians have a European appearance, he does not stand out among the synagogue visitors.

“Israel, why are the Cherokee not like other North American Indians?” I ask him when I met him once during a divine service.

“According to legend, the Cherokee arrived in the New World 4,500 years ago. Where they came from - the legend does not specify. Unlike the rest of the Indians, the Cherokee wear beards, while the representatives of other tribes simply do not grow hair on their chins.

Oren is convinced that the Cherokee have much in common with the ancient Jews. First, unlike the rest of the Cherokee Indians, even in summer, they completely cover their bodies with clothes. There are notions of ritual purity among the Cherokee. family life like the Jews, incest is forbidden. The tribe is divided into seven "families", which resembles the twelve tribes of Israel. The Cherokee have a concept of "holiness of the seventh day" - every seventh day they rest. Long before the arrival of Christians in America, this people had monotheism - they believed in the Great Spirit.

The Bible describes the custom of blood vengeance for the murdered. However, if one person killed another by accident - on a hunt or during construction works, - then such a killer could hide from revenge in the "city of refuge". There were three such cities of refuge in the Holy Land and three more in Transjordan. The most interesting thing is that a similar custom existed among the Cherokee! Three special settlements were allocated for the "killers by mistake" in the territory of the tribe.

From all this, Oren concludes that his fellow tribesmen represent some part of the ten Jewish tribes lost during the Babylonian captivity, that is, the tribes.

In general, many ethnic and religious groups live in Israel, for some reason consider themselves descendants of these mythical Jews. I must say that the search for the ten lost tribes is a popular hobby in Israel. Every now and then, one of the adventurous researchers finds the “descendants” of these ancient Israelites lost in time, without even thinking about the fact that Judaism of the 6th century BC should have been very different from the modern one.

One of these self-proclaimed communities is the “black Jews” living in the city of Dimona in the south of the country. A group of African Americans numbering up to one and a half thousand people in the 70-80s of the last century moved from New York to Israel, having absolutely no rights to do so. Except, of course, for the reason that the leader of the sect believed that the blacks were the very biblical Israelites. Some of this group was nevertheless expelled from the country, but the majority remained, gradually mixing with the Ethiopian Jews.

On the border of India and Burma, there is a Mongoloid tribe that calls itself the Menase. In Israel, he is stubbornly called “Bnei Menashe” (sons of Menashe, in the Christian tradition of Manasseh, the ancestor of one of the lost tribes) and is considered the descendants of the ancient Jews who were driven to Babylon. Their rites have an extremely distant resemblance to the traditions of Judaism, but this was enough to declare the "menase" the offspring of the sons of Menashe.

Since the Menases in India live very poorly, some of them were enthusiastic about the idea of ​​emigrating to a relatively prosperous Jewish state. At first, the Israeli Ministry of the Interior sharply opposed their immigration, but a few years ago, when the repatriation of real Jews to their historical homeland came to naught for various reasons, it agreed to the “menas” moving to the country - on the condition that they undergo Orthodox conversion. The tribe itself is very small - about 7-8 thousand people, of which about two hundred came to Israel, and, as reported, the same number of natives of Hindustan are preparing to emigrate.

So it is quite possible that the "last of the Cherokee" will one day decide to move from their American reservation to the Holy Land. They only need to imagine themselves as the descendants of those who, ahead of Columbus, once settled the New World. Israel Oren, aka James Ray Feddis, has long chosen this path for himself.

1. The Tarahumara Indians believe that God created them from pure clay, and the white people were created by the devil from a mixture of clay and ash, and therefore a paradise for whites is a hell for the Tarahumara.

2. The Welsh prince Madog ap Owain Gwynedd, according to legend, sailed to the New World in 1170 and met with Indian tribes.

3. Among the ancestors of Johnny Depp, Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Costner, Cameron Diaz, Tommy Lee Jones, Tory Amos and Chuck Norris were Cherokee Indians.

4. Pyramids-sanctuaries of Tukume are of natural origin.

5. Princess Angelina made a living doing laundry and weaving baskets.

6. At the end of each performance of the drama "Rabinal-Achi", the Mayans killed one of the actors on the altar.

7. Catholic Seattle in his famous speech referred to the authority of the Indian gods.

8. Residents of Taos Pueblo still live in multi-story adobe fortresses built about 1000 years ago.

9. A number of current decisions of the US Supreme Court suggest that the government of the country that “discovered” it, and not the local population, has the right to land.

10. The indigenous people of Patagonia often used the Welsh language in trade.

11. The guards, who were buried together with the ruler of Sipan, who lived 1800 years ago, underwent amputation of their legs so that they would not escape from the grave.

12. The Indian who raised the US flag on Iwo Jima died due to alcoholism.

13 Among the Kwakiutl people, a member of a tribe, borrowing from another Indian, may pledge his name. Until the debt is repaid, the debtor cannot be addressed by name.

14. It is a tradition for US Army paratroopers to shout the name of Geronimo (Apache chief) at the time of the parachute jump.

15. German Prince Maximilian and artist Carl Bodmer traveled up the Missouri between 1832 and 1834 and spent their summers with the Blackfoot tribe.

16. L. Morgan's studies of matriarchy among the Iroquois became an important link in the creation of the Marxist concept of evolutionism.

17. The Cherokee Indians were also slave owners (the largest among the Indians) and rebellions often took place on their territory, the largest of which occurred in 1842.

18. Pawnee Indians who served as scouts in the US Army often donned American uniforms and hats to provoke an attack on themselves by hostile Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, or some other Indians.

19. Since they preferred to avoid fighting the Pawnee Scouts, who were armed with revolvers and repeating shotguns, but were not afraid to attack the same number of American cavalrymen.

20. The Comanche had a tradition according to which, after each raid, they dressed up in trophy clothes. Often she was given women's corsets, bowlers, tailcoats, top hats, etc., which contrasted strongly with the war paint and weapons of the Comanche warriors.

21. In some groups of "redskins" skin color may have a bluish tint.

22. 99% of the Indians have the first blood group (80% of the Indians of North America) and a positive Rh factor.

23. Some Indian peoples (Salish, Chinook, Kutanai in the west and Choctaw and Biloxi in the east) had a practice - flattening of the head (English). The same practice existed in ancient Egypt.

On Cherokee Spirituality. Circle path. The power of Cherokee women. Traditional dress. Tattoos. Cherokee jewelry. Warrior dance. Cherokee pipes.

On Cherokee Spirituality

In ancient times, striving to maintain order in the world, the Cherokee developed a simple, but at the same time complex belief system for the uninitiated. Many elements of this system have survived to this day. Although some of these elements have evolved or been modified, Cherokee traditionalists recognize this belief system as an integral part of everyday life.
Certain numbers play an important role in Cherokee rituals. The numbers 4 and 7 appear in myths, stories and sacred ceremonies.
The number 4 symbolizes the main elements - Fire, Water, Wind and Earth, and the four cardinal directions - East, West, North and South. Certain colors are also associated with these directions - respectively red (Success and Triumph), black (Death), blue (Defeat and Sorrow) and white (Peace and Happiness).
The number 7 represents the seven clans of the Cherokee - Ani-Vaya (Wolf), Ani-Kawi (Deer), Ani-Gi-skua (Birds), Ani-Vody (Paint, or Red Paint), Ani-Saoni (Blue), Ani- Gategevi (Potato) and Ani-Giloi (Long, or Twisted Hair), and is also associated with directions - in addition to the four main cardinal points, these are the Upper World, the Lower World and the Center (where we live and will always be).
The number 7 also represents the height of purity and holiness - a difficult level to achieve. In the olden days, only the Owl and the Puma were believed to have reached this level, and since then they have been of particular importance to the Cherokee.
Pine, Cedar, Spruce, Holly, and Laurel have also reached this level, so they play an important role in Cherokee rites. Cedar is considered the most sacred tree, and the red and white varieties of cedar distinguish it from all other trees. It is believed that cedar wood has a special power, and in ancient times it was used to carry especially revered dead.
For a long time, adherents of traditional Cherokee beliefs have had a special relationship with Owl and Puma - the heroes of some versions of the story of the Creation of the World. Only they were able to stay awake during the seven nights of Creation. The rest fell asleep. To this day, Owl and Puma are nocturnal and have sharp night vision.
The owl looks different from other birds and resembles a wandering old man. Sometimes at dusk, the Owl can be mistaken for a cat - because of the feather tufts and the shape of the head. This similarity makes Owl related to her nocturnal brother, Puma. The Owl's eyes are quite large and set straight in front, like those of humans; she can close one eye independently of the other.
The cougar is an animal whose cries resemble the moans of a woman. Puma habits are very mysterious and unpredictable.
Cedar, Pine, Spruce, Laurel and Holly are evergreen trees. They also stayed awake during the seven nights of Creation. For this they were endowed with special power and are the most important plants in medicine and rituals.
According to ancient Cherokee beliefs, plants first appeared on earth, then birds and animals, the last to appear were the spirits of people who desired to incarnate on Mother Earth in physical form to become her guardians. Therefore, humans are much younger than other spirits. It also means that we can learn a lot from plants about the healing of ailments; in animals, it is about survival; and with birds - about the freedom of our spirit.

© Singing Among the Roots. Translation: Ensemble Living-Fish.

circle path

The WAY OF THE CIRCLE has been handed down from generation to generation and is featured in all traditions, myths, legends, and other types of teachings of the Cherokee Indians.

Waking up every morning, bring gratitude to the Creator, the four sacred directions, Mother Earth, Father Sky and all your relatives.
Remember that everything in the world is interconnected.
Everything in the world has its own purpose.
Treat other people with kindness; if your guest is tired, cold or hungry, give them the best you can offer.
If you have more than you need, give the surplus to someone who needs it.
Your word is your honor; do not break your word unless there is permission from those to whom you promised something.
Always strive for harmony and balance in everything.
Share with others.
Practice calmness and patience.
Practice modesty in everything; bluster and cheeky behavior are unacceptable.
Always ask permission and give thanks for everything you have received.
Always show respect and concern for everything around you.
Do not stare at others, lower your eyes as a sign of respect, especially in the presence of old people, mentors and respected people.
Always greet a passing friend.
Never judge or criticize others.
Never touch anything that belongs to others without permission.
Always respect the privacy of others.
Never interrupt the speaker: this shows impatience, intemperance and disrespect.
Listen with your heart.
Always remember that a smile is sacred.
Live every day to the fullest.
Do not kill and do not keep evil in your heart.
Do everything you need to do today, don't put it off until later.

Translation: Ensemble Living-Fish.

Cherokee Women's Power

["She Speaks for Her Clan" painting by Dorothy Sullivan, Cherokee. The painting was the cover for Cherokee Women: Gender and Cultural Change, 1700-1835 (Indians of the Southeast) by Ted Pedew]

In February 1757, the great Cherokee leader Attakullakulla arrived in South Carolina to negotiate trade agreements with the governor and was shocked to learn that not a single white woman was present at the negotiations. "Insofar as a white man, like red, was born of a woman, then why does the white man not allow women to the meeting? ”- Attakulakula asked the governor. Carolyn Johnston, professor at Eckert College and author of Cherokee Women in Crisis; trail of tears Civil War and land rent, 1838-1907,” says in his book that the governor was so taken aback by the question that it took him two or three days to return with a timid reply: “White men trust their women and admit them to council when they are sure that the hearts of women are kind."

Europeans were amazed that Cherokee women were politically, economically, and theologically equal to men. “Women were independent and sexually free, could easily obtain a divorce, rarely experienced domestic violence or rape, worked on farms, maintained their own homes and fields, had a cosmology that included female supernatural figures, and had significant political and economic power', Carolyn writes. “Cherokee women were associated with nature itself, as mothers and continuers of life, this served as the basis for giving them power in the tribe, and not the basis for their oppression. And, since their status was designated as “other”, this contributed to the formation of gender equivalence, and not subordination to the hierarchy.”

One of the hardest things the colonists struggled to understand was the Cherokee kinship system. It was based on a matrilineal structure, the oldest social organization known to man, where the family line is traced through the mother and her ancestors on the maternal side. The most important male relative in a Cherokee child's childhood was the mother's brother, not the father. In fact, the father was not officially a relative for his offspring. According to The Cherokee Women: Gender and Cultural Change, 1700-1835 by Theda Pedew, a professor at the University of North Carolina, white men who married Native American women were shocked to learn that the Cherokee people did not view them as related to their children, and that mothers, not fathers, control children and all property.

The women owned the houses in which the extended family lived, and the daughters inherited property from their mothers. Because Cherokee land was coveted by white colonists, in order to prevent white men from marrying Indian women for profit, if the husband chose to leave the tribe, his Cherokee citizenship was revoked. “If a white man left his Cherokee wife without a valid excuse, he forfeited Cherokee citizenship and had to pay a marital violation fee determined by committee and Cherokee local council,” writes Fay Yabrough, associate professor at the University of Oklahoma in The Race and Nation of the Cherokee: Sovereignty in the nineteenth century."

Carolyn Johnston points out that in traditional Cherokee culture, men and women had different roles, places for rituals and ceremonies. The men were the hunters, while the women were the farmers who controlled the whole life. Both were responsible for getting food. AT winter time while the men traveled hundreds of miles to hunt bears, elks, ducks and other game, the women stayed at home. They lit fires in winter houses, wove baskets, made pottery, sewed clothes, and did many other things that the family needed, taking care of children and doing housework. “Perhaps it was precisely because women were so important to the family and the economy that they had a voice in government,” Pedew writes in the Tar Heel Junior Historian, a journal published by the North Carolina Museum of History (spring 1984 issue). “The Cherokee made decisions only after a long discuss the issue and reach full agreement on what they should do. Council meetings where decisions were made were open to everyone, including women. Women actively participated. Sometimes they called on the men to go to war first to prevent the enemy from attacking early. In other cases, they advised to keep the peace. At times, the women even fought behind the men. The Cherokee called such women "Women of War", and all the people respected and glorified them for their bravery.

Johnston says that women, like men, were sexually free, and unions were usually made on the basis of mutual sympathy. The concept of shame in one's body or physical desire was foreign to the Cherokee mind. And if married men and women are expected to be faithful to each other, Cherokee infidelity was not considered a big crime, but divorces based on the loss of attraction were not uncommon: “Sometimes they lived with each other until they had five -six children, and then carelessly dispersed, as if they had never known each other, the man kept the boys, the woman the girls, so that they could then marry on the opposite side. Divorce for Cherokee couples did not mean the same emotional and financial blow that is now expected for today's Euro-American couples dealing with breakups and divorces. According to Johnston, the traditional Cherokee "bachelor parties" were charged with sexual energy, although they were strictly regulated by ceremony. The ritual dance performed in public by young Cherokee at such meetings ended with movements imitating sexual intercourse - this is what horrified stiff Americans (Elvis had not yet been born and was not "crowned"). In general terms, physical relationships between consenting adults were seen as natural and even sacred, and were not a cause for embarrassment, fear, or the fall into sin.

The Cherokee strictly observed individual food and sex taboos, but these taboos were specific, circumstantial, and usually temporary. It is not surprising that the bleak, inflexible, sex-negative, and guilt-enhancing missionary outlook on life in the 18th century was met with little or no enthusiasm by the Cherokee. "Because the Cherokee did not believe in the depravity of human nature, the majority of the nation continued to resist this new view of themselves," writes Johnston. In 1840, Daniel Beetrick, a Cherokee missionary, writes in a letter: “... as to the morality of Cherokee women: Mrs. Safford uses swear words, Mrs. Glass attends dances, and Mrs. Broken Canoe, I am sure, has never attended our meetings since then. since she was baptized in May 1836. A few years earlier, Beatrick noted with horror that the ball game players he observed were completely naked. According to Johnston, Beatrick “banned students from his school from attending ball games and night dances. Desperately, he noted that “young women who have been trained in a missionary school, and who have been taught with great difficulty to read and understand the Bible, are the first victims of these emissaries of darkness.” Sophia Sawyer, a Christian missionary in an Indian country, reportedly stalked a local woman to her "fireside" in an attempt to convince her to send her child to a missionary school. To which the indigenous woman replied that she would "rather see her child in hell than in a mission class."

Unfortunately, the words "hell" and "missionary school" have become almost synonymous. This was aided by the introduction of Native American boarding schools, where children "born savages", in the words of Richard Henry Pratt, were taught "civilized language and customs" (part of his infamous "Kill an Indian, save a man" campaign). In 1825, Mary, a white girl, a servant, had a "criminal connection with a young Cherokee, Robert Sanders, in the Carmelite mission in Georgia. Moody Hall, a missionary for the American College of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, describes the incident as follows: “We burned their bed and hut. The Cherokee do not take such "impious crimes" seriously. Johnston notes that this incident “shed light on the war being waged on Indian soil against their minds and bodies. For the Cherokee themselves, becoming "civilized" increasingly meant a dramatic change in their gender roles."

"The US government and missionaries have worked together to transform Cherokee gender roles and their body and sexuality habits," says Johnson. “They sought to instill Euro-American values ​​of true femininity and limited Cherokee women to the household. They met with opposition from the traditional Cherokee, but as contact continued, the more affluent members of that society, often of mixed blood, readily embraced both Christianity and the ideals of the real woman. This gender difference intersected with the class difference because wealthier women were freed from most household chores by hiring servants and they could afford to be educated and behave like aristocrats. In the late 18th century, Cherokee women were no longer united in understanding what it meant to be a woman." "Wife! What a sacred name, what a position of responsibility!” wrote missionary Elias Baudino in an article entitled “A Beautiful Woman—Who Is She?”. “It should be an unstained sanctuary to which people come, trying to escape the crimes of the world, who want to feel that no sin can enter there. Wife! She must be the guardian angel of his steps on earth, and guide him to heaven. ”None of this description will remind the reader of the once strong, uninhibited breadwinner of the family - the Cherokee woman.

In the mid-18th century, many Cherokee began to realize that their sovereignty, and perhaps their survival, depended on how civilized they appeared. Being civilized meant wearing European clothes, denouncing their age-old religious practices and arts, adopting Christianity, and adapting to a patriarchal, agrarian way of life. Men were no longer supposed to hunt, and women no longer farmed. "The civilized peace program, loss of hunting grounds, missionary activity, and slavery disrupted the gender relations of the Cherokee Nation," says Johnston. “The role of men has been even more destroyed than that of women, because men have lost their opportunity to be hunters and warriors. Because farming has always been seen as a "women's job". Men would have to radically change their views on masculinity if they decided to become farmers.”

Professor of Sociology at Virginia Tech and State University, author of the paper “Cherokee Acculturation Rethinking; Agrarian Capitalism and Women's Resistance to the Household Cult, 1800-1838,” Emma Dunaway says, “…shortly before relocation, the Cherokee discovered new strategies for survival in the world of the national economy; their agricultural output was equal to or greater than that of their white neighbors.” Dunaway notes that “historically, agrarian capitalism has had shifted control over the household, land, and means of production for men; he stimulated the national interest, depriving women of power; and encouraged a "cult of the home" to justify unfair treatment of wives...Because the Cherokee elite believed that tribal sovereignty depended on the degree of "civilization," they selectively adopted certain aspects of patriarchal roles." "In the early 19th century, many legislative changes relating to the Cherokee Nation excluded women from formal political processes, weakening the power of the clans and reducing the independence of women," notes Johnston. “Under a clause of the Cherokee Constitution in 1827, Cherokee women became politically disenfranchised and could no longer vote or hold public office. The loss of formal political power was dramatic. The Cherokee Constitution, created after the US Constitution, established three branches of government: the Supreme Court, the legislature, and the chief chief as the executive."

The Cherokee hoped that a show of sovereignty would protect them from forced removal from their ancestral lands. “In the 1800s, the Cherokee lost their independence and came under white American rule,” says Johnston. “At that time, white Americans did not believe that it was natural for women to fight wars, have the right to vote, speak out in public, work outside their homes, and even control their own children. The Cherokee began to imitate whites, and Cherokee women lost much of their power and prestige. And in the 20th century, they had to fight alongside other women to gain many of the same rights they once enjoyed freely.”

Translation for the site "Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island": Lira Dolgikh. When using the material, a link to the site is required.

Traditional dress

“The crown consists of a cap and diadem, surmounted by large feathers. The hat is made of a mesh material that holds a diadem; texture - 2 inches wide, tied back as tightly as needed. The hat is woven of black threads, and the diadem is red, and decorated with small beads or small white seeds, equal in weight to beads. The feathers that crown the diadem are white. They are 8" long at the front and 4" at the back. These feathers are arranged in a curved line. The tip of each feather is surmounted by a tuft of hair with a small hair tassel, only an inch and a half long, and dyed bright red." (Le Page du Praz, 18th century)

“... A very curious diadem or headband, about four inches wide, very skillfully crafted or woven and curiously decorated with pebbles, beads, shells, porcupine quills, etc., frames their temples; the front part is decorated with a high fluttering plume of crane or heron feathers. (W. Bertram, late 18th century)

Translation: Viktor Belyaev.

Cherokee tattoos

“As elsewhere in the world, the Indians of the Southeast tried to improve nature. Men in particular liked to paint their bodies and faces, and both sexes were heavily tattooed on their bodies. This was especially practiced by the Creek and Cherokee warriors, who tattooed patterns on their bodies in the form of curls, flowers, animals, stars, crescents and the sun - the latter was usually placed in the center of the chest. Often a snake was depicted in the form of a pattern ... Some ... made tattoos, pricking the flesh with the teeth of a garfish (a type of fish in the Southeast. - Transl.), Lowered into the soot from a red pine, thus giving the tattoos a black or dark blue color. For red patterns, they used the mineral cinnabar (mercury sulfide). In some places, tattoos were applied with five or six needles tied to a small piece of wood in such a way that all ends matched like the teeth of a comb; the pattern was first drawn on the body with charcoal, and then the pigment was pricked with this tool.

... The patterns were both geometric and figurative, and adorned the face, chest, arms and legs ... Bartram says that the tattoo designs were always excellent and reminded him of the hand-engraved copper gravure form. (C. Hudson)

“The best descriptions of tattoos in the early writings are given by Bertram, with particular reference to the Creek and the Cherokee. In his Travels, he notes the following: "In some warriors, the skin of the chest and muscular parts of the body are painted or decorated in a very curious way in a hieroglyphic form with curls, flowers, animal figures, stars, crescents and the sun in the center of the chest. This painting of the flesh, as I understand , is performed in youth by pricking the skin with a needle until blood appears, and rubbing in a bluish dye that is as durable as their life." (J. R. Swanton)

Translation: Viktor Belyaev.

Cherokee jewelry

"Body painting was resorted to, in particular, during preparation for war or a ball game, but it was an element of the external surroundings at all official or semi-official events. Red is most often mentioned, and red paint was usually obtained by heating ocher earth." (J. R. Swanton)

“For face painting, they use a huge amount of cinnabar, which is crushed to a powdery state; this mineral has a more violet than scarlet hue, and is especially valued among physicians, being the first component of mercury. (K.W. Alvord)

“Women adorn their arms, breasts, thighs, shoulders and faces with various designs, pricking or cauterizing their flesh with some kind of tool heated on fire. They depict bright-looking flowers and fruits on it, as well as all kinds of snakes, salamanders, etc., and then saturate the wounds with multi-colored paints, which, once in the stigma, are no longer erased, because they not only heal the flesh, but also become brighter. (William Strachey, 1612)

“Great attention was paid to the decoration of the body, and the flesh was painted or tattooed by impalement using gunpowder in various patterns. Ears were stretched to incredible sizes with silver pendants and rings, labrets were in use, necks were decorated with wampum necklaces - lowers of sea shells, arms - with bracelets on the shoulders and wrists, and chest - with silver breastplates. All hair on the heads of men was plucked, except for a small area from which a scalp strand grew, later decorated with wampum from shells and beads, feathers and hair of sika deer. (W. Gilbert)

“Cherokee clothing is made from European fabrics and goods. The wealthy among them wear wide robes with bright prints or similar fabrics. Some wear hats, while most keep their traditional haircuts. They shave off everything except the skull and back of the head, and look like the Capuchin friars would look if they let the hair grow inside their halos. They usually decorate the edges of their hair with several hanging tokens or braids, like those of the heir to the throne, which are fastened with a piece of tin or a horseskin dyed red. Sometimes the hair itself is dyed red with cinnabar, which looks terrible and makes it look like bloodied. In general, cinnabar is very fashionable among them and is always used where you least expect to see it: sometimes it is a thick smear under one eye and nowhere else, sometimes in front of the ear, sometimes at the roots of the hair. Some preen by weaving wild turkey or other bird feathers into their hair and attaching key rings, pieces of glass, or red-dyed goose down to them. (Prince Louis-Philippe, 1797)

Translation: Viktor Belyaev.

Warrior dance

Equipment. - Ceremonial clubs, painted in red (symbolizing blood, "beaming from the head of the enemy") and black (symbolizing anger and fearlessness) colors. To the side of the detachment of warriors is a singer with a drum.

First movement. - Warriors stand in a row one at a time, facing the east, with clubs in their hands. Leaning forward, they dance with slow, low steps, moving back and forth. At the signal of Hee-ha-li, the dancers utter a drawn-out war cry ...

Second movement. - The tempo of the song accelerates, and the dancers imitate the movements of hitting the enemy with clubs.

Third movement. - The dancers move with a quick step and finish the dance with four exclamations.

The dance represents the attack on the enemy and the subsequent battle. The last serious and flamboyant performance of this dance, of which there is evidence, took place during the time of Janalaska, a famous leader who fought against the Creek Indians on the side of General Jackson (in 1813-14) and died in 1858. The Dance of the Warriors became a traditional stereotype. Naturally, beforehand, the warriors underwent obligatory ceremonies to strengthen their forces - physical and spiritual. They say that representatives of the caste of dedicated warriors did not take any other weapons except for the club on the campaign - it was enough just the magical power of the club, consecrated with special rites. Initially, heavy clubs were made from oak or hickory; now ceremonial clubs for dancing are made from horse chestnut (Aesculus octandra).

“Clay smoking pipes were quite numerous [during excavations] ... At the Warren Wilson site - in the burial and adjacent places - as many as 20 pipes were found, preserved in whole or in fragments. These were small bent pipes, the stems of which were usually slightly shorter than the bowls, and the bowls were widened or crowned with a rim and, as a rule, were decorated with patterns in the form of mountains, cut lines or knots. Some pipes had a highly polished surface, while others were only lightly sanded. Most intact cups retained a dense layer of burnt organic matter." (Roy S. Dickens, Jr., "Cherokee Prehistory", Univ. of Tennessee Press. 1972)

“Stone pipes… were special. They were skillfully carved in the form of animals and birds, and sometimes in the shape of a person. Many of them, massive objects weighing several pounds, were ceremonial pipes used only during councils. The smoky mountains provided the Indians with pipestone, a greenish soapstone that could be easily cut with flint knives. (Thomas M.N. Lewis & Madeline Kneberg, "Tribes that Slumber: Indians of the Tennessee Region"; Univ. of Tennessee Press. 1966) old times.

“They make beautiful stone pipes; and the Cherokee are more skillful in this than all the rest, ... for in their mountainous country there are many soils of various kinds and colors suitable for such use. They easily hew them with their tomahawks, and then shape them into any desired shape with their knives; pipes are of a very soft property until they are fired at the stake, after which they become quite hard. They are often quite long, and the bowls are again about half the size of our English pipes. The front of each pipe usually ends in a sharp peak two or three fingers wide and a quarter of an inch thick - on both sides of the bowl, along its length, they very skillfully and painstakingly carve several images, for example, a buffalo and a cougar on opposite sides of the bowl, a rabbit and a fox , and very often - a man and a woman puris naturalibus. Their sculptures are not particularly modest. The savages work so slowly that one of their carvers sits at a pipe with a knife for two months before the work is completed; and indeed, as noted before, they do not like to bother themselves much and never rush to create a good thing. The chibouks are usually made of soft woods, about two feet long and an inch thick: four rectangular blocks are cut, which are then drilled inside and fitted very closely together, joining into a hollow chibouk; gentlemen always drill wooden blocks, leaving a little space in each corner for a more durable connection; a handful of copper buttons, various kinds of fine feathers, and a few small flattened pieces from a copper kettle, round laces of buckskin, and a red-dyed scalp are fastened to the chibouk - this is a boastful, valuable and excellent decoration. According to their standard, such a pipe represents the owner, the great cavalier. They carve or draw hieroglyphic symbols on the chibouk so accurately that it is absolutely possible to determine the military achievements and the tribe of the owner of the pipe, along with many circumstances of his life, from them. (James Adair, "The History of the American Indians", London, reprint: Watauga Press, Johnson City, Tennessee. 1930)

“... The Peace Pipe was prepared: its bowl was made of red stone, curiously decorated with carvings with a knife; it was rather soft, though quite beautiful when polished. Some of the bowls are made of black stone, and others are of the same earth from which the pots are made, but they are remarkably varied. The chibouk is about three feet long and is lavishly decorated with porcupine quills, dyed feathers, deer hair, and other colorful trinkets.” (Lt. Henry Timberlake, "The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake": Williams, ed. 1927)

“North Carolina is a great tobacco country, and Native American pipes form an extensive line. Clay pipes vary in shape from straight cylindrical to L-shaped. Fragments of pipes or whole samples are found in all parts of the state. (Douglas L. Rights, "The American Indian in North Carolina", Blair, Winston-Salem, 1957)

“They use two types of tubes. One of them is at the end of the hatchet, while the handle serves as a chibouk. This is what they call a tomahawk. The other type is made from soft stone, which they process themselves, using the stalk of a shrub that grows only in this region. On some pipes, scenes of every unimaginable debauchery are carved. They brought me one with figurines of a bear and a wolf, and they named me Atota, which means ‘father’.” (Louis Philippe (King of the French), “Diary of my travels in America”, Delacorte Press, New York. 1977)

"They also had a great Peace Pipe, carved of white stone, with seven chibouks, so that seven people could smoke it together, sitting in their peace councils." (James Mooney, “Myths of the Cherokee”, 19th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology) Note: This pipe apparently had a pipe for each of the seven clans of the Cherokee, and the chiefs of these clans smoked it at the same time. A true ceremonial symbol of solidarity and concord!

“In the 16th century, ambassadors sent on a peace mission carried flutes with them, but by the end of the 17th century, when the French were already sailing up and down the Mississippi, the calumet ceremony spread throughout the river ... It should be remembered that the calumet is not just a pipe , but a highly sacred and symbolic object. The chubuk, used in the peace ceremony, remained with the leader who received the embassy, ​​while the guests took away the pipe bowl and carried it away. (John R. Swanton, "The Indians of the Southeastern United States", Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 137; Smithsonian Institute. 1979)

Cylindrical stone pipes are still found during excavations of antiquities. “This, however, does not mean at all that tobacco was smoked in these pipes. Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica L.), used by the Indians of the Southeast, originated in the central Andes, and we do not know when it first appeared in the eastern United States. But what we do know for sure is that the Indians of the upper Great Lakes smoked twenty-seven different local plant substances…” (Charles Hudson, “The Southern Indians,” Univ. of Tennessee Press. 1976).

Translation: Viktor Belyaev.

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The discovery of America by Europeans marked the beginning of the most severe wars and attempts to enslave local tribes. Aborigines were expelled from indigenous habitats, considered second-class people, driven into reservations, killed and sold into slavery. Not many Indian peoples managed to survive persecution, deprivation and open genocide, while maintaining their identity, traditions, culture and national identity. Among these few, the most numerous are the Cherokee and Navajo Indian tribes.
Today we will tell you more about the people of the Cherokee people. How they are adapted in the modern world, what they do, what difficulties they have to deal with and what they have managed to achieve.

How do the Cherokee Indians live today?
The Cherokee's historical habitat was the Appalachians. Therefore, the bulk of the representatives of this people still live in the states of Tennessee, North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Currently, the number of Cherokee is about 300 thousand people. Of these, only 15 thousand are purebred. In total, the descendants of the Cherokee, including mestizos and sambo, there are about 730 thousand.
The Cherokee refer to themselves as "tsalaga", which means "honest people". However, the etymology of the word most likely goes back to "chalaka" - "living in the mountains", as their neighbors from the Choctaw tribe called them.

The Cherokee are a people related to the Iroquois. Their language is the only one of the Southern Iroquoian languages ​​still in use. It uses an 85-character syllabary, which was invented in 1826 by a Cherokee chief named Sequoyah.
Now few Cherokee can speak their native language, but they keep other components of their culture very reverently.
The largest reservation of the Indians of this tribe is located on the territory of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located in the Appalachians. Its capital is the city of Cherokee. All signs and signs in it are written in the Cherokee language and duplicated in English. The reservation itself is more like a village. Her main income local residents is the tourism industry.
Since 1995, the Cherokee have owned six gambling houses, the income from which is tax-exempt and makes up a significant part of the tribe's budget.

The Cherokee have always been highly developed. Perhaps this helped them adapt to new conditions and survive in the neighborhood with the conquerors. In addition to their own writing, in the first half of the 19th century they approved their own constitution and code of laws, an elected government and a president. Then they created a network of free schools with Cherokee teachers.
In 1999, the Cherokee adopted a new constitution. They also have the opportunity to exercise their right to have a representative in the US Congress.
The Cherokee continue to preserve the traditions of their ancestors and teach young people their native language.
In terms of religion, most Cherokee converted to Christianity as a result of active missionary work in the past. However, in recent times they are becoming more and more interested in Islam.