Clans of the Cherokee part 5 -- The Bird Clan

The Cherokee had great respect for all living things and tried to live in harmony with them.  In  Part 4, The Deer Clan, I talked about how a hunter would apologize to a deer before killing it and explain why he needed the meat to feed his family.  The same held true for birds.  The Ani Tsiskwa, The Bird Clan, was responsible for keeping the birds.  It was believed that birds were the messengers between the world and the upper world or between human beings and the spirits, therefore the Ani Tsiskwa were usually called upon to be the messengers for the village.    They were keen observers and adept at interpreting the messages brought to dreams by birds.

Only the Bird Clan was allowed to provide bird feathers for the tribe.  The most sacred bird for the Cherokee was the eagle and its feathers were considered sacred and vital to many ceremonies especially anything relating to war.   In ancient times, killing the eagle for its feathers involved the entire village, but under the tutelage of the Bird Clan and conducted by one special individual, the Eagle Killer, who was trained in the proper method for killing an eagle.  The eagle had to be killed only in winter or late fall after the crops were gathered and snakes had retired to their dens.  If an eagle was killed in summer, an early frost would kill the corn and the eagle dance would so rile snakes that they became extremely dangerous!  When an Eagle Killer was called in, he would set out alone with his bow and arrows into the mountains where he would pray and fast for four days.  Then he would hunt down and kill a deer.  He would carry the carcass to an exposed area on a cliff, then hide and chant softly the song to call in the eagle.  When the eagle landed on the carcass, the Eagle Killer would shoot it with an arrow and then pray to it to not seek vengeance on his tribe.  In later times, he would tell the dead bird that a Spaniard had killed him, not a Cherokee!  Then he would return to the village and proclaim that he had killed a “Snow Bird” (to insure against the vengeance of any eagles that might overhear) and then return home, his work completed.  The villagers would wait for four days to allow the insect parasites time to leave the carcass, then a delegation would go to the cliff and skin the deer, remove the feathers from the eagle and wrap them in the fresh deerskin.  Both carcasses were left as a sacrifice to the eagle spirits.  The feathers were placed in a special”Feather”  hut near the dance field and a special dish of venison and corn provided to “feed the hungry feathers”.  That night, the Eagle dance was  performed.  In addition to bow and arrow, the Ani Tsiskwa were skilled in using blowguns and snares for hunting birds. 

It is believed that the Ani Tsiskwa were once three clans since the clan had three subdivisions – the Eagle, Turtledove and Raven.  The clan was represented by the color purple, their sacred wood was maple and their flag is blue with red stars. 

Each clan was responsible for teaching the life lessons for achieving higher levels of development for the upper world.  There were seven levels of development, just as there were seven clans.  The Tsiskwa were responsible for teaching the importance of both the positive and negative events on the harmony of life.

The Cherokee were very conscious of their clan heritage and could readily tell of their degree of relationship to their relatives.  Today, however, many Cherokee no longer know their clan.  Think you might be of the Ani Tsiskwa?   Here are some notable surnames related to the Bird Clan:

Adair, Alexander, Alred, Angus, Arkensas Baker, Barr, Bear, Bell, Bird, Bolin, Boss, Brasheres, Brown, Brownwater, Bunch, Burk, Burntwing, Byles, Choate, Cody, Cooper, Cousart, Crouch, Cummingham, Cuthand, Cutting Dalondeegah, Danedeesdee, Davis Eades, Eagle, Ewery, Fair Hair, Feather, Field(s), Finley, Frost, Ghigooie, Gibson, Goingbird, Goosey, Grant Hill, Hull, Jarrett, Jimmesen, Joran, Justice (Ooweena), Kee, Ketcher, Kingsnake, Leflor, Leuking, Light, Lipe, Little, Love, Mayes, McCraken, McCrigger, McDaniel, McDonald, Miller, Moore, Moss, Negro, Old Tassel, Oowodagee, Otter Lifter, Owl, Perry, Pigion, Pool , Quail Raincrow, Rains, Rainwater, Ray, Red Crow, Red Eagle, Reid, Reynolds, Rogers, Sanders, Saughtery, Scofield, Shory, Sinnawah, Stalking Turkey, Starr, Terripin, Thomas, Toy, Turky, Waters, Webb, West, Young Bird

For more information refer to:

 http://cherokeeregistry.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=40 )

 

 

Continue to Part 6

 

-- Courtney Miller

 

Sacred Fire and Things

Swimmer, Cherokee Medicine Man

Cherokee Sacred Fire, as told by
Swimmer to James Mooney, 1887-1890.

"The mound was then built up with earth, which the women brought in baskets, and as they piled it above the stones, the bodies of their great men, and the sacred things, they left an open place at the fire in the center and let down a hollow cedar trunk, with the bark on, which fitted around the fire and protected it from the earth. This cedar log was cut long enough to reach nearly to the surface inside the townhouse when everything was done. The earth was piled up around it, and the whole mound was finished off smoothly, and then the townhouse was built upon it. One man, called the Firekeeper, stayed always in the townhouse to feed and tend the fire. When there was to be a dance or a council, he pushed long stalks of atsil sun ti (fleabane), "the fire maker" down through the opening in the cedar log to the fire at the bottom. He left the ends of the stalks sticking out and piled lichens and punk around, after which he prayed, and as he prayed, the fire climbed up along the talks until it caught the punk. Then he put on wood, and by the time the dancers were ready there was a large fire blazing in the townhouse. After the dance he covered the hole over again with ashes, but the fire was always smoldering below. Just before the Green corn dance, in the old times, every fire in the settlement was extinguished and all the people came and got new fire from the townhouse. This was called atsi’la galunkw it’yu "the honored or sacred fire." Sometimes when the fire in a house went out, the woman came to the Firekeeper, who made a new fire by rubbing an ihya’ga stalk against the under side of a hard dry fungus that grows along locust trees.

"Some say this everlasting fire was only in the larger mounds at Nikwasi, Kitu’hwa, and a few other towns, and that when the new fire was thus drawn up for the Green Corn dance it was distributed from them to the other settlements. The fire burns yet at the bottom of these great mounds, and when the Cherokee soldiers were camped near Kitu’hwa during the Civil War, they saw smoke still rising from the mound."

In ancient times, individual sacred fires in the villages were extinguished and restarted from the
sacred fire from the Townhouse.  This was done in conjunction with the Green Corn Ceremony honoring "Selu", the Corn Mother.  No corn was eaten before the ceremony.  Before the ceremony, each clan would supply seven mature ears of corn.  The chief and seven councilors began fasting seven days prior to the ceremony.  On the seventh day, fires were extinguished and rekindled from the sacred fire.  Kernels from the corn from the clans were sacrificed with a deer's tongue.  A feast was prepared in the Townhouse from the clan corn the chief and councilors and villagers feasted.  For the next six days, the chief and councilors could only eat corn harvested the previous year.  For the great dance, a pit was dug in the center of the sacred circle and a wood struck by lightning was lit to start the great fire.  Dancers would perform rounds of sacred dances and the men performed the War Dance and other dances symbolizing the planting and harvesting of the corn.  Finally, all villagers joined in on a "Running Dance" around the fire.  Minor infractions of the religious and clan law, as well as debts were typically forgiven during green corn between parties as a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings.

Video of Cherokee Corn Dance