Exploring Cherokee Culture

The first full day of experiencing Cherokee was so informative. So much information was provided that I am afraid that some of it has already fallen out of my head. While being within Cherokee, the environment felt centered. It felt as though the community flowed well together and that everyone within the community possessed a mutual respect for one another. I come from a small town of only 600 people who do not share a mutual respect for one another so the feeling of community within Cherokee is refreshing to experience. What I found most interesting about the culture is their explanation for how the earth was created. According to First People – The Legends (2003),

“When the Earth began there was just water. All the animals lived above it and the sky was beginning to become crowded. They were all curious about what is beneath the water and one day Dayuni’si, the water beetle, volunteered to explore it. He went everywhere across the surface but he couldn’t find any solid ground. He then dived below the surface to the bottom and all he found was mud. This began to enlarge in size and spread outwards until it became the Earth as we know it” (100).

I was never a religious person while I was growing up, besides one Sunday per month I was with my grandma and she was drag me to Sunday school. That being said, all I have learned about the creation of Earth is tied to Christianity. While learning the Cherokee explanations about the creation of the Earth, I had to adapt my mind to be open to other ideas and traditions. While touring the hospital, I picked up on some of the values and beliefs of the Cherokee people and related them to some of my own; One of those being the importance of family. Within the hospital, they have built hospice suites for family members to stay in and be comfortable in while another family member is going through end of life care. The importance of family is influential throughout all aspect of Cherokee heritage and their everyday life, just as my own. My family members are so important to me and are always brought into account when making life decisions or drawing a council when I need advice on something happening within my life. Family is a major influence within the Cherokee people and their heritage and serves as a way to teach children about the importance of their values and beliefs system. Children learn about their heritage from their families from the day they are born until they have children of their own and instill the same traditions in their own children. The family system is the main source of influence for Cherokee children but can develop other sources of influence, such as a school system.

Common threads within this community can be tied back to the community I was raised within and the community I live in now. In my small hometown, we have a reputation of being the largest meth-producing county in central Illinois. While living in Peoria, the opioid epidemic is wreaking havoc in Peoria County and those neighboring it as well. Drug addiction is an unresolved issue going on within Cherokee similar to other towns I have lived in as well. Hopefully some new methods can be developed to aid communities all over the country experiencing the same hardships such as drug addiction.

Reference

Native American Legends. (2003). Cherokee Creation Story. Retrieved from http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/CherokeeCreationStory-Cherokee.html