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Episode: 173.2 - Native Americans and Cherokee Culture

Author: Sonoro | Shana Thompson
Duration: 00:29:21

Episode Shownotes

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/AMERICANENGLISH and get on your way to being your best self. In today's episode, we'll start by answering the question: Who are Native Americans? Then we're going to dive into the fascinating culture of the Cherokee people, who

are one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S.. We'll discuss their traditions, their language, and deep connection to the land. We'll also cover how their society was structured historically. Personally, I find the clans very interesting, so we have to cover that. Be sure to stay tuned until next week, we're going to be talking about the Trail of Tears. Disclaimer: I'm not Native American, so creating this episode worried me. It's very important to me that everything I say is culturally sensitive and accurate. If you are a native, please know that I would love to talk to you! Write to me on Instagram @americanenglishpodcast, and don't hesitate to tell me your thoughts. Support Wealthiest Tribe of Appalachia - Cherokee Buy Me a Coffee Season 4 (Episodes 150 - 200) = Each episode includes a quiz, the PDF transcript (the text of the audio) with definitions of challenging words and the mp3 file. All Premium Content for Seasons 1, 2 and 3 (Episodes 001 - 150) - and get Season 4 at a discount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full Transcript

00:00:04 Speaker_00
Hi, everybody. My name is Shawna, and this is the American English Podcast. My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States.

00:00:13 Speaker_00
Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories, I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting. Let's do it. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the American English Podcast.

00:00:30 Speaker_00
In today's episode, we'll start by answering the question, who are Native Americans? Then we're going to dive into the fascinating culture of the Cherokee people, who are one of the largest Native American tribes in the US.

00:00:47 Speaker_00
We'll discuss their traditions, their language, and deep connection to the land. We'll also cover how their society was structured historically, Personally, I find the clans very interesting, so we have to cover that.

00:01:03 Speaker_00
Be sure to stay tuned until next week. We're going to be talking about the Trail of Tears then. I know I said we were going to do that in this episode, but here's what happened. I planned it all out.

00:01:18 Speaker_00
This episode got way too long because I wanted to pay close attention to each topic. And it's just too many topics for one episode. I don't want to be insensitive. So they ended up in two episodes.

00:01:32 Speaker_00
In the meantime, you can learn about the Lakota Indians of the Black Hills of South Dakota. I briefly talked about them in episode 29 about Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. So check that out after you're done listening to this one.

00:01:50 Speaker_00
Before we begin, I need to clarify something. In American English, the term Native American refers to the original inhabitants of North America, ancestors of people who settled here thousands of years ago.

00:02:08 Speaker_00
When I say Native American, I'm really only referring to someone from a tribe or from a nation, such as the Navajo, the Chickasaw, or the Cherokee. I know you might be tempted to call me a Native American, but just know that that's inaccurate.

00:02:28 Speaker_00
While I was born and raised in the United States, my ancestors are not from one of the indigenous groups of the U.S. My distant ancestors are European, and therefore, I'm not a Native American.

00:02:43 Speaker_00
Now, if you're searching for a language partner who speaks like me, someone who's from the U.S., don't say you want to speak with a Native American. Say you want to speak with a native English speaker from the United States.

00:02:59 Speaker_00
Last week on Instagram, I asked how much all of you know about Native American tribes, and the vast majority said, I know nothing. So let's start by quickly clarifying three common misconceptions or inaccuracies about Native Americans.

00:03:21 Speaker_00
The first inaccuracy is that Native Americans are all the same or that they're all part of the same group. So in the United States, there are 574 federally recognized tribes, and each tribe has its own culture, language, and history.

00:03:42 Speaker_00
The Cherokees are one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S., and even within Cherokee, there are three bands, two that live in present-day Oklahoma and one in North Carolina.

00:03:56 Speaker_00
So moral of the story is we cannot generalize when talking about Native Americans. The second misconception is that Native Americans, or the indigenous people, live in teepees. Do you know what a teepee is?

00:04:14 Speaker_00
A teepee, T-E-E-P-E-E, is like a more durable tent. It's usually made with wooden poles and animal hides, so animal skin.

00:04:29 Speaker_00
And while tipis were used by Plains tribes, so tribes across the Great Plains region of the United States, many Native American tribes never used tipis. For example, the Cherokees traditionally lived in houses made of wood and clay.

00:04:49 Speaker_00
The third misconception is that Native Americans wear feathered headdresses, moccasins, and breechcloths. Maybe for traditional cultural events and ceremonies, but on a day-to-day basis, this is absolutely not true.

00:05:07 Speaker_00
They're not like the Amish who reject modernization. Most tribes, including the Cherokee, have adapted to contemporary contexts throughout the years. So, when European settlers came to the U.S.

00:05:21 Speaker_00
hundreds of years ago, the Cherokees started using European fabric, they started wearing European styles, they traded, they followed trends. Today, people of Native American descent typically wear mainstream clothing.

00:05:37 Speaker_00
A lot of you are probably wondering, well, if they were in North America before states were states, and even before Christopher Columbus came to town, where did they come from? Well, let's take a leap back in history.

00:05:52 Speaker_00
Scientists believe that the earliest migration to North America happened over 12,000 years ago, during the Ice Age. During the Ice Age, there were more glaciers and sea levels were lower than they are today.

00:06:09 Speaker_00
And for that reason, more land was exposed, including a strip of land that connected Alaska and Eastern Asia. It's believed that the earliest immigrants to the U.S.

00:06:21 Speaker_00
crossed these two land masses, which are of course now separated by the Bering Strait, and then after they made it to North America, the groups separated. Each group or tribe developed their own culture and adapted to the land they settled in.

00:06:41 Speaker_00
And they settled everywhere from the West Coast all the way to the East. For example, in 3500 BC, so before Christ, large villages dotted the coastline from Alaska to what is now Washington State.

00:07:00 Speaker_00
And with the Pacific Ocean as a neighbor, those natives became masterful fishermen. In southwest Arizona, about 2,000 years ago, there were early farming communities that built hundreds and hundreds of miles of irrigation canals.

00:07:18 Speaker_00
Do you know what to irrigate means? It means to supply water to land. or crops to help them grow. So the group in southwest Arizona were masters in farming.

00:07:32 Speaker_00
Tribes were all over the Great Plains, from Montana, the Dakotas, to modern-day Ohio and Illinois. Which brings us to the Cherokees. The Cherokees settled in southern Appalachia long before European contact.

00:07:51 Speaker_00
Evidence suggests that they were present in the area as early as 1000 AD, and their homeland included parts of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Southern Appalachia.

00:08:13 Speaker_00
Now that I live in Southern Appalachia, and I keep wanting to say Appalachian Mountains in Appalachia, but that is not the way they pronounce it in this region, where Appalachia is. Much of this area is mountainous or hilly. It's green. It's lush.

00:08:35 Speaker_00
There are plenty of waterfalls, stunning hiking trails. and lots and lots of wildlife. The Cherokee, who loved the land and lived for the land, thrived. And as a community, they deeply appreciated the environment around them.

00:08:54 Speaker_00
So they hunted, they fished, they gathered, and lived peacefully until European settlers came. One of the things I've realized in my life is that the more I learn about other cultures, the more empathy I have for them and respect.

00:09:17 Speaker_00
If anyone who is Cherokee listens to this, Please write to me on Instagram at American English Podcast. I would love to talk to you about your experience being a Cherokee in the United States.

00:09:31 Speaker_00
I obviously am not one, so I'm just speaking from research here. Let me tell you what I learned about Cherokee people.

00:09:41 Speaker_00
According to Cherokee History and Culture by Dwyer and Britchfield, the word Cherokee is believed to be a Choctaw word meaning cave people. But the Cherokees call themselves Ani Yunwia, meaning the real people or original people.

00:10:01 Speaker_00
As I mentioned before, there are three bands of Cherokee Indians in the United States, the largest being in Oklahoma, with its membership at over 400,000 members. In the US as a whole, over 819,000 people claim to have Cherokee ancestry.

00:10:22 Speaker_00
So what exactly does that mean in terms of traditions and culture? Before Europeans came to town, Cherokee communities stretched from about Georgia well into Virginia, and village life was focused on farming.

00:10:42 Speaker_00
They harvested beans, squash, and corn, food that would eventually become popular in Southern cuisine. Cherokee society was a matriarchal society. Do you know what a matriarchy is?

00:10:58 Speaker_00
It describes a social system where women, especially mothers, hold the primary positions of authority. So in Cherokee society, women not only held power in the family, they often held leadership roles. They led religious and ceremonial practices.

00:11:18 Speaker_00
They even owned land and goods. When it came to inheritance, Their land and goods would be inherited by her children or her siblings' children, not her husband's family. Once again, it was a matriarchal society.

00:11:37 Speaker_00
And it was highly organized with what they called a clan system. A clan is a fun word. It ties a group of people together, often with some sort of family connection, a common ancestor. So in English, you might use this term to refer to your family.

00:12:00 Speaker_00
Like if your last name is Smith, you might call your family the Smith clan. You could say, hey, the Smith clan is on the way to the party. It is a way that some people might refer to every member within their family as a group.

00:12:16 Speaker_00
The Cherokees had seven clans. had specific duties that contributed to the tribe's survival. For example, number one, there was the Wolf Clan. The Wolf Clan was the largest clan, and they were considered the warriors and protectors of the tribe.

00:12:37 Speaker_00
Now, while they were responsible for defending the people and leading in times of war, they were well known for their diplomacy. So they would prefer negotiation and alliance building. And they always did that alongside the Long Hair Clan.

00:12:55 Speaker_00
That is number two. The Longhair Clan were often regarded as peacemakers, the diplomats in a sense. They were good at reconciling differences between clans or with other tribes.

00:13:09 Speaker_00
And they got their name from the tradition of wearing their hair long and often decorating it with elaborate braids or beads. That brings me to number three, the deer clan.

00:13:21 Speaker_00
Now you might've guessed it, they were known for having a deep connection to nature. They were also considered hunters and providers for the tribe. They were good at the bow and arrow. They knew how to aim. They were good with spears and blow guns.

00:13:40 Speaker_00
They were also known for their craftsmanship in making clothing and tools from deer hides and bones. At Halloween, masks are everywhere, but some of us wear them year round.

00:13:55 Speaker_00
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00:14:10 Speaker_00
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00:14:20 Speaker_00
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00:14:37 Speaker_00
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00:15:06 Speaker_00
So members of the bird clan interpret those messages and help guide others spiritually. They play a key role in keeping spiritual traditions of the Cherokee alive.

00:15:18 Speaker_00
For example, traditionally, they used bird feathers, especially those from eagles and hawks, because they were considered sacred, in ceremonies for blessings, protection, and healing. Then there was the Paint Clan.

00:15:34 Speaker_00
Paint, as in the paint you use to paint a wall or to paint a picture. The name Paint Clan came from their expertise in creating and applying sacred body paint, often used in rituals and ceremonies for healing, protection, and warfare.

00:15:54 Speaker_00
Number six was the Blue Clan, and I found this one particularly interesting. The Blue Clan were healers, and they were highly respected for their knowledge and skill of using nature's plants as medicine.

00:16:10 Speaker_00
For example, ginseng was used to boost energy and treat digestive issues. Blue huckleberry was an anti-inflammatory. Yarrow, or Yarrow, was known for its ability to stop bleeding and fight infection. Gosh, the list goes on.

00:16:28 Speaker_00
Their knowledge of native plants was extensive. But what's interesting is that traditional Cherokee medicine is more than just physical treatments.

00:16:39 Speaker_00
They have a holistic approach that includes spiritual practices, emphasizing the importance of healing the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. Last but not least, number seven was the Wild Potato Clan.

00:16:55 Speaker_00
The Wild Potato Clan played a key role in agriculture. They helped cultivate crops and managed the tribe's food supply. They were known also for gathering wild potatoes along riverbanks, which was a staple for the tribe.

00:17:14 Speaker_00
One special event they hosted was the Cherokee Green Corn Ceremony, which is probably one of the largest ceremonies they have. And it's reminiscent of Thanksgiving for us.

00:17:27 Speaker_00
It's an annual event in time of renewal, forgiveness, and Thanksgiving to celebrate the ripening of corn, which, like the potato, was a staple of their diet. The ceremony involved dancing, fasting, and the cleaning of homes.

00:17:45 Speaker_00
Now those were the seven clans. In a way, they reflect modern society. The wolf clan is sort of like the army. The long hair clan is sort of like the diplomats. Farmers are the wild potato clan, the healers. Priests, the hunters.

00:18:02 Speaker_00
While modern Cherokee society no longer strictly adhered to these traditional clan roles, the system remains an important part of cultural heritage. And it also served another purpose.

00:18:16 Speaker_00
Because clans were tied to families, you couldn't marry within your own clan. So it promoted genetic diversity. and this clan system also ensured that every member was held accountable for their actions.

00:18:33 Speaker_00
If a member of one clan committed a crime, the clan as a whole could be held responsible, and they would work to resolve the issue or provide reparations to the wronged clan. Fascinating, right? When it came to daily life, children late.

00:18:57 Speaker_00
They learned how to use a blowgun, which is a traditional weapon used by Cherokee and other Native American tribes for hunting small game and birds.

00:19:08 Speaker_00
A blowgun is a long, hollow tube through which darts are blown by mouth, using air pressure to propel that dart They also learned how to play stickball, which is a traditional game similar to lacrosse.

00:19:26 Speaker_00
According to a local Cherokee in an amazing video by Peter Santonello, which I'll post in the episode notes, it's still an intense game with a lot of rivalry, at least in the Eastern Cherokee band.

00:19:43 Speaker_00
And when children were not using their blowgun or playing stickball, they were taught by their elders. Cherokees have what we call an oral tradition. They also have a written tradition, too, now, because they do have a language.

00:19:59 Speaker_00
So parents, aunts, and uncles would sit down with the children and share stories that their elders passed down to them. Some included stories of creation, for example, how humans and animals appeared on Earth.

00:20:15 Speaker_00
Other traditional stories included lessons on morality. One particular story really stood out to me as being fundamental to the Cherokee belief system. I'd like to share it with you, so here it goes.

00:20:31 Speaker_00
Long ago, the animals held a council to discuss a problem. The people were killing too many animals without showing proper respect for the lives they were taking. Each animal created an illness that would punish the people.

00:20:49 Speaker_00
When the plants heard what the animals were doing, they felt sorry for the people, and each plant created a cure. By the way, that story was taken verbatim from Cherokee History and Culture. I'll provide the link to that book in the episode notes.

00:21:08 Speaker_00
It was simple. I mean, the message was clear even for children. You are part of the natural world, and everything in the natural world is connected. To live in harmony with nature, you must respect it, including every animal whose life you take.

00:21:27 Speaker_00
At the beginning of this chat on Cherokee traditions and culture, I mentioned that the narrative usually has a before and after. Before the Cherokees were introduced to European settlers, and after they met them.

00:21:43 Speaker_00
In next week's episode, we'll be talking about after they met them. I'm going to focus a lot on how the relationship with Native Americans deteriorated over time. What exactly happened? Why did the Trail of Tears take place?

00:22:02 Speaker_00
Once again, that was the forced relocation of Native American tribes, including the Cherokee tribe. It's really disturbing. Brace yourself. That will be posted soon. Now before we wrap up today's episode, let's do a quick review of what we learned.

00:22:23 Speaker_00
In the beginning, we started by debunking. Debunking means to basically inform someone why something is not true. So we started by debunking some common misconceptions about Native Americans.

00:22:40 Speaker_00
Many people believe that all Native Americans lived in teepees, but the Cherokee, among others, traditionally built homes from wood and clay.

00:22:51 Speaker_00
Similarly, the idea that Native Americans still wear traditional clothing like breech cloths and that they wear moccasins on a daily basis is outdated.

00:23:04 Speaker_00
Today, most Cherokee people, like others in the U.S., wear modern clothing, reserving traditional attire for cultural events.

00:23:13 Speaker_00
We also learned that Native Americans are incredibly diverse, with 574 federally recognized tribes, each with its own distinct culture and language.

00:23:24 Speaker_00
We also touched on the fact that these groups may have come from East Asia, across the Bering Strait, over 12,000 years ago. But it's kind of unclear when exactly the Cherokee made it to southern Appalachia.

00:23:40 Speaker_00
We explored Cherokee society, including how it functions as a matriarchy.

00:23:45 Speaker_00
And we also discussed the significance of the seven Cherokee clans, such as the Wolf Clan, known for their protective and diplomatic roles, and the Wild Potato Clan, experts in agriculture who ensured food security for the tribe.

00:24:04 Speaker_00
What's really important is to remember that the Cherokees were masters of agriculture and deeply believed in respect for all natural beings, as shown in the traditional Cherokee story about animals creating illnesses to punish people for overhunting.

00:24:22 Speaker_00
After the Native Americans and Cherokees met European settlers and white men, relationships got kind of intense. Be sure to stay tuned for next week's episode to learn all about it. That's it for today.

00:24:41 Speaker_00
The East Band of Cherokee is actually just an hour away from where I live. So once there's no rain in the weather forecast, I definitely plan on visiting. Once again, I watched a video made by Peter Santanello. that was there. It was so informative.

00:25:01 Speaker_00
I just love that video because you got to see what it's like as a local, a local Cherokee, in everyday life and how things function. Like, do they pay taxes? How do they acquire land? I will link that video in the episode notes.

00:25:21 Speaker_00
Totally, totally worth watching. If you would like the transcript that goes along with this episode, a quiz, and all other bonus material for season four, be sure to check out the episode notes or sign up at AmericanEnglishPodcast.com.

00:25:39 Speaker_00
Remember, it's a fantastic way to learn more with each episode. Enjoy the rest of your day. Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the American English Podcast.

00:25:51 Speaker_00
Remember, it's my goal here to not only help you improve your listening comprehension, but to show you how to speak like someone from the States.

00:26:01 Speaker_00
If you want to receive the full transcript for this episode, or you just want to support this podcast, make sure to sign up to premium content on AmericanEnglishPodcast.com. Thanks and hope to see you soon.