Ceremonies And Religion
Religion~ Similar to European culture the Cherokee beloved in a world of spirits above and below earth. But unlike European culture they thought world below them was a place for the most powerful and dangerous spirits. Above them was what they called the sky vault, a place for the dead to dance and be cheerful. They firmly beloved that everyone needed to live in balance to be happy. This is why they buried their dead to give back to the land the get their food from. The Cherokee also had to mourn a family member’s dead for a full year. The Cherokee didn’t eat opossum because they were scavenger animals and were considered unclean. It was forbidden to have anything made from or resembling snakes in the home because the snakes in that area were poisonous and posed a threat to the people. The numbers 7 and 4 were very important to them, 7 for the seven Cherokee clans, and 4 for the four directions.
Ceremonies~ The Cherokee celebrated different events daily and annually. Because lived in an area where there was an abundance of streams and rivers. Every morning everyone in the village would go to the same stream or river and face east. They would then pray in the seven directions, north, south, east, and west, to the sky, the earth, and center. They also celebrated the beginning of spring and the growing of one of their main food sources with a green corn dance. One of the most famous dances of the Cherokee is the stomp dance. It would be led by the clan leader and alternating men and women would line up behind him with elders on the inside and youth on the outside. Everyone would dance in a circle around a large bonfire.