Friday, June 29, 2012

CHEROKEE STORY


So much of the sensibility of this so called Cherokee proverb, I suspect, cannot be taken at face value. The Cherokee met and sustained relationship with the Whites much longer than most tribes. So much so they developed survival tactics that profoundly altered their culture and their traditional worldviews. Many people from other tribes think the Cherokee people lost too much of themselves to the whites. If true it was inevitable because relationship with whites exacts a high cost upon villages, tribes, people, customs, and sense of self, and values, and one's relationship with and understanding of the Creator. Other tribes are grateful for the Cherokee nation because their losses to the whites left some tribes without land, identity, or any customs to remember, practice and follow. The Cherokee's resilience is renown, and their spiritual practices are deeply embedded within the Earth, their Mother. The fact and the power of their survival as the Principal People has helped thousands of Native people regain a sense of 'Indianness" and helped many whites married into the tribe to be People.

The feel of this alleged Cherokee proverb which reads, "A woman's highest calling is to lead a man to his soul, so as to  unite him with Source. A man's highest calling is to protect woman, so she is free to walk the earth unharmed." doesn't understand the relationship Cherokee people have with blood. The traditional woman's relationship to blood is through her menstrual cycles, and birth. Men's relationship to blood is through war and hunting. This is a mirror into a fundamental difference between European and matriarchal nations like the Cherokee (Tsalagi). Matriarchal societies didn't just wake up deeply engrossed and engaged in the mystery of blood in relationship to community, and marriage and the Earth, our Mother and to each other. These cultures didn't indulge in sentimental pining about romantic notions of marriage 20th and 21st century Americans are fond of attaching themselves to instead of plunging into the deeper aspects of power, communing with Nature, and the mysterious depths linked to the art of love, the primal elements, and so on...

Cherokee medicine is deep. It is powerful, and somehow they learned how to keep their Medicines alive through the hard centuries of relationship with the whites, and managed to retain secrets. I won't go any further with this teaching, but it is good to gain a sense of the relationship the Cherokee people had that made them strong enough to survive as a people amongst the whites. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

10 comments:

  1. How did this saying, or proverb meander into an explanation of the symbology of blood and nature? What's the connection? This piece makes no rational sense. In fact, the whole article gives no light or insight into the original proverb or saying.

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    1. First, I apologize for responding so late.

      Let me say I like your respond because I had to reexamine the piece and why I wrote it. There is a connection between blood and Nature. I purposely did not go into depth with it; not in this forum. But, I also want to tell you this is a query into a people I know a few things about. Their lifeway helped expand mine...

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    1. Cherokee ways of making a point have traditionally involved telling a story which is not obvious and direct, but which makes sense through tangential reference and reflection.
      The reference to blood and nature is, I'm assuming,a polite, roundabout way to partly express the offense which this Victorian treacly trope hammered into negative stereotypical "Injun speak" and then assigned to "Cherokee" as generic Native American is received.
      Witness, too, the many memes and prints of this "proverb" which depict a handsome young man wearing laughably culturally irrelevant full-feathered headdress, in case anyone misses the culturally insulting "noble savage" motif.
      Like Billy Graham's "the wolf you feed" which is also a too-common false attribution, this is far too simple a saying by orders of magnitude to be an actual Cherokee saying - we don't talk to our children like they're stupid.
      A Cherokee might say it to a white person, a tourist, laughing with his friends afterwards. No way it is a traditional saying though - way too simplistic and straightforward for us.

      Note, I don't presume to speak for Dawn Wolf, or the People as a whole, but it seems to me that whether or not your followup comment was sincere, you would benefit from an enhanced perspective.

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    2. Cherokee ways of making a point have traditionally involved telling a story which is not obvious and direct, but which makes sense through tangential reference and reflection.
      The reference to blood and nature is, I'm assuming,a polite, roundabout way to partly express the offense which this Victorian treacly trope hammered into negative stereotypical "Injun speak" and then assigned to "Cherokee" as generic Native American is received.
      Witness, too, the many memes and prints of this "proverb" which depict a handsome young man wearing laughably culturally irrelevant full-feathered headdress, in case anyone misses the culturally insulting "noble savage" motif.
      Like Billy Graham's "the wolf you feed" which is also a too-common false attribution, this is far too simple a saying by orders of magnitude to be an actual Cherokee saying - we don't talk to our children like they're stupid.
      A Cherokee might say it to a white person, a tourist, laughing with his friends afterwards. No way it is a traditional saying though - way too simplistic and straightforward for us.

      Note, I don't presume to speak for Dawn Wolf, or the People as a whole, but it seems to me that whether or not your followup comment was sincere, you would benefit from an enhanced perspective.

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    3. You are very right when you said, "The reference to blood and nature is, I'm assuming,a polite, roundabout way to partly express the offense which this Victorian treacly trope hammered into negative stereotypical "Injun speak" and then assigned to "Cherokee" as generic Native American is received..."

      Also I was very sincere and I deeply appreciate as you put it an enhanced perspective. Thank you for adding thought to what little I know.

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    4. I have seen this meme floating around, and I guess my question is what is this "proverb's"source? Who wrote it? I like the message of the meme regarding the differing equal gender roles 2 people may have in a romantic committed relationship. Unless I am misunderstanding the previous posts here, which I acknowledge I may be completely, either 1)the "proverb" is essentially a bastardized anglocized version of an actual First Nation's proverb or summary of belief regarding the duality but also connectedness between man and woman that was attributed to Cherokee in the same way that anything and everyone coming from the Pacific Rim are, you know, Chinese.
      OR
      2) Someone somewhere actually said and believed this and wrote it down (and it was attributed to the Cherokee belief system because, well, reasons). It could be a quote from a super old book that no one reads anymore that somehow the quote/message was remembered, but not the messenger (author, title, etc). Or not. But all I'd like to know is if anyone knows the closest entity (person, group, text) that I could possibly attribute as being responsible for this statement's creation? I would be happy to discuss further any comments or questions made regarding my post, my inquiry, and this meme in general.
      In addition however, I acknowledge that I am not cognizant of First Nation cultures. I do not expect anyone on this forum who identifies with any of these groups to educate me, however, I would love to hear what you have to say on this matter if you wish, and also any source or refernce material you may be able to point me in the direction of so that I may be able to broaden my view further. Thank you.

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    5. I have seen this meme floating around, and I guess my question is what is this "proverb's"source? Who wrote it? I like the message of the meme regarding the differing equal gender roles 2 people may have in a romantic committed relationship. Unless I am misunderstanding the previous posts here, which I acknowledge I may be completely, either 1)the "proverb" is essentially a bastardized anglocized version of an actual First Nation's proverb or summary of belief regarding the duality but also connectedness between man and woman that was attributed to Cherokee in the same way that anything and everyone coming from the Pacific Rim are, you know, Chinese.
      OR
      2) Someone somewhere actually said and believed this and wrote it down (and it was attributed to the Cherokee belief system because, well, reasons). It could be a quote from a super old book that no one reads anymore that somehow the quote/message was remembered, but not the messenger (author, title, etc). Or not. But all I'd like to know is if anyone knows the closest entity (person, group, text) that I could possibly attribute as being responsible for this statement's creation? I would be happy to discuss further any comments or questions made regarding my post, my inquiry, and this meme in general.
      In addition however, I acknowledge that I am not cognizant of First Nation cultures. I do not expect anyone on this forum who identifies with any of these groups to educate me, however, I would love to hear what you have to say on this matter if you wish, and also any source or refernce material you may be able to point me in the direction of so that I may be able to broaden my view further. Thank you.

      Delete
  3. Cherokee ways of making a point have traditionally involved telling a story which is not obvious and direct, but which makes sense through tangential reference and reflection.
    The reference to blood and nature is, I'm assuming,a polite, roundabout way to psrtky express the offense which this Victorian treacly trope hammered into negative stereotypical "Injun speak" and then assigned to "Cherokee" as generic Native American is received.
    Witness, too, the many memes and prints of this "proverb" which a handsome young man wearing laughably cultural lay irrelevant full-feathered headdress, in case anyone misses the culturally insulting "noble savage" motif.
    Like Billy Graham's "the wolf you feed" which is also a too common false attribution, this is far too simple a saying by orders of magnitude to be an actual Cherokee saying - we don't talk to our children like they're stupid.
    A Cherokee might say it to a white person, a tourist, laughing with his friends afterwards. No way it is a traditional saying though - way too simplistic and straightforward for us.

    Note, I don't presume to speak for Dawn Wolf, or the People as a whole, but it seems to me that whether or not your followup comment was sincere, you would benefit from an enhanced perspective.

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  4. Wow,😂 I saw this proverb on Facebook someone had put on news feed and I don't know why so many people commenting on it there and here were so upset about it. Research it like I did and read what Dawn Wolf says.

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