A firekeeper and his assistant begins early dawn starting the official sacred fire. He begins with small slivers of wood, inner most part of an oak tree called the sponge, flint and some rock to trigger a spark. A medicine fire is also built where a small piece of meat is then thrown in and pipes are lit from the fire and a prayer follows. The firekeeper does his job so well that he doesn't have to come back until later in the day.

Sunrise: The men sit around talking about political issues and the women prepare a meal for the day which consists of traditional and modern food.

Later in the afternoon: Sermons are held in the Cherokee language. The sermon includes telling all to love all mankind.

After the sermon, a stickball game is played--an ancient Cherokee tradition that resembles the American La Crosse.

Sundown: Sermons continue. Each clan member takes turn by taking seven puffs of the old ceremonial pipe.

The Chief, medicine men, and elders hold a meeting then they call for the first dance. A second call is made. The first dance is by invitation only, tribal elders, elders, medicine men and clan heads.

The members gather to visit, feast and dance far into the night. It is a holy place to worship God. No littering, liquor and rowdy behavior. Rules are written in the Cherokee language and posted on a board hung up on a tree. The dance participants include a leader, assistants and one or more "shell-shaker girls" who wear leg rattles traditionally made out of turtle shells filled with pebbles but today some use cans filled with pebbles to provide rhythmic accompaniment while they dance around the fire. The ceremonial observance involves sacrificing meat to the sacred fire at the center of the grounds, taking medicine and going to water or river for ritual cleansing.

The Keetoowah's bible is not written on paper. The words are woven into seven wampum belts which are shown only in rare occasions. The belts are very old, and are made of pearls and shell beads, woven with seaweed fibers from the Gulf of Mexico. The history behind the belt is that many years ago, the tribe was preparing to go on to war with another tribe, when the medicine men foresaw which would survive, and cut the original wampum belt into seven pieces, giving one to each warrior. After the war, the belts were scattered, some being hidden and disappearing, the last one was recovered by Redbird Smith around 80 years ago.

There are seven arbors encircling the sacred fire. Each arbor represents the seven clans. Wolf (a-ni-wa-ya), Wild Potato (a-ni-go-ta-ge-wi) also known as the Bear Clan, War Paint (a-ni-wo-di), Bird Clan (a-ni-tsi-ss-gwa), Long Hair (a-ni-gi-lo-hi) also known as Twister or Wind then the Blind Savannah as known as Blue (a-ni-sa-ho-ni).

The fire is very important to the Cherokee Tribe. It is built at the bottom of a pit way below the ground and burns constantly. When the fire at another stomp ground goes out, it can be rekindled by long pieces of cane thrust down into the central blaze.

Information provided by the Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center
E-mail: [email protected]