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HISGI/FIVE: OLD FOLKS' DANCE
Dawn is arriving. Shell shakers and
singers have danced all night long, ensuring the
continuance of the world. At dawn we will end our cycle
of dances with the Old Folks Dance.
I want to think about the Old Folks Dance as
a way of looking to our elders and ancestors to mend
our story and understand who we are in the present.
Even though traditions that we are now calling
"Two-Spirit" are not as well documented for Cherokees as
they are in other tribes, we do have a past and a
history, and it is important to remember that there are
as many different ways of being Cherokee and Two-Spirit
as there are Cherokee Two-Spirits.there are Cherokee Two-Spirits.
 Like so many Two-Spirit people I know, as I have come to
understand my sexuality and genders, I have hungered to
understand who people like us may have been to our
communities in the past in order to help imagine who we
are now. Cherokees don't have the luxury of some
Two-Spirit people to have both very clear documentation
and voluminous living memory of who we have been within
our tribal traditions. Certainly all Two-Spirit people
are currently in a process of uncovering this history,
but I think that for some Native people—including
Cherokees—that this process is more challanging than it
is for others. I've encountered very little reference
to Cherokee Two-Spirit people in historical accounts,
though such references do exist. As part of this Old
Folks Dance, I want to share some of the references I
have come across to Two-Spirit people in Cherokee
tradition, and ask you to listen to what these stories
might mean to us now. The purpose of this is simply to
provide information to other Cherokee Two-Spirits who
are searching for these fragments.
I am certainly not
the only Cherokee Two-Spirit person involved with
uncovering these histories, and I am sure that there is
more documentation, published and not, than these brief
mentions that I am pointing to here. And, much of this
knowledge is held by traditional people and not in
written records. Written documentation of our past is
often based on European colonists' reactions to Cherokee
gender, who thought that all of our genders were
"variant." Colonists likely saw female warriors or
women in positions of leadership as living as men, even
though these were acceptable—and important—roles for
women in Cherokee gender systems. Trying to glean from
colonial accounts which of these female-embodied people
might now be called "Two-Spirit" and which were simply
acting in accordance with Cherokee traditions for women
is very difficult. We must remember these kinds of
complexities as we continue to uncover our past and
re-weave our present. I would like to spend some time
talking about a few references to Cherokee Two-Spirit
histories from published texts and from my archival
research, offering them as wampum beads to other
Cherokees that we can use to weave our story back
together.
In Sarah H. Hill's excellent book Weaving New
Worlds: Southeastern Women and Their Basketry, I
found a brief mention of male-embodied Two-Spirit people
that suggests that males who lived as women were as
respected members of their communities as other women:
Pardo…saw among those subsequently known as Cherokees a
man who "went among the Indian women, wearing an apron
like they did." The startled Spaniard summoned his
interpreters and "many soldiers" to ask the local chief
about him. The man was his brother, the chief
explained, and was not "a man for war." With neither
elaboration nor scorn for the scribe to record, the
chief said his brother "went about in that manner like a
woman," doing "all that is given to a woman to do." It
is a slender thread of history suggesting that among
Cherokees, as among many native peoples, gender and
labor interwove to create identity (66, 1997).
Theda Perdue's Cherokee Women: Gender
and Culture Change, 1700-1835 also has some
discussion of males and females we might now call
Two-Spirit, though I disagree about her conclusions
about male-embodied Two-Spirits. While she writes that
it is "difficult to ascertain" Cherokee responses to
gender "anomalies," some of her information can be
coupled with the brief mention of male-embodied
Two-Spirits made by Hill and perhaps shift Perdue's
conclusions (Perdue 37, 1998). While there is very
useful information for Two-Spirit people in Perdue's
book, she asserts that male-embodied Two-Spirits were
not well respected because of a lack blood rites via war
or menstruation (Perdue 39, 1998). This does not take
into account the possibility of other blood rites
existing for male-embodied Two-Spirits via ritual
scratching, tattooing, or other kinds of activities. If
blood rites defined Cherokee gender roles during this
period, it only makes sense that blood rites existed for
male-embodied Two-Spirits to ensure they remained part
of the community. One must at least consider the
possibility that male-embodied Two-Spirit people who
lived as women would still have a warrior tradition open
to them, just as it was open to other women... (continue reading)
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18 COMMENTS ON THIS ESSAY:
Siyo Oginali Wado for this great essay! While I am not a twospirit ,I too believe that acceptence of and re-intigration of two spirit people into our society is essential to the recovery of the harmony of all our people. I live in NE Oklahoma and have found it encouraging to see more open twospirits taking part in dances and ceremonies.I have yet to see any adopt the others clothes but have seen several participate in cross gender activities.I believe your comments on pre-colonializing (Round here we refer to it as de-Yoneging) our selfs to be pertinant to all Cherokee folks. Again Wado an Happy Trails, Jisdu
ᏏᏲ ᎣᎩᎾᎵ! ᏩᏙ for your comment. So glad to hear from another Cherokee supportive of 2spirit folks. And I *love* the term "de-Yoneging." ᏩᏙ for that!
Qwo-Li
I'm a non-Cherokees and non-Two-Spirit person, but I must say I enjoyed just sitting, watching and listening as you sing and shell shake. Very interesting experience. Tnx :)
Good post! Very interesting experience. Thanks :)
nice post!!!
as a two-spirit native jew i found myself telling everyone about shell-shaking. it shapes my metaphor when i preach gender preach. baruch hashmah.
I am almost ¼ Cherokee my granddad was almost full on my mother’s side. I am as I know it to be two spirited. I very much agree that America’s balance has been disrupted. In an odd way I feel my granddads blood is calling me to find out more and restore balance in my beautiful to be America. I know very little about Cherokee ways. I need inner peace. My granddad loved me very much and he died when I was 15. They took my granddad away when he was a small child. They sent him to school and college. He Converted to Christianity but he still had some of his Cherokee beliefs. I remember him doing stuff when I was a kid. I want to learn as much as I can about Cherokee spiritual beliefs. I want to relate them to modern day America. I feel many Native spirits still thrive in the America we now live in. If you know the tradition about bringing people from other tribes to the Cherokee tribe. I would very much like to know about them.
There's a proofreading error here--I want to make clear that I meant to write "Further, many Cherokee Two-Spirits (like most Cherokees) are Christians." not "Further, Cherokee Two-Spirits (like most Cherokees) are Christians."
My apologies!
Qwo-Li
Fixed it, hon! xoxo
Wa'do sugar!
Si-yo,
Wa-Do!!!!! Awesome article. Touched me very deeply. I am a Cherokee two spirited person, and I believe that in order to restore complete balance to our earth mother, the roles of the Two Spirited person must be restored. The two spirit concept is fairly new to me: Growing up in Northeast Oklahoma it was just "being gay" and I tried for years to keep that part of me hidden. Even after I quit hiding and "came out", and began to hear the term "two spirit" and began to learn a little about it, I didn't really think of myself that way. I still thought of myself as a "man who is attracted to other men". But the more I have become involved in our Ceremonial Ground, the more I am realizing that I am two spirited: I am naturally drawn to do things that are traditionally the role of the woman. Then i look at my life, and it is the same thing: I am an artist, and I make baskets, which there are "straight" men who weave baskets, however it is and from my research has pretty much always been the domain of the Cherokee woman. And it is like that in other areas as well, and the more I think back, I realize it has always been that way. The past couple of years its kind of been like a second "coming out" experience...lol. I have yet to shake shells, and am nervous about doing that because so many people around here are so conservative and I don't want to offend anyone. But maybe one of these days....
Didn't mean to type all that. Just wanted to say what a great article this was, and how much it touched my heart.
Ki-la,
Mike Dart
Cherokee Artist
While I know it is the nature of our world to catagoize everything - I never have bought into the idea that I am two-spirited. I am of one spirit, but that spirit is many things. I believe in the traditional ways (be it noted the traditional ways that I grew up with, as opposed to the traditonal ways which in a broader scope as belonging to all Cherokee people). My traditional upbringing tought me several things about being a gay person. One, that I am unique and empowered and embodied by a special gift; two, in order for that gift to remain unique and to reach its full potential I would be given attention by our family medicine person; third, I would have several 'treatments' from age 7 until that Medicine person died; fourth, and lastly, I would be who I was born to be, and that is that. If you want to call me gay, that is okay. I don't mind if you call me two-spirited, but I will cringe a little when you do. The only catagory I have is my nationality: Cherokee. I'm not convenced that as Cherokee we need to adopt the modern identity of "two-spirits." Why, for me it is because I am a tradtional Cherokee, and I know my responsibilities, my roll, my lifeways, and from that I understand myself. I have no need to expand myself to others and their expectations that I will "be" or "act" in a certain way. I'm a Cherokee - my story ends there. The rest is collatoral mataerial to support that fact. Wado Sgi (p.s. No offense to Mr. Qwoli; and, this is very well written)
siyo ToTiDi,
I agree. A lot of don't use the word "two-spirit" to describe ourselves, and I'm not suggesting we should. I'm using it as a umbrella term "knowing that not all of us use this term for ourselves any more than all of us use any of the other terms available to us in English." Wado for telling a bit of your story!
Cherokee Two-Spirit people
the cherokee have many rituals
turtle winds firewalker
cherokee indianer
Siyo. Aya gesv, Gatsanula Wahya dawado tsalvktanv. Vsgwusgini Tsigiduwagi, Tsitsalegidv, nole nudale udanted aya gesvi.
Hello. My name is Jason Lowe. I am from Northeast OK. I am Cherokee, and I am a two spirited individual. I have recently started shaking shells at my ceremonial grounds in Kenwood, OK and havent been happier. I feel that this is my place in our ceremonies and am proud to do it. It took a lot of gutts, but I had the backing of Three medicine men and our ceremonial leaders. It is through their support that I keep on being true to myself as a Cherokee Two Spirited Individual. Wado!!!!!!
siyo Jason,
That's great! Say siyo to those folks for me, they're good peeps.
to whom it may concern,
my name is and i am half cherokee sence i was about 9-10 years old i knew that i was attracted to other men and didnt know what that ment but as i got older i learned that the term was gay i did try and hide it bye haveing a girl friend but decided that i couldent lie about who i was anymore so i came out with being gay to my family at first they didnt understand but eventually found room in their hearts for understanding and acceptance, i dont know much about my cherokee heratige but am takeing it into my own hands to find out everything that i can so it dont get lost the only thing i know is that my great aunt orphie was able to talk to see hear and sence spirits and i have been able tyo see hear feel and talk to spirits at a young age as well. so as i was doing research on my heratigei found out that we were once called to spirit and that gave me a sence of happyness and relief that their was a name for people like me among the cherokee and surrounding native american tribes i really do think that we need to get reconigzed once again..
thanks for opening my eyes
very truly youres
sean-michael edwin priesing
Wow! Very interesting... I have just been getting into the Native American ways of life.. I am by record 1/512 Cherokee on my mothers side... however, on my fathers side my great grandmother was the granddaughter to a Cherokee Chief... so the story goes anyway... so she was hlaf blood which makes me morelike an eigth... You can really see it in my Dad and my brother but I am more white with blonde hair and blue eyes... Would I be accepted into the tribe or rejected for being white more than red?.. I am a two spirit person as well and have never felt a blonging to any path in life but have always been interested in Native American Ways... I also feel that Two Spirited people have a gift... I believe I have one however I don't know how to access it and use it... I have seen spirits since I was very young and have dreams that come true... Is this something in my head or something real to build on? I have so many questions and don't know where to turn or who to talk to about any of it... My brother fell in with the Lakota people in Cali and I have seen him transform from an angry bitter person to someone pleasant to be aroound and he seems to have alot of knowledge of thier ways but I would llike to stick to the Cherokee ways... If anyone can help me please email me at robwood74@gmail.com The young man that spoke of shaking the shells from Kenwood.. I'm in Pryor and would really appreciate it if you could get ahold of me and maybe stear me in the right direction to begin my journey... Thanks for hearing me out everyone! Rob