The creation stories we listened to at the beginning of the week were very impactful. They made me think about how differently the Christian religion would be received if it was passed down orally and had more of a connection to the natural world. The creation stories had a direct connection with the world that Indigenous people knew very well and I feel that the connection allowed for those stories to mean more. These stories being passed down orally also meant that they could change but people were not worried about them changing because it was the morals that really mattered. Small changes did not mean that the story lost meaning. I also really liked listening to these stories instead of reading them because they felt more real. The speakers explained that the Indigenous people would hear the creation stories orally and by hearing them orally I felt that they meant more. I also really enjoyed that the stories explained everyday scenarios that they did not yet have an understanding of. Today we know why certain things are the way they are but in the past they had to give reasoning for why things looked the way they did.
When reading the first chapters of “Cherokee Women” I found that the differentiation of roles between men and women was one of the main reasons for their success. The organization was needed in order to have a successful community. As life modernized I felt that the roles would have a hard time keeping up. As life became less life and death more responsibilities were left only to the women. I hope to see how these roles have adapted to the modern world because if they stayed the same, women would have a much more heavy workload. The women would have to keep the house and cook while the men would have very little in the modern age. I really liked the quote “…women balanced men like summer balanced winter…” and I hope that has stayed present in the Cherokee peoples ideology today. By keeping this philosophy in mind the responsibilities and the makeup of the community stays close to nature and the earth which allows for a more sustainable way of living that is not trying to escape the natural environment.
Hi Brianna!
Thank you for sharing these thoughts! I also greatly enjoyed listening to the creation stories– I think listening created a more authentic experience and an ability to connect/imagine the scenes. I don’t think reading the stories would have been the same experience. I also appreciated how the stories grappled with large questions, like how we got here, as well as the small, everyday things, such as how owls got the rings around there eyes!
It had been a while since I last read Cherokee Women, so I was glad to revisit it this week! I found it helpful to learn more about the structures of Cherokee (and other Native) communities, and how these structures built strength and balance within those communities.