By ROBERT JUMPER
One Feather Editor
We all love our stories. From gossip around the kitchen table to multi-million-dollar production, storytelling is a global cultural phenomenon. It is the way we have passed on history, genealogy, medicine, explained science, and even prayed.
I ran across this piece from 2020 authored by Henry Kwan for Yale Alumni through which he spoke with EBCI (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) tribal member Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle upon the publication of her chosen vehicle of storytelling, the book entitled “Even As We Breathe”.
“‘It’s very common to go to a family gathering and people will be sitting around and launch midstream into a story you didn’t realize was gonna be a whole thing, she said, joking that this is one of the reasons why family gatherings, and conversations with family members, can become long drawn-out affairs.
“Humor aside, she extolled that storytelling goes beyond mere entertainment and rote tradition. It continues to play a crucial role in imparting knowledge, history, values, wisdom, and life lessons-something she believes is not exclusive to Native communities.
“’There has always been a sense of storytelling in my community to teach value systems and life lessons,’ she said. ‘And that’s not unique to Native communities; all communities have that type of storytelling.’
“She was mindful, however, that storytelling in Native culture tends to get romanticized and stereotyped in pop culture. She mentioned the common scene portrayed in the media of elders sitting by the campfire telling old stories about how the world began-and cited this as both a challenge and an imperative for Native American writers.
“’It’s one thing to tell, Oh this is what happened, and to tell it in a structure that’s typical for mass media,’ she said. ‘But it’s another to embed our value system in the voice that is telling the story.’”
I was speaking to a tribal elder more than a few years ago when I was expressing my admiration of the Cherokee stories, and he gave me a note of caution. He said that I should always look at who the story is being told to before giving too much credence to a story. He said that, particularly in the late 19th century, Cherokee people considered it great sport to make up stories to tell the non-Indian explorers looking to document native peoples. He said that many of the stories you hear today about the people are stories designed to challenge the thinking skills the European immigrants.
Our elders were particularly not receptive to discussing anything to do with Cherokee spiritualism or medicine. Traditionalists in our community recognized a power that is not within the norm of modern science. When I came back to work here and Cherokee and started having more frequent contact with some relatives on my father’s side, they shared things with me that I had not known my whole life. Until then, those things stayed here, on the Boundary, waiting to be discovered.
The following may be found on the Cherokee Nation website:
“Traditional Cherokees may consult with medicine people for help with medical problems, dilemmas in their lives or other problems. There are fewer medicine people alive and practicing today, but those are still known by traditionalists and others in the Cherokee communities. If you are a Cherokee who believes in and practices the traditional Cherokee way, you will already be familiar with who these people are or will know others who can lead you to one. Additionally, Cherokee acquaintances, family, or friends may refer you if they are aware of your need. We are not at liberty to suggest such an individual.
“We also caution you about the many fraudulent people now online and elsewhere who claim to be a traditional Cherokee medicine man/woman or a ‘shaman’ (Shamanism is not a part of the Cherokee traditional belief system). Many offer to provide or teach ceremonies for a fee, a dead giveaway that they are not legitimate.
“Our traditional beliefs and traditional people are highly respected; you can show great respect by not asking traditional people to share ceremonies or beliefs if they do not wish to. The proper way to find a medicine person is to be a part of the Cherokee community, ceremonial ground, or family and to come to know this person through those connections. Please do not contact Cherokee Nation asking to be put into contact with a medicine man or woman or asking us to help you become one.”
It surely is one thing to attempt to glean knowledge for understanding and quite another to do so to appropriate a part of a people’s culture. We live in a very self-absorbed nation (the United States). Identity has become a buzzword, and many people live in the belief that all that it takes to be a thing is to imitate a thing. Witness the inflow of people who, just after the monetary benefits of the membership of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians dramatically increased due to the institution of adult gaming on the Boundary, made inquiries and continue to make inquiries as to how they may become members of this tribal nation. Outside interest in all things Cherokee, and particularly Eastern Band, grew dramatically as people realized the “benefit” they were looking for might be in becoming a Cherokee.
Then some truly want a connection to their past and genuinely believe that their story is entwined with ours. They look for any way to connect. These seekers were here long before the first gaming machine reached the Boundary. They revere the history of the Cherokee and believe that, with some research, they will find that their “great, great” someone will finally confirm the connection that they feel is real in their hearts. Not all people who “want to be” are the same.
Like the language, storytelling is a fundamental element of our culture. And I think, at least in part, that is why the staff at the One Feather is so passionate about the storytelling that we do every day. As one person quipped, “You can’t have history without the story.” And it is equally important that our people and those outside our membership, understand us through our stories. Those stories’ value is more than the price of a museum or Mountainside Theatre ticket. In fact, they are as precious as any artifact of our culture. Whether sitting at the side of the river or in a grandstand at the Cherokee Indian Fair, you are listening to the retelling of stories centuries, maybe millennia years old. I can picture Cherokee people of old doing their daily survival chores, relating stories of how the Frog swallowed the Sun, and how that same story became a centerpiece of education in western North Carolina in 2017, and it reminds me of the importance of the story. May we never forget the stories of the old ones, our ancestors. How much better off would we be if we lived by those old ways and old, old stories?
