Lugares Sagrados

Há muitos lugares considerados sagrados para os povos nativos , estes são lugares de poder espiritual e em muitos deles são também realizadas cerimonias. O povo nativo tem um forte o sentido de pertencimento a terra, da terra de origem, aonde seus ancestrais viveram e esses locais também são considerados sagrados para eles .


Great smoky mountains / Carolina do Norte - Sagrado para os Cherokees/ Tsalagi

 Badlands/ Dakota do sul - Sagrado para os Lakotas

The four sacred mountains - Arizona - Sagrado para os Navajos

Black Hills/ Dakota do sul - Sagrado para os Lakotas

San Francisco Peaks - Arizona - Sagrado para os Hopi

Sweet grass hills/Montana  - Sagrado para vários tribos ( Blackfoot, Salish, Cree )

Bighorn Medicine Wheels /Wyoming - Sagrado para os Lakotas, Cheyennes, Crow, shoshone

Bear Butte/ Dakota do Sul - Sagrado para os Cheyennes

Otero Mesa - Sagrado para os Apaches

Chaco Canyon / Novo Mexico - Sagrado para os Pueblos

A lenda da Rosa Cherokee

 Mais de 100 anos atraz, o povo Cherokee foi levado de suas montanhas, seu lar quando o homem branco descobriu o ouro nas montanhas da Carolina do Norte e Geórgia. Essa jornada é hoje lembrada como “O caminho das Lágrimas”. Era uma manhã de verão e muito quente, e a maior parte do tempo as pessoas tinham que caminhar guiados por soldados rudes que mais pareciam guiar animais do que pessoas. Eram maltratados, humilhados. Os homens ficavam tão frustrados com o tratamento dado a suas mulheres e filhos sem nada poderem fazer para protege-los. 

Os soldados, muito impacientes e duros ficavam irritados com cada pequena coisa que pudesse dar errado. Coisas tais como pessoas passando mal, caindo ao cansaço...de quando em quando homens eram mortos durante a viagem, pois se revoltavam com tudo isso e tentavam lutar. Muitas e muitas pessoas morreram com as dificuldades tamanhas do caminho. A maior parte da viagem era dura e triste e as mulheres lamentavam e sofriam por perderem seus lares e dignidade.

Os homens mais velhos sabiam que eles deveriam fazer algo para ajudarem suas mulheres a não perderem suas forças. Eles sabiam que as mulheres teriam que ser muito fortes para poderem ajudar as crianças a sobreviverem. Então, uma noite após terem acampado no caminho, os homens mais velhos se reuniram em preces ao “ grandioso” ( Deus ) para ajudar seu povo. Eles contaram a “Deus” que o povo estava sofrendo e temiam que os pequenos não sobrevivessem para reconstruirem a Nação Cherokee. “O Grandioso disse: “ Sim, Eu vejo a tristeza e sofrimento das mulheres e eu posso ajuda-las a manter suas forças para poderem cuidar dos pequenos, digam as mulheres de manhã para olharem para traz aonde suas lágrimas cairam no chão. 

Eu rapidamente farei crescer uma planta. Elas irão ver uma pequena planta verde a principio com o caule crescendo, então a cada gota de lágrima caído ao solo nascerá uma, e mais uma, e outra, e eu farei essa planta crescer tão rápido que pela tarde serão todas flores brancas, com cinco pétalas e no centro o dourado para lembrar o ouro que o homem branco tanto quiz e que em sua ganânOs homens mais velhos sabiam que eles deveriam fazer algo para ajudarem suas mulheres a não perderem suas forças. Eles sabiam que as mulheres teriam que ser muito fortes para poderem ajudar as crianças a sobreviverem. 

Então, uma noite após terem acampado no caminho, os homens mais velhos se reuniram em preces ao “ grandioso” ( Deus ) para ajudar seu povo. Eles contaram a “Deus” que o povo estava sofrendo e temiam que os pequenos não sobrevivessem para reconstruirem a Nação Cherokee. “O Grandioso disse: “ Sim, Eu vejo a tristeza e sofrimento das mulheres e eu posso ajuda-las a manter suas forças para poderem cuidar dos pequenos, digam as mulheres de manhã para olharem para traz aonde suas lágrimas cairam no chão.

 Eu rapidamente farei crescer uma planta. Elas irão ver uma pequena planta verde a principio com o caule crescendo, então a cada gota de lágrima caído ao solo nascerá uma, e mais uma, e outra, e eu farei essa planta crescer tão rápido que pela tarde serão todas flores brancas, com cinco pétalas e no centro o dourado para lembrar o ouro que o homem branco tanto quiz e que em sua ganância removeu o povo cherokee de sua terra natal.
cia removeu o povo cherokee de sua terra natal.

Tradução livre ( Sandra Prem )

The Cherokee Legend of Raven mocker

Raven Mocker

Of all the Cherokee wizards or witches the most dreaded is the Raven Mocker (Kâ’lanû Ahkyeli’skï), the one that robs the dying man of life. They are of either sex and there is no sure way to know one, though they usually look withered and old, because they have added so many lives to their own.

At night, when some one is sick or dying in the settlement, the Raven Mocker goes to the place to take the life. He flies through the air in fiery shape, with arms outstretched like wings, and sparks trailing behind, and a rushing sound like the noise of a strong wind. Every little while as he flies he makes a cry like the cry of a raven when it “dives” in the air–not like the common raven cry–and those who hear are afraid, because they know that some man’s life will soon go out. When the Raven Mocker comes to the house he finds others of his kind waiting there, and unless there is a doctor on guard who knows bow to drive them away they go inside, all invisible, and frighten and torment the sick man until they kill him. Sometimes to do this they even lift him from the bed and throw him on the floor, but his friends who are with him think he is only struggling for breath.

After the witches kill him they take out his heart and eat it, and so add to their own lives as many days or years as they have taken from his. No one in the room can see them, and there is no sear where they take out the heart, but yet there is no heart left in the body. Only one who has the right medicine can recognize a Raven Mocker, and if such a man stays in the room with the sick person these witches are afraid to come in, and retreat as soon as they see him, because when one of them is recognized in his right shape he must die within seven days. There was once a man named Gûñskäli’skï, who had this medicine and used to hunt for Raven Mockers, and killed several. When the friends of a dying person know that there is no more hope they always try to have one of these medicine men stay in the house and watch the body until it is buried, because after burial the witches do not steal the heart.

The other witches are jealous of the Raven Mockers and afraid to come into the same house with one. Once a man who had the witch medicine was watching by a sick man and saw these other witches outside trying to get in. All at once they heard a Raven Mocker cry overhead and the others scattered “like a flock of pigeons when the hawk swoops.” When at last a Raven Mocker dies these other witches sometimes take revenge by digging up the body and abusing it.

The following is told on the reservation as an actual happening:

A young man had been out on a hunting trip and was on his way home when night came on while he was still a long distance from the settlement. He knew of a house not far off the trail where an old man and his wife lived, so he turned in that direction to look for a place to sleep until morning. When he got to the house there was nobody in it. He looked into the âsï and found no one there either. He thought maybe they had gone after water, and so stretched himself out in the farther corner to sleep. Very soon he heard a raven cry outside, and in a little while afterwards the old man came into the âsï and sat down by the fire without noticing the young man, who kept still in the dark corner. Soon there was another raven cry outside, and the old man said to himself, “Now my wife is coming,” and sure enough in a little while the old woman came in and sat down by her husband. Then the young man knew they were Raven Mockers and he was frightened and kept very quiet.

Said the old man to his wife, “Well, what luck did you have?” “None,” said the old woman, “there were too many doctors watching. What luck did you have?” “I got what I went for,” said the old man, “there is no reason to fail, but you never have luck. Take this and cook it and lees have something to eat.” She fixed the fire and then the young man smelled meat roasting and thought it smelled sweeter than any meat he had ever tasted. He peeped out from one eye, and it looked like a man’s heart roasting on a stick.

Suddenly the old woman said to her husband, “Who is over in the corner?” “Nobody,” said the old man. “Yes, there is,” said the old woman, “I hear him snoring,” and she stirred the fire until it blazed and lighted up the whole place, and there was the young man lying in the corner. He kept quiet and pretended to be asleep. The old man made a noise at the fire to wake him, but still he pretended to sleep. Then the old man came over and shook him, and he sat up and rubbed his eyes as if he had been asleep all the time.

Now it was near daylight and the old woman was out in the other house getting breakfast ready, but the hunter could hear her crying to herself. “Why is your wife crying?” he asked the old man. “Oh, she has lost some of her friends lately and feels lonesome,” said her husband; but the young man knew that she was crying because he had heard them talking.

When they came out to breakfast the old man put a bowl of corn mush before him and said, “This is all we have–we have had no meat for a long time.” After breakfast the young man started on again, but when he had gone a little way the old man ran after him with a fine piece of beadwork and gave it to him, saying, “Take this, and don’t tell anybody what you heard last, night, because my wife and I are always quarreling that way.” The young man took the piece, but when he came to the first creek he threw it into the water and then went on to the settlement. There he told the whole story, and a party of warriors started back with him to kill the Raven Mockers. When they reached the place it was seven days after the first night. They found the old man and his wife lying dead in the house, so they set fire to it and burned it and the witches together.

" I would like to thank you all who read this blog ! Legends and Myths are copied from free sources on internet or books . Only articles about people, culture, places and history are written by me . Sandra Prem

Legend of the Cherokee Rose

When gold was found in Georgia, the government forgot its treaties and drove the Cherokees to Oklahoma. One fourth of them died on the journey west. When the Trail of Tears started in 1838, the mothers of the Cherokee were grieving and crying so much, they were unable to help their children survive the journey. The elders prayed for a sign that would lift the mother's spirits to give them strength. God, looking down from heaven, decided to commemorate the brave Cherokees and so, as the blood of the braves and the tears of the maidens dropped to the ground, he turned them into stone in the shape of a Cherokee Rose.

The next day a beautiful rose began to grow where each of the mother's tears fell. The rose is white for their tears; a gold center represents the gold taken from Cherokee lands, and seven leaves on each stem for the seven Cherokee clans. No better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the "Trail Where They Cried" than the Cherokee Rose The wild Cherokee Rose grows along the route of the Trail of Tears into eastern Oklahoma today.

More than 100 years ago, the Cherokee people were driven from their home mountains when the white men discovered gold in the mountains of Tears. Some of the people came across Marengo County in West Alabama. It seems that after they had left the mountains, they came this far south so not have to climb more mountains.

It was early summer and very hot, and most of the time the people had to walk. Tempers were short and many times the soldiers were more like animal drivers than guides for the people. The men were so frustrated with the treatment of their women and children, and the soldiers were so harsh and frustrated that bad things often happened. When two men get angry they fight and once in a while men were killed on the trip. Many people died of much hardship. Much of the time the trip was hard and sad and the women wept for losing their homes and their dignity. The old men knew that they must do something to help the women not to lose their strength in weeping. They knew the women would have to be very strong if they were to help the children survive.

Artwork made by Dolly Assinewe 

So one night after they had made camp along the Trail of Tears, the old men sitting around the dying campfire called up to the Great One in Galunati (heaven) to help the people in their trouble. They told Him that the people were suffering and feared that the little ones would not survive to rebuild the Cherokee Nation.

The Great One said, "Yes, I have seen the sorrows of the women and I can help them to keep their strength to help the children. Tell the women in the morning to look back where their tears have fallen to the ground. I will cause to grow quickly a plant. They will see a little green plant at first with a stem growing up. It will grow up and up and fall back down to touch the ground where another stem will begin to grow. I'll make the plant grow so fast at first that by afternoon they'll see a white rose, a beautiful blossom with five petals. In the center of the rose, I will put a pile of gold to remind them of the gold which the white man wanted when his greed drove the Cherokee from their ancestral home."

The Great One said that the green leaves will have seven leaflets, one for each of the seven clans of the Cherokee. The plant will begin to spread out all over, a very strong plant, a plant which will grow in large, strong clumps and it will take back some of the land they had lost. It will have stickers on every stem to protect it from anything that tries to move it away.

The next morning the old men told the women to look back for the sign from the Great One. The women saw the plant beginning as a tiny shoot and growing up and up until it spread out over the land. They watched as a blossom formed, so beautiful they forgot to weep and they felt beautiful and strong. By the afternoon they saw many white blossoms as far as they could see. The women began to think about their strength given them to bring up their children as the new Cherokee Nation. They knew the plant marked the path of the brutal Trail of Tears. The Cherokee women saw that the Cherokee Rose was strong enough to take back much of the land of their people.

Visitando Novo México e Pueblos

Não é a toa que o Novo México é chamado de “A terra dos encantos”. Por todo lugar que você olhe, é tudo encantador, o povo, a cultura as paisagens, tudo inclusive o por do sol que é sensacional !!!

O Parque Nacional do Chaco Canyon é um must-see !!! Berço de uma civilização antiga que precedeu os atuais nativos da região; os Anasazis. É um dos locais aonde mais se encontra evidencias deste antigo povo,  o modo como viviam,  porém sua espiritualidade ainda é desconhecida para os pesquizadores. Na verdade em vários locais do sudoeste é possível encontrar ainda rastros da passagem desta civilização, como no Canyon de Chelly e Wallnut Canyon no Arizona .

Uma coisa interessante é conhecer as kivas, que seriam os cômodos subterrâneos aonde vivam. Em alguns Pueblos ainda se encontra a mesma construção, os que ainda vivem de forma tradicional como Acoma e Taos.

A referência nativa é extremamente forte. O Novo Mexico tem 19 Pueblos , cada um tem um governo, cultura e até idioma diferente. São na minha opinião bem mais abertos e receptíveis a visitantes, inclusive durante alguns festivais como o “feast Days” , as residências estão abertas para partilhar uma refeição com qualquer pessoa que os visite naquele dia . O Feast Days é uma celebração de resgate Cultural e Espiritual e é realizada no dia do patrono de cada Pueblo. Lembrando que a invasão Espanhola deixou também o seu “legado”  - vou falar um pouco mais sobre isso ao longo do post.

Proxima parada: Acoma Pueblo “ A cidade do céu” como é chamada. Pois  este Pueblo fica localizado em uma das chamadas “ Mesas” – imensos Platôs ( similar a Tribo Hopi ).

Neste ponto eu já não tinha mais minha guia Navajo e tive que fazer tudo por conta propria, o que não seria exatamente um grande problema pra mim a não ser pelo fato de que você precisa de um carro para fazer qualquer coisa por ali. Mas, eu consegui descobrir uma agencia ( coisa raríssima ) que me levaria até lá para um “tour” de um dia, partindo do Indian Pueblo Cultural Center – pois é minha gente, vale literalmente aquele ditado que diz: Quem tem boca vai a Roma, e eu no caso fui para Acoma J

Mesmo que você vá de carro, vale a pena ter um Guia local !!! Tem muitas histórias que só eles sabem .... Vale ir conhecer o Cultural Center/Museu e caso alguém tenha interesse em pernoitar uma opção é o Cassino/Hotel Sky City – Sim!! Praticamente TODAS as Tribos Norte Americanas possuem um Cassino em suas terras ( só não vi nenhum na Tribo Hopi ).

Uma coisa bem interessante me chamou bastante a atenção. A igreja da Missão San Esteban Del Rey , uma das construções mais antigas da Missão Espanhola ( sim, os Espanhois também passaram por lá .. ). A construção continua intacta e restaurada quando necessário pois o Acoma Pueblo ( assim como todos os outros Pueblos ) são hoje uma mescla de sua cultura e espiritualidade original e a influencia que sofreram por parte dos Espanhóis e a tecnologia americana. Ainda assim há muita preservação da Cultura no meio dessa adaptação toda.

Em Albuquerque acontece em Abril, o Pow Wow Gathering Nations, uma reunião de várias tribos para o maior Pow wow e evento anual !! Infelizmente eu estava lá em Outubro :L Mas o Indian Pueblo Cultural Center é sensacional e é um lugar aonde a Cultura de todos os Pueblos se encontram. Todo final de semana um dos Pueblos esta lá para apresentações de dança,

Eu assisti a apresentação de uma família Pojoaqui, cada estilo de dança conta uma estória, tem um significado especial , foi uma das coisas mais lindas que vi, me apaixonei !!

 Aqui faço uma referência a Crow Dance Apache que assisti em uma das reservas Navajo, feita somente para Nativos locais e pouquíssimas pessoas de fora (eu, uma delas ) , as apresentações de Dança dos Pueblos são mais abertas, culturais, exatamente para as pessoas poderem se aproximar um pouco mais e viver a experiência , vale demais a pena !!Depois da apresentação fui conversar com eles, e como disse são muito receptivos, amáveis, tudo de bom !!

Da apresentação Pojoachi , me falaram que a mesma que tinham feito ali no indian Cultural Center era a que faziam normalmente . Tive a curiosidade de perguntar isso porque a Stomp Dance Cherokee são diferentes; uma para quem é de fora de valor mais cultural e outra somente para membros cherokees com um valor mais espiritual.

Cada dança celebra um animal que por sua vez tem uma enorme significância; a Buffalo Dance; butterfly Dance. Apenas os acessórios feito de turqueza, que é um símbolo das tribos sudoeste não tinham um significado especial.

Ah!!! Preciso comentar: O Restaurante do Indian Pueblo Cultural Center é muito bom .

Continuando em Albuquerque , se puder visite a Old Town, há muitas lojas de artefato Nativo mas deixe pra comprar em Santa fé, vai encontrar mais opções por lá. Bom, por todo o Novo México você vai encontrar este mix de Cultura Nativa e o “legado” Espanhol e  suas missões . LADO A LADO !! Na old town , a Igreja de San Felipo .

Um trem te leva para Santa Fe. A viagem e o trem são mais do que tranquilos mas a estação de Albuquerque é deserta, é bom ter muita cautela.  

A viagem é muito legal !! Passando por vários Pueblos J

Agora sim, Santa Fé é sem duvida um lugar  repleto de referencias nativas porém neste lugar o novo e o velho se mistura a casa esquina. A raiz cultural e a tecnologia, os chamados “ Urban Natives”.

 Muitas galerias de arte, SIM, arte!! E não estou falando de “feirinhas”, são galerias luxo !!! Tudo o que você compra tem uma etiqueta dizendo se o produto foi feito por um nativo , se sim de qual tribo etc... ou não nativo !!!

Tudo é ligado a Cultura Nativa:  museus , galerias e todo ano tem a famosa Indian Fair  !

Mas também tem a igreja e o Santuario de Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe bem pertinho da estação de trem. Como eu disse tudo se mistura no Novo Mexico !

Uma coisa curiosa  que eu vi, e que na verdade é a maior  controvérsia da questão Nativa atual estava ali bem na minha frente e eu registrei nesta fotografia, coisa que da muito pano pra manga ...Bem, este lindo “headdress”  que seria um forte símbolo de honra de muitas tribos, usado apenas por grandes chefes estava numa das galerias “ a venda”, por um preço digamos somente para quem possa pagar, caro e original, NATIVO ou seja, não era fake nem feito por não nativo !!! ... Fica para a reflexão de cada um ....

Claro não posso deixar de registrar meu último dia no Novo México que graças a cortesia do Gerente do hotel aonde me hospedei pude ir conhecer um pouco do Sandia Pueblo e andar no Tramway mais alto do mundo !

Espero que gostem dos registros, reflexões e mais uma vez peço que se alguém quiser copiar algumas das minhas fotos, façam a gentileza creditar meu blog ao utiliza-las pois são todas minhas tiradas durante a viagem !!

Nanye' hi Nancy Wards - the cherokee Beloved Woman

Everytime a Native American figure is brought up, it's expected to be told about chiefs, medicine men, warriors...all men and they trully had huge important for their people's history. It happens that there are many women in history who also  had  a great significance; some of them changed lives back then and such changes are still reflecting nowadays .

Well, I am fascinated by those women and as a lover of native culture and history I always wondered how much influencial they could be back in time .The history of Nancy Wards really worth to be told and shared so people can realize how importantthe role of a woman into any society/group/tribe was.They might have been warriors, mothers, wives,healers and through their wisdom and love they have always made the great changes in the world.

Nancy ( Nanye'hi in Cherokee language ) was a member of Cherokee Tribe and the Wolf clan, and her importante heritage came from her mother.At this point is important to remember that most Native American tribes were matriarchal ( Cherokee Tribe was Matriarchal ) .Since very young she took part of batters fighting by her husband's side and when he was killed in battle, she rallied the cherokee warriors leading them to victory  becoming then a leader within Cherokee nation .

Because of her actiors, The Cherokee clans chose her as Ghighau or the Beloved Woman which meant a powerful position, her opinion was influential in the tribe because the Cherokees believed that the Great Spirit could speak through the Beloved Woman. She headed the Women's concil, sat on the Concil of Chiefs, worked as a peaceful negociator and had power over prisoners.

She understood that the best way for the cherokee to survive was to coexist with the new setters ( Europeans ) so she learned how to make butter and cheese . Afterward she introduced dairying among her tribe; and by the combination of loom weaving and dairy farming  helped to strenght the economy of her people.

Her actions contributed  for the survival of her tribe as well as  her legacy is part of What Cherokee Nation is today .

She died around1822, before the Trail of Tears as the Last woman who received the title of Beloved Women until 1980's and is remembered and considered a pioneer for women in American Politics . A women ahead of her time and women's voice in a very troubled period od history.

I do hope everyone who reads this post may be inspired by her !!! Sources about her are all over the internet so I can not mention only one as I read many things and watched videos too ;)