The Teponaztli is a drum that was carved out of a log with intricate designs. The Teponaztli can produce three different tones, they are able to do this by cutting slits into the log creating two bars. When hit these bars have different pitches. The third tone, or pitch, is produced by hitting the body of the drum itself. Ahuli has been nothing but helpful to the tribe, and today we honor him and his abilities. His musical talents were shown at a young age, when he surprised us all when he snuck into the Teponaztli tent and played the intricate rhythms of our songs. 

Today we present this drum to Ahuli. Carved by the village elders, the face of a wolf and the face of a bear, to honor his father and his courage. Today Ahuli will prove he is worthy of his new title at sundown.

At sundown Ahuli had to prove he is worthy of his drum. They all started with the semi-annual rain dance so the fields would be well watered before the big plant. After several songs and dances, the chief decided Ahuli was worthy of his drum. He was allowed to play with the others. Everyone jumped and screamed with excitement for Ahuli. Ahuli was so happy he ran several laps around the entire village. Many followed him in agreement.

Citations: https://www.ducksters.com/history/native_americans.php

*Ahuli- a male cherokee name meaning ‘drum’

*Ahyoka- a female cherokee name meaning ‘she brought happiness’

*Waya- a male cherokee name meaning ‘wolf’

*Teponaztli- a drum that was played in central mexico since the pre-columbian era

Mrs.Collins

American literature 

30 August 2018

Hupa tribe dances for good hunt

        During this jarring winter the Hupa tribe prepares for a ceremonial dance.They hope through this season’s dance it provides the tribe with substantial food to survive through the harsh winter ahead of them.The tradition of this dance is the children of the tribe complete the dance,while the adults sit and what have quietly.

         The children performing in this season performance is 3 kids named Turner,Anna,and Nina.Turner is a tall 10 year old boy.Anna is a kind and smart 10 year old girl.While the Nina is a average height and 11 years old.The children start off learning the dance moves in the local school.”The majority of dance moves include many different motions and dancers moving in a circular rotation around a object”.”When the children finish learning the movements of the dance they will head over to the crafter of the village and create masks and costumes to wear as part of the performance if the bow and arrow.Once this step is complete the children are ready to dance for the rest of the tribe.

           Later that afternoon,right before the dance of the bow and arrow the village hosts a traditional feast of the gods,were they offer food and luxurious items to their gods of different animals they have hunted.For example fish,rabbits and many types of deer.The ceremony was cheerful and exciting to the children about to perform.After the feast ended the village gathered around the bonfire in the center of the village.The adults awaiting the exhilarating presentation of the traditional dance.The children of the village were both skittish and thrilled of their performance.Soon after ,the drums started playing and the children Nina,Turner,and Anna came through the crowd dressed in their masks and costume to the center of the circle.

            After a couple of minutes of the chief's ceremonial speech the children began the dance.During the dance the children were showing moves of fashionable and classy taste forwards the crowd watching.They were very delighted with what they saw.Once the dance finished everyone cheered in excitement.The chief came out to the middle and congratulated the children for a wonderful performance and told everyone that the dance should feed the the village for many years to come.The children super excited had never wanted anything less.

MLA citation

Ms. Collins

English 1546

30 August 2018

The sun only rises on cloudy days 

The sun only rises on a cloudy day. Every year, in Georgia, the Cherokee tribe would come together and have a week long festival. Their favorite thing to do during the festival is to play games. The boys and girls were seperated. The girls usually played with dolls that they made out of grass, sticks, animal skin, etc. The boys were the ones that played more manly games, testing their strength and stamina.

The next day, the sky was dark and gloomy. The Cherokee Indians were clueless. They didn't understand why it became so dark and upsetting. They thought if they played games separately, that it would cheer up the sky, but it didn't. The Chef decided that the only way was to bring the girls and boys together to play with each other. One of the members said they should play a game called lacrosse. It was a manly game, but also easy for the girls to learn. The boys grabbed sticks and a rock, while the girls tied nets on the other end of the stick. The goal of this was to toss the “ball” out of one net and someone else on your team tries to catch it and throw it into the goal.

The tribe was split between two teams. One team was half boys and half girls and so was the other team. One team was called The Arrowheads and the other team was called The Runners. The score was 25-3. The runners were winning, but they didn't care about winning. The team's only cared about having fun. The sky was becoming bright and beautiful once again. The Cherokee Tribe became happy, blessed, and delighted that it was clear and sunny out. They soon realized instead of being separated from each other would begin to start problems with the sky, they should come together and forget about the rule and have fun.

Credits:

Mrs. Collins

3rd period/ English 1546

8/29/2018

FORGIVE & LOVE

In a village, in a plain meadow of Georgia, there’s a tribe called Chero their lived a beautiful woman called Pocahontas. She was a princess, the daughter of the chief. There was also another tribe called Kee and in that tribe there was a well skilled man named Kronk, who was the son of the chief. Both of them shared interests and one of them was a dance called, hoop dance. One competition Pocahontas and Kronk went to the competition since they both passionate about dancing. The announcer called out Pocahontas's name so she could perform her Red Moon Rituals. Kronk was in the audience and when he saw her he automatically fell in love. He went backstage to see if she was the one. Pocahontas finished her dance and went backstage and sees a man waiting for her. When she meets his eyes she immediately falls in love, after that they would meet up in the middle of the meadow, where it separated both the Chero and the Kee tribe. They didn’t know that they were from different tribes until one day Pocahontas brought Kronk to meet her family. The chief was happy for his daughter. That is until he saw Kronk who looked like his brother. He told Kronk to leave the town. Kronk was confused, nonetheless he left out of respect. Pocahontas was triggered. She asked her father why he asked her boyfriend to leave. Her father told her that when he was a dust ruler but his brother didn't like how his father governed the tribe. Both brothers fought about who should rule the tribe and the oldest(Pocahontas father) said he would. Kronk’s father was full of anger. Kronk’s father made his own tribe called Kee and Pocahontas father’s tribe was named Chero. Pocahontas told her father to forgive kronk’s father. The chief goes and talks to his brother and made a argument of how they should rule the tribe. Both brothers said “Always forgive others.” When Kronk and Pocahontas got married they both named their tribe cherokee because they put together their tribes names together. They got married on a red full moon and danced the hoop dance all day and night. Both chiefs were proud of their kids. “I will never forget this night” both chiefs said “ we are proud that we could all fix this.”

MLA CITED PAGE:

Axtmann, Ann. Indians and Wannabes : Native American Powwow Dancing in the Northeast and beyond. University Press of Florida, 2014. EBSCOhost, proxygsu-sfor.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=581482&site=eds-live&scope=site

Mrs.Collins

American Literature 

August 30, 2018        

  Who knew a wedding could kill a young innocent girl 

In a village, on the mountains of Georgia. There lived many tribes like Navajo, Otoe, Arikara, and the most important one Ponca. In the beginning of the half moon there was a wedding. From the tribe Ponca, the chief's daughter, Opa, was going to get married to Chaton, the son of the tribe, Arikara. The tribes Ponca and Arikara didn't get along at all. Even though their kids were going to get married their parents sought things out and decided if Opa and Chaton love each other it's okay.  The party starts at 1pm It is one and all the tribes gather around at Opa’s house. Music starts playing in the background while they're eating. Neka, from the tribe Arikara, loved the bow and arrow dance. Opa’s younger sister, Neka, got up to the mic and started making everyone dance. She was filled of love and joy. Many other songs like doll dance, snake dance, buffalo dance, grass dance, and devil dance started playing all day. Neka stood for wild goose indeed she was. Neka always said, “Whenever I die i'm going to become and lion.” Each person was assigned the spirit of an animal they loved, whenever they died there spirit became that animal. It was 5, time for the games. The game they were playing was stick and hoop.  After several games played, Oteo and Navajo were out of stick and hoop. It was down to Ponca and Arikara. Chaton was a competitor and did anything to win. Once it was Opa’s turn against Chaton, Opa gave smoke signals to her parents. Smoke signals were used to communicate to others over a long distance. Opa hit a bull’s eye 3 times. Chaton only hit 1 on purpose. He loved her so much he’d prefer to let her win. Right before the game started Utina, Chaton’s mom, said, “Crush her we need to win against them. I don’t care if she's your wife. Show her the Arikara’s are better.” Chaton knew how much it meant to his mom but he didn't care at that point. The Ponca’s were furious with their lost. Arguing started happening between them and things broke out. Utina shot an arrow at Pallaton, the chief of Arikara, Neka ran to save her mother. Silence came to the air. No one made a noise except for Pallaton. As Pallaton screamed for help a lion roared in the background. As there was silence everyone bowed down.  

 MLA Citation-

 2.http://indians.org/articles/native-american-culture.html

3.https://native-american-indian-facts.com/Native-American-Indian-Culture-Facts/Native-American-Indian-Culture-Facts.html

4. https://babynameguide.mobi/native-american-baby-names.asp?strCat=Native-American