I lift my eyes up...

Hello friends,

My blog has been quiet lately as I have been working to adjust to being far away from my family and my familiar settings. But I have been blessed with my adjustment in that the family I am working for has been supportive and welcoming. Plus I am being kept my toes and loving it! :D

And now off to my adventure in Cherokee, North Carolina!

What can I say...it was windy! : D

My first destination was the Oconaluftee Cherokee Indian village, a village that has been set up to teach the history, political and social structures and daily life of the Cherokee in the 18th century and is now part of the Eastern Cherokee Reservation.

We were led on a tour through living demonstrations of weaving,

carving

and weapon making

My favorite demonstration was the learning how they created canoes. First they fall a tree, trim the branches then build a fire and let it burn out the center of the tree, creating a hallow. They made the process look easy.

Here are a few things I learned:,

First, I had a chance to talk to the director of the village, John, and we engaged in a conversation about the tribe’s difficultly teaching their native language to the younger generations. In response to there only being 250 fluent speakers in their tribe, they have reintroduced Cherokee as a subject in school and offers boarding school for full Cherokee language immersion.This gentleman who talked about the history of the Cherokee, is one of the fluent speakers and it was enlightening to hear their native language firsthand.

Second,I had a very interesting conversation regarding religion with another Cherokee, he conveyed to me that the Cherokee don't worship mother nature, but rather were worshiping a Great Father and Creator, long before the Europeans came. I had no idea that the Bible has been translated into Cherokee.I was intrigued to hear their prospective on religion and was surprised to see the subject pop up again later in the evening.

I wandered around the rest of the village for a few more hours going through a sweat lodge,

the council house, learning about their political system and examining the chief's clothes

and houses from different periods: 16th century:

18th century:

and 19th century:

On a random note, the hickory they burn in the fireplaces smells amazing!

I was very excited to end the day by going to an outdoor Cherokee Drama called, "Unto these Hills." Put on by the Historical Cherokee Association. The play, in an outdoor theater, portrays the Cherokee hero, Tsali and his struggle to keep the land of his people. It was very interesting to watch the history being acted out on the same land that had been the centerpiece of the drama and portrayed by ancestors of the main characters.

I was also intrigued by the involvement of Christianity, the Scriptures and hymns in the play.

Overall the Eastern Band of Cherokee are very proud of the fact that they never walked the Trail of Tears, and through great persistence and resistance they were eventually given some of their ancestral Smokey Mountain land back. At the top of the stadium is an eternal memorial flame that was lit by the Cherokee council fire in Oklahoma that has been burning since 1838 and was presented to the Eastern Band of Cherokee in memory of those who struggled and died in order to preserve their land. At the very bottom of the memorial is this scripture verse: "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalms 121:1-2

This weekend I have a whole slew of places to visit in the Greenville area…covered bridges, civil war museums, homemade ice cream and revolutionary battlefields….it will be a trip through history!