Choctaw tribe’s Creation mythology and their Mound of Creation, Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, Muskogean languages, and the Eagle dance

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Mississippi Prehistory

“The state’s history traces back to around 9500 BCe with the arrival of Paleo-Indians, evolving through periods marked by the development of agricultural societies, rise of the Mound Builders, and flourishing of the Mississippian culture. European exploration began with the Spanish in the 16th century, followed by French colonization in the 17th century. Mississippi’s strategic location along the Mississippi River made it a site of significant economic and strategic importance, especially during the era of cotton plantation agriculture, which led to its wealth pre-Civil War, but entrenched slavery and racial segregation. On December 10, 1817, Mississippi became the 20th state admitted to the Union.” ref

“Near 9500 BCE OR AROUND 11,500 YEARS AGO Native Americans or Paleo-Indians arrived in what today is referred to as the American South. Paleo-Indians in the South were hunter-gatherers who pursued the megafauna that became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. In the Mississippi Delta, Native American settlements and agricultural fields were developed on the natural levees, higher ground in the proximity of rivers. The Native Americans developed extensive fields near their permanent villages. Together with other practices, they created some localized deforestation but did not alter the ecology of the Mississippi Delta as a whole. After thousands of years, succeeding cultures of the Woodland and Mississippian culture eras developed rich and complex agricultural societies, in which surplus supported the development of specialized trades.” ref

“The Woodland period was around 1000 BCE-CE 1000, with some archaeologists distinguishing the Mississippian period, from 1000 CE to European contact, as a separate period. The term “Woodland Period” was introduced in the 1930s as a generic term for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the agriculturalist Mississippian cultures.” ref

“The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600, varying regionally. It was known for building large, earthen platform mounds, and often other shaped mounds as well. It was composed of a series of urban settlements and satellite villages linked together by loose trading networks. The largest city was Cahokia, which is believed to be a major religious center located in what is present-day southern Illinois.” ref

“A number of cultural traits are recognized as being characteristic of the Mississippians. Although not all Mississippian peoples practiced all of the following activities, they were distinct from their ancestors in the adoption of some or all of these traits.

1. The construction of large, truncated earthwork pyramid mounds, or platform mounds. Such mounds were usually square, rectangular, or occasionally circular. Structures (domestic houses, temples, burial buildings, or other) were usually constructed atop such mounds.
2. Maize-based agriculture. In most places, the development of Mississippian culture coincided with the adoption of comparatively large-scale, intensive maize agriculture, which supported larger populations and craft specialization.
3. Shell-tempered pottery. The adoption and use of riverine (or more rarely marine) shells as tempering agents in ceramics.
4. Widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rocky Mountains, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Mexico, and east to the Atlantic Ocean.
5. The development of the chiefdom or complex chiefdom level of social complexity.
6. The development of institutionalized social inequality.
7. A centralization of control of combined political and religious power in the hands of few or one.
8. The beginnings of a settlement hierarchy, in which one major center (with mounds) has clear influence or control over a number of lesser communities, which may or may not possess a smaller number of mounds.
9. The adoption of the paraphernalia of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), also called the Southern Cult. This is the belief system of the Mississippians as we know it. SECC items are found in Mississippian-culture sites from Wisconsin (see Aztalan State Park) to the Gulf Coast, and from Florida to Arkansas and Oklahoma. The SECC was frequently tied into ritual game-playing, as with chunkey.” ref

“Both cultures of the Woodland and Mississippian culture eras were mound builder cultures. Those of the Mississippian culture were the largest and most complex, constructed beginning about 950 CE. The peoples had a trading network spanning the continent from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. Their large earthworks, which expressed their cosmology of political and religious concepts, still stand throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.” ref

“Many pre-Columbian cultures in North America were collectively termed “Mound Builders,” but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to specific people or archaeological culture but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks that indigenous peoples erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. The “Mound Builder” cultures span the period of roughly 3500 BCE (the construction of Watson Brake) to the 16th century CE, including the Archaic period (Horr’s Island), Woodland period (Caloosahatchee, Adena, and Hopewell cultures), and Mississippian period. Geographically, the cultures were present in the region of the Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley, Florida, and the Mississippi River Valley and its tributary waters.” ref

Nanih Waiya Mound

“Nanih Waiya (alternately spelled Nunih Waya) (Choctaw: slanting mound) is an ancient platform mound in southern Winston County, Mississippi, constructed by indigenous people during the Middle Woodland period, about 300 to 600 CE. Since the 17th century, the Choctaw and Chickasaw have venerated Nanih Waiya mound and a nearby cave as their sacred origin location. The earthwork mound of Nanih Waiya is about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, 140 feet (43 m) wide, and 220 feet (67 m) long. Evidence suggests it was originally a larger platform mound, which has eroded into the present shape. At one time, it was bounded on three sides by a circular earthwork enclosure about ten feet tall, which encompassed one square mile. The Choctaw lost control of this property during the 1830s and the period of their removal to Indian Territory.” ref

“The earliest archaeological evidence of occupation at Nanih Waiya is dated to about 300 to 600 CE during the Middle Woodland, when it was probably built. This makes Nanih Waiya contemporaneous with the Hopewell culture, as well as ancient sites such as the Pinson Mounds in Tennessee and Ingomar Mound in Mississippi. The dating was based on surface artifacts, as no archeological excavation of the mound has ever been undertaken. Its occupation apparently continued at least to 700 CE, in the Late Woodland period. Archaeologists have not documented any use by the succeeding Mississippian culture, but they suggest that Nanih Waiya has been used for religious purposes throughout its history. The nineteenth-century naturalist and physician Gideon Lincecum recorded a surviving Choctaw oral tradition of their arrival in the area and the construction of the mound.” ref

“According to oral history, the Choctaw people had wandered in the wilderness for 42 Green Corn Festivals, through which they carried the bones of their dead, who outnumbered the living. They finally found a leaning hill, where the magical staff indicated they should stay. It was then bountiful land. The tribal council proposed they build a mound of earth to respectfully inter the bones of their ancestors, which they agreed to do. First, they erected a frame of branches. Then these were covered over, and layers of earth were deposited during their domestic tasks. At last, the mound reached great size. When they finished, they celebrated their forty-third Green Corn Festival since wandering in the wilderness. They said that once the main mound had been completed, smaller conical earthen mounds were built and used for single burials.” ref

“The mound has been a site of pilgrimage for the Choctaw since the seventeenth century, but they have not held any major festivals there. Their religion was private, and involved rituals related to death and burial, and to communication with spirits. Despite the traditional account, some anthropologists noted that unlike other tribes, the Choctaw do not appear to have practiced the Green Corn ceremony. In the 1850s, observers noted smaller mounds near Nanih Waiya, but these have since been plowed away and were never dated. They may have been constructed by the later Mississippian-culture peoples, who developed a widespread network after the Woodland period. As there is no archaeological data, historical records, nor Choctaw stories of these small mounds, nothing may ever be known about them.” ref

Nanih Waiya Cave

“One mile east, across the county line into Neshoba County of the platform mound, is a natural hill near Nanih Waiya Creek, surrounded by woods. Within this hill, sometimes called Nanih Waiya Cave Mound, is Nanih Waiya cave, considered by many Choctaw to be the site of their emergence onto the surface of the earth. The cave may have had four entrances at one point. In 1973, two cave explorers surveyed the cave and were able to travel 137 feet down. Thirty-five feet from the entrance was water, which deepened as the cavers progressed. Since the early 21st century, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians have regained control of these sites, acquiring the land by purchase. Under Miko Beasley Denson, the tribe purchased the site in 2008 and began holding annual Nanih Waiya Day celebrations each August with Choctaw foods and dances.” ref

Choctaw Beliefs

“Some Choctaw believe that Nanih Waiya is the “Mother Mound” (Inholitopa iski) where the first Choctaw was created. As told by some Choctaw storytellers, it was either from Nanih Waiya or a cave nearby that the Choctaw people emerged to the world. There are many variations of the story. According to some versions, the mound (or nearby cave) is also the origin of the Chickasaw and Creek people, and possibly even the Cherokee. (Note: As the Cherokee are an Iroquoian-language people (distantly related to the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy formerly based in New York and south of the Great Lakes), anthropologists and historians believe they migrated later than this period into the Southeast. The Cherokee oral history also tells of their migration to the Southeast. They are not considered one of the peoples who coalesced in this region from the indigenous ancestors who built Nanih Waiya.)” ref

“They say that Nanih Waiya, which means “leaning hill,” “stooping hill,” or “place of creation” in Choctaw, was the final destination of their migration. Others believe Nanih Waiya is the location where the Choctaw tribe ceased their wanderings and settled after their origin further to the west. George Catlin‘s Smithsonian Report in 1885 included a traditional story of the Choctaw that recounted their following a prophet from an origin in the west:

The Choctaws a great many winters ago commenced moving from the country where they then lived, which was a great distance to the west of the great river and the mountains of snow, and they were a great many years on their way. A great medicine man led them the whole way, by going before with a red pole, which he stuck in the ground every night where they encamped. This pole was every morning found leaning to the east, and he told them that they must continue to travel to the east until the pole would stand upright in their encampment, and that there the Great Spirit had directed that they should live.” ref

First origin story of the Choctaw Nation

“Before long, some of The People began to complain when it was time to move. Two brothers, Chahtah and Chickasah, who were leaders of The People, heard the complaints and consulted with a hopaii about what to do. The hopaii erected a pole. He said, ”In the morning, if the pole is leaning in any direction, we must follow it to find a home.” The next morning the pole was leaning toward the rising sun. Chahtah and Chickasah gathered The People together. They started on a great journey. Each night the hopaii planted the pole, and each morning the pole was found leaning toward the rising sun. The journey lasted a long time. It was a hard journey, and many died. After a while The People found it necessary to go forward only one half day, carrying the bones of the dead, and then returning for the rest of the bones.” ref

“They came to a great river. It was so mighty that it had to be beyond age, so they named it Misha Sipokni. They built rafts and spent many days crossing the river. Not long after crossing Misha Sipokni, they came to a beautiful stream and followed it to its source. It was time to plant the corn, so they camped for a long time. The land was abundant in game, and berries, and many useful plants. The corn produced a big crop. When it came time to move, the hopaii planted the pole. But the next morning the pole was found standing straight. The People rejoiced when the hopaii announced they had found their home. The People built a great mound, and when they saw that it was leaning, they laughed and named it Nanih Waiya. They said this mound will be our mother, and we will spread from here to make our homes.” ref

Second origin story of the Choctaw Nation

“A long time ago, people were created at the mound called Nanih Waiya. The first to come out of the mound were the Muscogees. They sunned themselves on the earthen rampart, and when they got dry, they traveled to the east. By the Tombigbee River, they rested. While smoking tobacco, they dropped some fire. The Cherokee came next out of Nanih Waiya. They also sunned themselves on the earthen rampart, and when they got dry, they followed the trail of the other tribe. At the place where the Muscogees had stopped and rested, and where they had smoked tobacco, a fire had burned the woods. The Cherokees could not find the Muscogee’s trail. So they trekked to the north, where they settled and made a homeland. The Chickasaws came third out of Nanih Waiya.” ref

“They sunned themselves on the earthen rampart. When they got dry they followed the Cherokees’ trail and settled close to the Cherokees. The Choctaw came forth and last out of Nanih Waiya. They sunned themselves on the earthen rampart, and when they got dry, they did not go anywhere but settled down on the spot. And this land is the Choctaw’s home. “The Choctaws’ second story of their origin states that they were created in the center of Naniah Waiya by a great spirit, and then they crawled to the surface of the earth through a hole in the ground or cave. In another version of this creating story, the Creek, Cherokee, and Chickasaw Indians came out of the mound before the Choctaws finally emerged.” ref

Choctaw Superior Being

“Nearly all sources state that early Choctaws believed in one single Superior Being, known by different names to different Choctaw people. These include “Nanapesa” (Spiritual Law-Giver), “Nanishtahullo Chito” (Something highly revered), and “Hvshtvhli” (probably from hashi-hvt atahli, meaning “the sun’s established order”). Ancestral Choctaw people did not actually worship the sun, as some people have implied, but rather the sun was seen as a hole in the sky, through which God’s eye watched the earth. Governing matters of war, it was said that as long as the sun shone on a person, this person would prosper; when it ceased shining on that person, he would die. Some Choctaws conceived of the moon as the sun’s wife, and the stars as the sun’s children. In the traditional Choctaw mode of thinking, fire is an earthly representative of the sun.” ref

“Some Choctaws called it Luak Hashtahli Itichapa (Fire, the friend of God). Accordingly, fire was given a great deal of respect. Certain things were not done or said around it, or burned in it. Conversely, after a successful hunt a particular organ from the animal was burned in the fire, probably as a gesture of thanksgiving. Traditional Choctaw cosmology includes a number of spiritual entities in addition to the Supreme Being. One of the benevolent beings is Ohoyo Osh Chishba (Unknown Woman), who some stories say brought corn to the Choctaws. Some Choctaw individuals drew upon benevolent supernatural power to serve as Hopaii (prophets) to direct the people.” ref

Eagle Dance

“The Choctaw tribe, like most of the others, gave the EAGLE DANCE  once a year, to the War Eagle, the bird that conquers all other varieties of the Eagle species, and the tail feathers of which the Indians use to decorate the heads of the brave. The (Choctaw) EAGLE DANCE — was an annual ceremony in honor of the war eagle. Each dancer carries a fan, made of the eagle’s tail, and ornaments his head with an eagle’s quill.” ref, ref

“The eagle dance is a ritual dance practiced by some American Indians. It is used by the Pueblos to ask for rain, and Iroquois use it to ask for peace and cure. It originated from the calumet dance and is performed by two to four men with artificial wings on their arms, producing movements that imitate eagles. Numerous Indian Tribes such as Comanche, Iowa, Iroquois, and Midwestern Calumet performed Eagle Dances to call for divine intervention, because they are believed to carry messages to the Gods.” ref

“The North American Indians admire eagles because they can fly close to the Great Spirit. Therefore, they became a symbol of strength, power, and wisdom. Meanwhile, other tribes symbolize eagle as the sun. Their flight is compared to the daily passage of the sun across the sky. These are sacred for the Native Americans because they view it as a way of how their prayers are brought to heaven.” ref

“Native Americans believe that wearing eagle feathers is a great honor. They give these to boys upon maturity. The handling of feathers is considered crucial during the Eagle Dance. The feathers should not touch the ground, and if a feather drops, the tribal elder is the only one allowed to pick it up. The dancer should then thank the elder with a gift. Eagle feathers are used in ceremonial ornaments and objects, and plays a role in healing rituals.” ref

“Nowadays, Eagle Dance is popular among Native American powwows and it is associated with Tesuque and Jemez in New Mexico, and it is performed during spring. Also, nowadays, Native Americans acquire their feathers by applying for a special permit from the government. Government agencies who find dead eagles provide it to the Native Americans that need them.” ref

“Eagle dance differs depending on the tribe, but it normally shows the eagle’s life cycle from birth to death. The dance shows how the eagle learns to walk and how it hunts to feed its family. In the dance, a chorus of male dancers with bonnets provide singing and drumming accompaniment. Two dancers that represent the male and female eagle has yellow paint found on their lower legs, white paint on upper legs, and bodies that are painted with dark blue.” ref

“Short white feathers are fastened on their chests, which are painted yellow, and they have wig-like caps that has white feathers and yellow beak. Eagle feathers are attached to their arms, and the Indians imitate the eagle’s movements with flapping, turning, and swaying motions.” ref

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex

“Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (formerly Southern Cult, Southern Death Cult, or Buzzard Cult), abbreviated S.E.C.C., is the name given by modern scholars to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture. It coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from 1200 to 1650 CE.” ref

“Due to some similarities between S.E.C.C. and contemporary Mesoamerican cultures (i.e., artwork with similar aesthetics or motifs; maize-based agriculture; and the development of sophisticated cities with large pyramidal structures), scholars from the late 1800s to mid-1900s suspected there was a connection between the two locations. One hypothesis was that Meso-Americans enslaved by conquistador Tristán de Luna y Arellano (1510-1573) may have spread artistic and religious elements to North America. However, later research indicates the two cultures have no direct links and that their civilizations developed independently.” ref

“Due to the seemingly rapid spread of S.E.C.C. traits, early scholarship described the S.E.C.C. as “a kind of religious revival in the lower Mississippi Valley” and nearby regions. As of 2004, theories suggest that the complex developed from pre-existing beliefs spread over the midwest and southeast by the Hopewell Interaction Sphere from 100 BCE to 500 CE. Other research shows the complex operated as an exchange network. This kind of network may be illustrated by a pair of shell gorgets whose representation is so similar as to suggest that they were made by the same artist. One was found in southeast Missouri, and the other found hundreds of miles away in Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma, suggesting the items were used as gifts or exchange across a wide region. Numerous other pairs of extremely similar gorgets serve to link sites across the entire Southeast.” ref

“The social organization of the Mississippian culture was based on warfare, which was represented by an array of motifs and symbols in articles made from costly raw materials, such as conches from Florida, copper from the Great Lakes area and Appalachian Mountains, lead from northern Illinois and Iowa, pottery from Tennessee, and stone tools sourced from Kansas, Texas, and southern Illinois. Such objects occur in elite burials, together with war axes, maces, and other weapons. These warrior symbols occur along side other artifacts, which bear cosmic imagery depicting animals, humans, and legendary creatures. This symbolic imagery bound together warfare, cosmology, and nobility into a coherent whole. Some of these categories of artifacts were used as markers of chiefly office, which varied from one location to another. The term Southeast Ceremonial Complex refers to a complex, highly variable set of religious mechanisms that supported the authority of local chiefs.” ref

Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere horizons

“With the redefinition of the complex, some scholars have suggested choosing a new name to exemplify the new understanding of the large body of art symbols classified as the S.E.C.C. Participants of a decade-long series of conferences held at Texas State University have proposed the terms “Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere” or “M.I.I.S.” and “Mississippian Art and Ceremonial Complex” or “M.A.C.C.” The major expression of the complex developed at the Cahokia site and is known as the Braden Style; it corresponds with the Southern Cult Period horizon defined by Muller.” ref

“Other regional styles developed as a result of the fusion of ideas borrowed from the Braden Style and pre-existing local expressions of post-Hopewellian traditions. As the major centers, such as Cahokia, collapsed and the trade networks broke down, the regional styles diverged more from the Braden Style and from each other. During the ensuing centuries, the local traditions diverged into the religious beliefs and cosmologies of the different historic tribes known to exist at the time of European contact.” ref

“Most S.E.C.C. imagery focuses on cosmology and the supernatural beings who inhabit the cosmos. The cosmological map encompassed real, knowable locations, whether in this world or the supernatural reality of the Otherworld. S.E.C.C. iconography portrayed the cosmos in three levels. The Above World or Overworld, was the home of the Thunderers, the Sun, Moon, and Morning Star or Red Horn / “He Who Wears Human Heads For Earrings” and represented Order and Stability. The Middle World was the Earth that humans live in. The Beneath World or Under World was a cold, dark place of Chaos that was home to the Underwater Panther and Corn Mother or “Old Woman Who Never Dies.” ref

“These three worlds were connected by an axis mundi, usually portrayed as a cedar tree or a striped pole reaching from the Under World to the Over World. Each of the three levels also was believed to have its own sub-levels. Deeply ingrained in the world view was the concept of duality and opposition. The beings of the Upper and Under realms were in constant opposition to each other. Ritual and ceremony were the means by which these powerful forces could be accessed and harnessed.” ref

“Many common motifs in S.E.C.C. artwork are locative symbols that help determine where the action takes place and where the beings originated. The falcon is one of the most conspicuous symbols of the S.E.C.C. It was simultaneously an avatar of warriors and an object of supplication for a lengthy life, healthy family, and a long line of descendants. Its supernatural origin is placed in the Upper World with a pantheon including the Sun, Moon, and Four Stars. He is most often represented on precious materials, sometimes shell, most often on beaten copper. He dances, costumed with great ground-sweeping wings and a raptor-beaked mask. In his raised right hand he holds a club, prepared to strike. In his left he holds rattles fashioned from human skulls.” ref

“At Cahokia, the falcon imagery was elaborated in figural expression. It is associated with warfare, high-stakes gaming, and possibly family dynastic ambitions, symbolized by arrow flights and the rising of the pre-dawn morning star as metaphors for the succession of descendants into the future. Raptor imagery gained prominence during the Hopewell period, but attained its peak in the Braden Style of the early Mississippian period. It survived afterward in the Red Horn mythological cycle and native religion of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebagos), Osage, Ioway, and other plains Siouan peoples. In the Braden Style, the Birdman is divided into four categories.” ref

• Falcon Dancers with wings.
• Chunkey players / warriors with wings.
• Club-wielding wingless warriors.
• Dancing wingless warriors / chunkey players

“Various motifs are associated with the Birdman, including the forked eye motif, columnella pendants, mace or club weapons, severed heads, chunkey play (including chunkey stones, striped and broken chunkey sticks), bellows-shaped aprons, and bi-lobed arrow motifs.” ref

“The Red Horn Mythic Cycle is from the Ho Chunk, or Winnebago people. The mythic cycle of Red Horn and his sons has certain analogies with the Hero Twins mythic cycle of Mesoamerica. Redhorn was known by many names, including “Morning Star,” a reference to his celestial origin, and “He who is Struck with Deer Lungs,” a possible reference to the Bi-Lobed Arrow Motif. In the episode associated with this name, Red Horn turns into an arrow to win a race. After winning the race, Redhorn creates heads on his earlobes and makes his hair into a long red braid. Thus, he becomes known as “Redhorn” and as “He who has Human Heads as Earlobes.” ref

“In another episode, Redhorn and his friends are challenged by the Giants to play ball (or possibly chunkey) with their lives staked on the outcome. The best Giant player was a woman with long red hair identical to Redhorn’s. The little heads on Redhorn’s ears caused her to laugh so much that it interfered with her game, and the Giants lost. The Giants lost all the other contests as well. Then they challenged Redhorn and his friends to a wrestling match in which they threw all but Red Horn’s friend Turtle. Since Redhorn and his fellow spirits lost two out of the three matches, they were all slain. The two wives of Redhorn were pregnant at the time of his death.” ref

“The sons born to each have red hair, with the older one having heads where his earlobes should be, and the younger one having heads in place of his nipples. The older brother discovers where the Giants keep the heads of Redhorn and his friends. The two boys use their powers to steal the heads from the Giants, whom they wipe out almost completely. The boys bring back to life Redhorn, Storms as He Walks, and Turtle. In honor of this feat, Turtle and “Storms as He Walks” promise the boys special weapons.” ref

“In another episode, the sons of Redhorn decide to go on the warpath. The older brother asks “Storms as He Walks” for the Thunderbird war bundle. After some effort, it is produced, but the Thunderbirds demand that it have a case. A friend of the sons of Redhorn offers his own body as its case. The boys take the Thunderbird war bundle and with their followers go on a raid to the other side of the sky.” ref

“Many S.E.C.C. images seem to be of Red Horn, his companions, and his sons. The characters in the myth seem to be tied integrally to the pipe ceremony, and its association with kinship and adoption. In fact, the Bi-Lobed Arrow Motif may be a graphic depiction of the calumet. Other images found in S.E.C.C. art show figures with long-nosed god maskettes on their ears and in place of their nipples.” ref

“The Great Serpent (or Horned Serpent) is the most well-known mythological figure from the S.E.C.C. Its roots go back to Hopewell times, if not earlier. It usually is described as horned and winged, although the wings are more an indicator of its celestial origin than an essential form of the creature. In some versions of Shawnee myths, the serpent is described as a multi-headed monster with one green and one red horn, horns being a manifestation or marker of its power. In other myths, it is described as a one-eyed buffalo with one green and one red horn.” ref

“The Piasa figure of the Miami was painted on a bluff near present-day Alton, Illinois. It was described as having the body of a panther, four legs, a human head, an impossibly long tail, and horns. Mishibizhiw, the Ojibwa underwater panther, was a combination of rattlesnake, cougar, deer, and hawk. Other native peoples also gave descriptions of the being, sometimes now referred to as the Spirit Otter, with the majority seeming to belong to one of two extremes, and a multitude in between.” ref

“The Great Serpents, the great denizens of the Underworld, were described as powerful beings who were in constant antagonism with the forces of the Upper World, usually represented by the Thunderers (Birdmen or Falcon beings). Although men were to be careful of these beings, they could also be the source of great power. A Shawnee myth tells of the capture and dismemberment of Msi Kinepikwa. The pieces were distributed to the five septs of the tribe, who kept them in their sacred “medicine bundles.” ref

“S.E.C.C. motifs have been found on a variety of non-perishable materials, including marine shell, ceramics, chert (Duck River cache), carved stone, and copper (Wulfing cache and Etowah plates). Undoubtedly many other materials also were used, but haven’t survived the intervening centuries. It may be judged by looking at the remaining artifacts that S.E.C.C. practitioners worked with feathers and designs woven into cloth, practiced body painting, and possibly tattooing, as well as having pierced ears.” ref

“One surviving painting found on a baked clay floor at the Wickliffe Mounds site suggests they also painted designs in and on their dwellings. Paintings displaying S.E.C.C. imagery also have been found in caves, most notably Mud Glyph Cave in Tennessee. Animal images, serpents, and warrior figures occur, as well as winged warriors, horned snakes, stylized birds, maces, and arrows. Their location underneath the Earth probably reflect aspects of Mississippian myth and cosmology concerning the (perhaps sacred) precincts beneath the earth.” ref 

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Sites:

• Alligator Effigy Mound
• Angel Mounds
• Cahokia
• Castalian Springs Mound Site
• Etowah Indian Mounds
• Hiwassee Island
• Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site
• Kolomoki Mounds
• Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park
• Mangum Mound Site
• Moundville Archaeological Site
• Ocmulgee National Monument
• Serpent Mound
• Spiro Mounds
• Town Creek Indian Mound
• Wickliffe Mounds
• Winterville site

Choctaw language, one of the Muskogean languages

“The Choctaw language (Choctaw: Chahta anumpa), spoken by the Choctaw, an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, US, is a member of the Muskogean language family. Chickasaw is a separate but closely related language to Choctaw.” ref

“Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean. Typologically, Muskogean languages are agglutinative. One documented language, Apalachee, is extinct, and the remaining languages are critically endangered.” ref

“The Muskogean family consists of six languages that are still spoken: Alabama, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (previously referred to as Creek), Koasati, and Mikasuki, as well as the now-extinct Apalachee, Houma, and Hitchiti (the last is generally considered a dialect of Mikasuki). “Seminole” is listed as one of the Muskogean languages in Hardy’s list, but it is generally considered a dialect of Muscogee rather than a separate language, as she comments.” ref

“The major subdivisions of the family have long been controversial, but the following lower-level groups are universally accepted: Choctaw–Chickasaw, Alabama–Koasati, Hitchiti–Mikasuki, and Muscogee. Because Apalachee is extinct, its precise relationship to the other languages is uncertain; Mary Haas and Pamela Munro both classify it with the Alabama–Koasati group.” ref

“For connections among these groupings, the traditional classification is that of Mary Haas and her students, such as Karen Booker, in which “Western Muskogean” (Choctaw-Chickasaw) is seen as one major branch, and “Eastern Muskogean” (Alabama-Koasati, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, and Muscogee) as another. Within Eastern Muskogean, Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki are generally thought to be more closely related to each other than to Muscogee.” ref

“A more recent and controversial classification has been proposed by Pamela Munro. In her classification, the languages are divided into a “Southern Muskogean” branch (Choctaw-Chickasaw, Alabama-Koasati, and Hitchiti-Mikasuki) and a “Northern Muskogean” one (Muscogee). Southern Muskogean is the subdivided into Hitchiti-Mikasuki and a “Southwestern Muskogean” branch containing Alabama-Koasati and “Western Muskogean” (Choctaw-Chickasaw).” ref

“A third proposed classification is that of Geoffrey Kimball, who envisions a threeway split among the languages, with “Western Muskogean” (Choctaw-Chickasaw), “Eastern Muskogean” (Muscogee), and “Central Muskogean” (Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki). However, Kimball’s classification has not received as much support as either Haas’s or Munro’s.” ref

“Several sparsely attested languages have been claimed to be Muskogean languages. George Broadwell suggested that the languages of the Yamasee and Guale were Muskogean. However, William Sturtevant argued that the “Yamasee” and “Guale” data were Muscogee and that the language(s) spoken by the Yamasee and Guale people remain unknown. It is possible that the Yamasee were an amalgamation of several different ethnic groups and did not speak a single language. Chester B. DePratter describes the Yamasee as consisting mainly of speakers of Hitchiti and Guale. The historian Steven Oatis also describes the Yamasee as an ethnically mixed group that included people from Muskogean-speaking regions, such as the early colonial-era native towns of Hitchiti, Coweta, and Cussita.” ref

“The Pensacola and Chacato (or Chatot) people are reported to have spoken the same Muskogean language, which may have been closely related to Choctaw. Sparse evidence indicates that a Muskogean language was spoken by at least some of the people of the paramount chiefdom of Cofitachequi in northeastern South Carolina. If so, that would be the most eastern outpost of Muskogean. The people of Cofitichequi were probably absorbed by nearby Siouan and Iroquoian speakers in the late 17th century. A vocabulary of the Houma may be another underdocumented Western Muskogean language or a version of Mobilian Jargon. Mobilian Jargon is a pidgin based on Western Muskogean.” ref

“The best-known connection proposed between Muskogean and other languages is Mary Haas‘ Gulf hypothesis, in which she conceived of a macrofamily comprising Muskogean and a number of language isolates of the southeastern US: Atakapa, Chitimacha, Tunica, and Natchez. While well-known, the Gulf grouping is now generally rejected by historical linguists. A number of Muskogean scholars continue to believe that Muskogean is related to Natchez.” ref

Choctaw Treaties

“Historic agreements that directly or indirectly affected the Choctaw people, a Native American tribe, with other nations. Choctaw land was systematically obtained through treaties, legislation, and threats of warfare. Treaties were made with Great Britain, France, and Spain. Nine treaties were signed with the United States. Some treaties, like the Treaty of San Lorenzo, indirectly affected the Choctaws.” ref

“The Choctaws considered European laws and diplomacy foreign and puzzling. The most confusing aspect of treaty making was writing which was impressive for a people who had not developed a written system. Choctaw history, as with many Native Americans, was passed orally from generation to generation. European cultural conventions require written treaties to prevent disputes about the contents of the agreement and to enable wider dissemination through copying. During treaty negotiations the three main Choctaw tribal areas (Upper Towns, Six town, and Lower Towns) had a “Miko” (chief) to represent them. Spain had the earliest claims to Choctaw country which was followed by French claims starting in the late 17th century. The United States, following the Treaty of San Lorenzo, laid claim to Choctaw country starting in 1795.” ref

“By the early 19th century pressure from U.S. southern states, like Georgia, encouraged the procurement of Native American lands. The Treaty of Fort Adams was the first in a series of treaties that ceded Choctaw lands. The Choctaws were relocated from their homeland, now known as the Deep South, to lands west of the Mississippi River. Approximately 15,000 Choctaws made the move to what would be called Indian Territory and then later Oklahoma. About 2,500 died along the trail of tears. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek required the Choctaws to sign away the remaining traditional homeland to the United States. There would be three waves of removals starting in 1831.” ref

“After the final wave of removal in 1833, nearly 6,000 Choctaws chose to stay in the newly formed state of Mississippi. Despite the grant of citizenship and land to Choctaws that chose to stay, the newly settled European-Americans persistently urged the Mississippi Choctaws to remove, but they refused. Although smaller Choctaw groups can be found throughout the U.S. south, Choctaws are mainly found in Florida, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.” ref

Hopia Iskitina Iskitini Choctaw (Born in Mississippi 1780 – died 1852)

“Hopi Skit, meaning “Little Leader or “Little Prophet”, was a sub-chief in the Northeastern District of the Choctaw Nation under “Muscalature”. He was born in the late 1700’s. He was Mingo (“leader”) of the Hyah-PA-Tusk-Kao Clan of Choctaws and lived on the banks of the Ukena River. He was a man of great firmness and character and played an important role in tribal history. He was a great Indian Warrior. Hopi Skit was one of the first Choctaws to be enlisted into service for the US Military. He fought with Andrew Jackson against the Creeks in the War of 1812, Battle of New Orleans and Horseshoe Bend.” ref

“Because of his bravery and cunning military strategies, he was commissioned a Captain by Andrew Jackson. It was during these wars that he received the double role of prophet and military leader. He was very much against the removal of the Choctaws from Mississippi and very vocal about it. He and some faithful followers never did leave MS and he died there. His granddaughter, Sallie (Gibson) Ervin, did leave. For good luck and as a keepsake he gave her a spoon that he had carried in the War of 1812.” ref 

Choctaw Trail of Tears

“The Choctaw Trail of Tears was the attempted ethnic cleansing and relocation by the United States government of the Choctaw Nation from their country, referred to now as the Deep South (Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana), to lands west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory in the 1830s by the United States government. A Choctaw Miko (chief) was quoted by the Arkansas Gazette as saying that the removal was a “trail of tears and death.” Since removal, the Choctaw have developed since the 20th century as three federally recognized tribes: the largest, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana.” ref

“After ceding nearly 11,000,000 acres (45,000 km²), the Choctaw migrated in three stages: the first in the fall of 1831, the second in 1832, and the last in 1833. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was ratified by the U.S. Senate on February 25, 1830, and the U.S. President Andrew Jackson was anxious to make the Choctaw project a model of removal.

George W. Harkins (Choctaw):

We go forth sorrowful, knowing that wrong has been done. Will you extend to us your sympathizing regards until all traces of disagreeable oppositions are obliterated, and we again shall have confidence in the professions of our white brethren. Here is the land of our progenitors, and here are their bones; they left them as a sacred deposit, and we have been compelled to venerate its trust; it dear to us, yet we cannot stay, my people are dear to me, with them I must go. Could I stay and forget them and leave them to struggle alone, unaided, unfriended, and forgotten, by our great father? I should then be unworthy the name of a Choctaw, and be a disgrace to my blood. I must go with them; my destiny is cast among the Choctaw people. If they suffer, so will I; if they prosper, then will I rejoice. Let me again ask you to regard us with feelings of kindness. — George W. Harkins, George W. Harkins to the American People” ref

“The people in the first wave of removal suffered the most. The second and third wave “sowed their fields promptly and experienced fewer hardships than the Indians of most of the other expatriated tribes.” Removal continued throughout the 19th century. In 1846 1,000 Choctaw removed, and by 1930 only 1,665 remained in Mississippi. The Choctaw and the United States agreed to nine treaties between 1786 and 1830. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was the last to be signed by which the Choctaw Nation agreed to cede the last of their lands in the Southeast. Choctaw land was systematically obtained by European governments and the US through treaties, legislation, and threats of warfare. The Choctaw had made treaties with Great Britain, France, and Spain, before nine with the United States. Some treaties, like the Treaty of San Lorenzo, indirectly affected the Choctaw.” ref

“The Choctaw considered European laws and diplomacy foreign and puzzling. They found the writing of agreements to be the most confusing aspect of treaty making, as they had no system of written language. As with many Native Americans, the Choctaw transmitted their history orally from generation to generation. During treaty negotiations, the three main Choctaw tribal areas (Upper Towns, Six towns, and Lower Towns) had a “Miko” (chief) to represent them. During the Treaty of Natchez, 1793, the Upper Town Chief was last name King according to curated (verified genealogist research), the Chief of Six Towns was Pushmataha, and the Chief of Western Division was James King, Jr (Frenchimastvbe’) representing the Royal Governor Carondolet. Spain made the earliest claims to the Choctaw country, followed by French claims starting in the late 17th century. Following the Treaty of San Lorenzo, the new United States laid claim to Choctaw country starting in 1795.” ref

“The Choctaw signed the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786. Although it did not cede any land to the United States, this treaty was important because Article 9 gave the United States Congress the right to regulate, trade, and “manage all their affairs in such a manner as they think proper.” The Treaty of Fort Adams was signed to cede the land at the mouth of the Yazoo River. The Choctaw believed that ceding over 2 million acres to the United States would be enough to satisfy the American need for land, but it was not. Six months later General Wilkinson came back asking for more land and a new treaty.” ref

“The Treaty of Mount Dexter was signed in November 1805, and under it the Choctaw ceded more land than by any of the previous treaties. During this time, the plan of the Jefferson administration was to force the Choctaw into debt through trading and then allow them to pay that debt back with their land. In the case of the Mount Dexter Treaty, the Choctaw received $48,000 for the 4.1 million acres of land that they were giving up. With this money, they had to pay back $51,000 to the trading houses they used.” ref

“The Treaty of Doak’s Stand was considered one of Andrew Jackson‘s greatest achievements since the Battle of New Orleans. It, and one of the first “significant achievement of Calhoun’s policy of moderation.” The treaty had the Choctaws ceding five million acres of land, but they were to receive thirteen million acres of land in Arkansas. This treaty foreshadows the removal and degradation of all Indians. This became problematic because the people in Arkansas felt as though their government had abandoned them in order to remove the Indians from Mississippi, so they began launching an all-out effort to prevent the treaty from being ratified. Although the treaty was ratified, President Jackson appointed a surveyor to find another border line that would give the Choctaws the same amount of land without upsetting the status quo of the whites.” ref

“Although many leaders of the Choctaw tribe were opposed to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, Grant Foreman in 1953 wrote that “most of the leaders had been aligned securely by bribery with the government and the treaty.” Greenwood LeFlore, Nitakechi, Mushulatubbe, and more than 50 other “favored members” gained land by signing the treaty. According to Foreman, LeFlore had a personal interest in removing the tribes, as he boasted to President Jackson about his ability to remove them even if the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was not ratified. Before the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek had been ratified, the government allowed LeFlore to send numerous unorganized and ill-provisioned tribe members to the west in the first wave of removal. Of the one thousand Choctaw emigrants sent west by Leflore, Foreman said that only eighty-eight arrived. Since then, other historians have suggested that some Choctaw favored removal because they pragmatically wanted to try to get the best deal from a US that seemed implacably intent on forcing them out.” ref

“American pressure to force the Choctaw to cede their land continued until the Choctaw fought as their allies against the Creek in the Creek War of 1813. This was in part a civil war within the nation that broke out while the US was engaged against Great Britain in the War of 1812. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw chose to stay in Mississippi and not remove, partly due to the Nation of Choctaw Chief being Brig. General Pushmataha and the respect for his service from the age of 13 in siding with the French of New France. As many Choctaw fought in the Battle of 1812, some Americans began to view them as allies. They were treated better by white settlers and by the natives from Dimery Settlement who entered into Ft Adams after having served in the lands of the Southern Tuscarora. When the Choctaw signed the treaty of Fort St. Stephens, they believed they were at “a friendly banquet [rather than] a meeting of opposing forces.” In exchange for the land, the Choctaw received a $6,000 annuity for the next 20 years, and goods such as guns, blankets, and tools for an additional value of $10,000.” ref

“Nearly 15,000 Choctaws, together with 1000 slaves, made the move to what would be called Indian Territory and then later Oklahoma. The population transfer occurred in three migrations during the 1831–33 period, including the devastating winter blizzard of 1830–31 and the cholera epidemic of 1832. About 2,500 died along the trail of tears. Approximately 5,000–6,000 Choctaws remained in Mississippi in 1831 after the initial removal efforts. For the next ten years, they were objects of increasing legal conflict, harassment, and intimidation.” ref

“The Choctaw remaining in Mississippi described their situation in 1849, “we have had our habitations torn down and burned, our fences destroyed, cattle turned into our fields, and we ourselves have been scourged, manacled, fettered and otherwise personally abused, until by such treatment some of our best men have died.” Racism was rampant. Joseph B. Cobb, who moved to Mississippi from Georgia, described the Choctaw as having “no nobility or virtue at all, and in some respect he found blacks, especially native Africans, more interesting and admirable, he considered the red man inferior in every way. The Choctaw and Chickasaw, the tribes he knew best, were beneath contempt, that is, even worse than black slaves.” The removals continued well into the early 20th century. In 1903, three hundred Mississippi Choctaws were persuaded to move to the Nation in Oklahoma.” ref