Cherokee Legends & Quotes

CHEROKEE PRAYER

"God in heaven above please protect the ones we love. We honor all you created as we pledge our hearts and lives together.

We honor mother-earth - and ask for our marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons;

We honor fire - and ask that our union be warm and glowing with love in our hearts;

We honor wind - and ask we sail though life safe and calm as in our father's arms; We honor water - to clean and soothe our relationship - that it may never thirsts for love;

With all the forces of the universe you created, we pray for harmony and true happiness as we forever grow young together.

Amen.

NATIVE PSALMS

The great Father above the Chief is a shepard. I am His and with Him I want not. He throws out to me a rope and the name of the rope is love and He draws me to where the grass is green and the water not dangerous, and I eat and lie down and am satisfied.

Sometimes my heart is very weak and falls down but He lifts me up again and draws me into a good road. His name is WONDERFUL.

Sometime, it may be very soon, it may be a long, long time. He will draw me into a valley. It is dark there, but I'll be afraid not, for it is in between those mountains that the Shepherd Christ will meet me and the hunger that I have in my heart all through this life will be satisfied . He gives me a staff to lean upon. He spreads a table before me with all kinds of foods. He puts His hand upon my head and all the "tired" is gone.

My cup He fills till it runs over. What I tell is true. I lie not. These roads that are "away ahead" will stay with me through this life and after; and afterwards I will go to live in the Big Tepee and sit down with the Shepherd Chief forever.

CHEROKEE ROSE

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.

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. The wild Cherokee Rose grows along the route of the Trail of Tears into eastern Oklahoma today. It was also named as the state flower for Georgia..

CHEROKEE ZODIAC

In the Cherokee tradition, an "A-da-we-hi" is a Spirit Caller. He knows the ceremonial prayers to call the good spirits and knows the correct plants for medicinal use.

These men are also skilled in the secrets and mysteries of the stars. They are respected as wise men and prophets--interpreters of dreams.....

DID YOU KNOW

Sequoyah, the creator of the Cherokee syllabary, is the only man in recorded history to have created an entire alphabet for a language by himself. It took him 12 years.

"Whole Indian Nations have melted away like snowballs in the sun before the white man's advance. They leave scarcely a name of our people except those wrongly recorded by their destroyers. Where are the Delewares? They have been reduced to a mere shadow of their former greatness. We had hoped that the white men would not be willing to travel beyond the mountains. Now that hope is gone. They have passed the mountains, and have settled upon Tsalagi (Cherokee) land. They wish to have that usurpation sanctioned by treaty. When that is gained, the same encroaching spirit will lead them upon other land of the Tsalagi (Cherokees). New cessions will be asked. Finally the whole country, which the Tsalagi (Cherokees) and their fathers have so long occupied, will be demanded, and the remnant of the Ani Yvwiya, The Real People, once so great and formidable, will be compelled to seek refuge in some distant wilderness. There they will be permitted to stay only a short while, until they again behold the advancing banners of the same greedy host. Not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Tsalagi (Cherokees), the extinction of the whole race will be proclaimed. Should we not therefore run all risks, and incur all consequences, rather than to submit to further loss of our country? Such treaties may be alright for men who are too old to hunt or fight. As for me, I have my young warriors about me. We will hold our land."

Chief Dragging Canoe, Chickamauga Tsalagi (Cherokee)