A Day in the Life of a Cherokee Indian Essay Example For Students

A Day in the Life of a Cherokee Indian Essay A Day in the Life of a Cherokee Indian Tribal Community The Cherokee Indians are a tribal community located in the southeast region of America mostly in North and South Caroline, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee, they normally live near rivers but in different areas, each family had two houses in different villages, one for summer and one for winter. Their summer homes were larger shaped as rectangles and were made out of sticks with a conical shape roof made from bark, their winter homes were made out of mud with mud added on the outside for extra support and protection from the cold, the roofs were also made out of bark. They had a population of around 400-500 people so there was roughly 60 homes per village, the whole village had a wall of poles tied together to add protection to the village. The Cherokee’s travelled by canoes they made out of hollowed out logs through the rivers as transport, but they would just walk as there were no horses. The political side of things was fairly simple, they would have the red chief in times of war or if there was a disturbance, but if it was peaceful they would have the white chief in charge as he was in charge to keep things ordered and pleasant. When there was peace in the village which was most of the time, the red chief only had the responsibility to keep his soldiers and himself fit, healthy and ready for any attacks. The men and women in the Cherokee tribes had roles to help the village stay civilised, the men were in charge of diplomacy, war and hunting, the Cherokee women looked after properties, crops and their families. Men would always make the political decisions for the tribe but other than that they were equal and there wasn’t much discrimination. The women would harvest the crops, they had quite a large variety of foods, they gathered corns, beans, squash, sunflowers, berries, nuts and fruit, the men also contributed to the food gathering by hunting deer and turkeys as well as fish from the rivers. The Cherokee Indians devised lots of their own recipes to make the food more exciting, many of their recipes are still used today as they mostly made soups and stews. The Cherokee’s had many different ways to heal any mental, spiritual or physical illness, they have over 700 different plants that are used for healing, all though some simply make you think they are helping you but some have been proved to work well. A ritual would be performed all mornings which gave thanks to the creator and seeking harmony and balance in everything. Another common ritual that the Cherokee’s would perform was called â€Å"going to water†, they would perform this ritual at sunrise for special occasions such as a spiritual dance, the new moon or bad things such as night mares or illnesses. The Cherokee’s had many more rituals but haven’t released them to people over the internet.