The Green Corn Ceremonies are apart of the Eastern Woodlands and Southeastern Tribes of the United States, in which the Creek (Muscogee) and Cherokee Nations are apart of. I am Creek and Cherokee and I had no knowledge of this ceremony and its importance. I have been registered with the Creek nation all of my life, however my involvement with the tribe has been minimal. On my Cherokee side, I have had less involvement with, partially due to the fact that Native Americans are only allowed to register with one tribe, however knowing that my great grandmother’s grandfather is Chief Downing, Chief of the Cherokees in the late 1800’s, I think it is important for me to be educated on my heritage and traditions. I just recently learned that Green Corn Ceremony is the biggest night for the Creek Nation in Oklahoma and that makes me want to become connected with the culture and rituals my tribe has to offer.
I am curious of finding answers to my many questions I have with the Green Corn Ceremony. Firstly, why is it called the “Green Corn Ceremony”. Also what symbolic meaning that this ceremony has religiously with my tribe. I am curious to find out the connection that I can make and relate to with this ceremony. And finding out when and where this ritual takes place and if I can take part of it this upcoming year with my tribe the Creek Nation. The last and final question I want to answer is, how many tribes across the United States take part in this. Is it only certain tribes, or bands in a tribe like the Creek and Cherokee Nation.
In the first article from a forum about Native American roots it said The Green Corn Ceremony took place with the Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Seminole. The corn in these ceremonies was the single most important item in the whole ceremony. The corn played a large religious and ceremonial role in this ceremony. This ceremony symbolized the thankfulness for the crop and its successfulness. The original Native American term for this festival is Puskita, but later named Busk. This ceremony would typically last for eight days in large towns, however in smaller towns they would typically last for four days. The timing of this ceremony would be right after their successful harvest and in time for the renewing of life. It was held exactly when the crop became edible. This success honored the community and the crop. For the numerous tribes there would be some discrepancy on how this ceremony was held. For the Creeks, they would hold it during the Big Ripening Moon. This would take place from around July to August. It would honor and have singing, dancing, feasting and lectures about morals from the elders. During this event a new fire would be assembled and would allow the people to communicate with the Marker of Breath, specifically about their wants. While for the Chickasaw, during their ceremony they would incorporate an aspect of purification. They typically achieved this through fasting. This was a way for them to find and attain their purity. This fasting would happen after the first afternoon till the second sunrise. After this fasting, all the impurities that were in the body, they would be gone. However, for the Cherokees, during this ceremony, it was time to forgive and to forget all disputes and problems that someone may have with someone else. This could range from debts, grudges, adultery, however not murder. Lastly, for the Seminoles, this ceremony was for the renewing of objects. Some examples of these objects are brass, copper plates, and medicine bundles. This source came from a Native American political, social and economic issues forum article online. Its primary purpose was to inform readers about the Green Corn Ceremony and the differences of traditions among some of the tribes. The writer of this article, Ojibwa, demonstrated good intentions while composing this article. I believe she was solely writing this for informational purposes and not for malicious purposes of spreading misleading informations. However, since it is a forum article there, it is not always certain that I will be receiving accurate information, because many things are published without delivering reliable informations. Despite this, I found this article very informative and allowed me to get a glimpse of the topic. I also learned the importance of this ceremony among my tribe, the Creek Nation.
In this article from the Encyclopedia of Alabama, it talked about the Green Corn Ceremony and goes into a lot more depth about the origins of the ceremony. It also talks about the different aspects and rituals in the ceremony. The Green Corn ceremony is called Poskita or Busk. Poskita means to fast and Busk came from the Creek language.This ceremony is one of the most important festivals for Native Americans.With this taking part in many tribes across the United States, there are slightly different practices between the tribes. However, all of them typically had this ceremony from four to eight days long. Two important factors in this ceremony are fasting and social/martial renewal. These festivals are very common in Oklahoma and were continued to be celebrated after the Indian Removal in the late 19th and early 20th century. James Adair and John Howard Payne both took account of this festival before the Indian Removal. Payne took account of the Creek’s final Green Corn Ceremony in Alabama in 1835. Despite them taking account of different Busk, both tribes followed the same traditions. During the Green Corn Ceremony, the agenda for it is on the first day everyone gathers in the town square of the host town. It begins with a feast, however no feast begins with the new corn. Following this is a fast. They typically fast for one and half to two days long. Men follow a very strict fast, while women, children and the elderly have particular times they are allowed to eat. The Busk promoted work on the town. Men typically would repair notable buildings in the town square, while women would perform housework. The primary focus of the Busk is the town square. During this festival there would be a square dirt plaza. This place would be exposed on three sides and be surrounded by four shed-roofed structures. This area was extremely tidy and cleaned. In this area children were not allowed in it and if a dog or animal was caught in it, they would typically would be killed. In addition, this area served as a stage for critical elements of the ceremony. Dances and speeches were held here. In addition, men would consume sacred drinks. These drinks were a mixed plant-based drink and these leaves were typically be a caffeinated mixture.This was quintessential to the ceremony, because it served as a purification ritual. The drink was deemed as the “white drink” even though it wasn’t white. Lastly, the rekindling of the fire in town square and the rest of the town. They believed the fire became polluted during the year by people’s sins and violation of social rule. In prep for this event, they would extinguish all the fires in town, and it symbolizes extinguishing the year’s transgression. Once they literally and figuratively extinguish the previous year they enjoy a feast around the first corn and a relighting of the fire. Next that sacred fire was used to commence all the other fires around town. I discovered this source, Encyclopedia of Alabama to be absolutely reliable, because it cites all of their sources and would not benefit from being bias on this topic. The purpose behind publishing this is to inform Americans, especially ones from Alabama about the Native American history in their state. I believe this article to have high values, because all of their information was cited and provided pictures and sketchings of the ceremony from the 1800s. However since this comes from the state of Alabama and its primary focus is Native American tribes from Alabama. With that I was not capable to get information about all of the Southeastern tribes in the United States that took part of the Green Corn Ceremony. I was only able to learn about the ones from the state of Alabama.I discovered this source to be absolutely essential for my understanding of the Green Corn Ceremony. This source provided me with the most information about the ceremonies history and recollection of the ceremony across a few tribes. Especially my tribe, the Creek Nation, because it was chiefly from the state of Alabama, so I was able to make a substantial connection to my heritage.
Next, this online local news article from newsok.com was an article from 2010 about the Creek Nation’s Green Corn Ceremony. This article highlights the Creek Nation and their annual events they hold. David Procter was the one who was interviewed in this article. He is the second in chief and the ground’s chief for the Creek Nation. He says that the Creek ceremonial grounds were formerly towns, however overtime they have become desolated. Despite that, the traditional hierarchies remain. These tribal rituals are kept alive through, the Ground’s Chief, Second Chief, medicine men, and warriors. David Procter’s job is to make sure that these tribal rituals are happening during ceremonies and they are happening traditionally. However, overtime these traditions can fade or change. Proctor says he has to combine the three worlds. These three worlds are the traditional Creek world, non-traditional Creek world and the non-Creek world. The traditional Creek world is the keepers of the traditions. While the non-traditional Creek world is traditions that have evolved due to changes around them, or more frequently known as, the western world. Lastly, the non-Creek world is the world that all of the Native Americans have to work and live in. Despite these changes, David Procter and other leaders of the Creek Nation aren’t worried about getting more youth involved; they are worried about the lost knowledge of the Creek traditions from the elderly. Ceremonies like the Green Corn Ceremony relied on the past down traditions from the elderly. For the Creek Nation in Oklahoma, the Green Corn Ceremony is the biggest night of the year. It takes place at the ceremonial square ground, and it is the second weekend of July. During this ceremony, the Creeks really emphasize the importance of the fire. It is the most critical part of the ceremony, because for the Creeks it is a way to send and connect with the supreme God in heaven. I found the origins of this source very resourceful and truthful. This was due to it being local news source. It was instructing Oklahomans across the state about how they could get involved with various ceremonies and festivals with the Creek Nation. I discovered the purpose for writing this piece is to help educate Creeks, like me, how they could get involved with their heritage and traditions. In addition, I find this to have high values, because since it is a local paper, if they spread misleading information they would ultimately lose a following and money due to people not reading their articles. However, there are limitations to this article, because it was written eight years ago. It additionally provides and informs about all different festivals, not just the Green Corn Ceremony. I learned local information about this Ceremony, but not a large grasp of my understanding did not come from this article. Despite that, I found that this ceremony information is extremely important for the local level. This is so I can learn more about my heritage and my tribe in the process of reading this article.
Lastly, the information I gained from this Oklahoman textbook about the Green Corn Ceremony was significant because it was an excerpt about the State of Oklahoma Native Americans. In this section of the textbook, it talked about how the corn was sacred to the Southeastern tribes of the United States. In this excerpt it says that the corn represents the most important part of the ceremony and it symbolizes a quest to purity. In this textbook they discussed about the Wichita Native Americans. Some of the rituals they had with this ceremony were men fasting and purging their bodies by drinking a specific liquid. This liquid is frequently known to them as the black drink. This drink would stimulate the central nervous system and made them vomit. However, the climax of the ceremony was the lighting of the new sacred fire for the village. Once that was lit, the women of the village would kindle a new fire in their homes. During this ceremony they had lots of dancing and feasting, however with this tribe they would paint themselves in white clay. This ritual was lead by priests and chiefs. Once painted they would walk to the nearest stream and wash themselves in the water. This ritual symbolized the ending of the ceremony, and it symbolized the purification of the people. The origins of this information come from an Oklahoma textbook about the Native Americans of Oklahoma and regions around Oklahoma. The purpose of this piece is to inform the students about the history and ritual that many Native Americans followed with the Green Corn Ceremony. I find this information from the textbook to have high values. This is because this was produced to teach students in school. I could never imagine writers purposely spreading inaccurate information in a textbook. However with having high values, there are some substantial limitations to this work. This excerpt doesn’t go nearly in-depth about the Green Corn Ceremony like any other article I read. Additionally, it exclusively informed about Wichita Native Americans, not other tribes like the Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaw or etc. I find this article helpful in some ways, because I learned about the Wichita Native Americans, however, I didn’t learn more about the Creek Nation. I was really hoping to learn more about the Creek Nation. I also identified some discrepancy when talking about the “white drink.”In this source they call the drink as the “black drink,” however in another source they talk about the same drink as the “white drink.” Despite that, I overall acquired resourceful information in this source.
In this I-search I learned a substantial amount about my heritage and the important of ceremonies like the Green Corn Ceremony for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. I was capable to feel connected to my heritage through this assignment. It demonstrated me the value of traditions. The Green Corn Ceremony is completely a tradition that symbolizes a vast portion of Native Americans history. I never comprehend what the Green Corn Ceremony was until I did this I-search paper. I learned the value of fire in the Native American communities and how it was a way to connect to a higher god. I also learned why the Green Corn Ceremony had a religious meaning behind it. It signifies the tribe’s thankfulness of the crop, and they hold this ceremony to celebrate that. I also acquire how I could get involved with my tribe, the Creek Nation in Oklahoma. I found out through this research paper that they hold this festival in July every year and it is the most elaborate ceremony they hold every year. In addition, I learned the Creek word for this ceremony was Busk and another Native American word for it is Puskita. I find it very interesting that many Native Americans took apart of these traditions and that it wasn’t just one tribe.
This research contributed to my understanding of different world religions, because it provided insight into religions practiced across the United States through the Native American tribe. I consistently associated religious rites of passages with religions like Christianity and Buddhism, however I never knew the religious connotations around tribal traditions like the Green Corn Ceremony. This ceremony like many other ceremonies across religions was of the importance of purification. This purification remains a way for Native Americans to almost restart the year on a fresh note. Researching this topic also showed me that a new start didn't have to come from the beginning of the year. It showed me they can be placed anytime during the year like the Green Corn Ceremony. This ceremony was placed in July because of the ripening corn. However, it also symbolizes a start for the Native Americans to let go of grudges and to live life without any anger. This to me supports my understanding of the purpose behind purifications as a whole. I comprehend why separate religions right now have rites of passages similar to the Green Corn Ceremony. In conclusion, this research paper helped me to grasped the importance of forgiving and forgetting.