Day 2: Snowbird!

All of us woke up excited to finally have our trip begin. Our day began with the beautiful morning song. With two Cherokee instruments, the morning song was a tradition done by the Cherokee people to greet each new day, facing all four directions. It was our first time learning the song, and we were all a little hesitant to sing in front of one another, but by the end, we were experts (at least to us)! We were in Tennessee for all of one day, but North Carolina was on our itinerary for the day. The Snowbird Cherokee community is in North Carolina and a part of the community is the Child Development Center. All of the children were great and we all relived our childhood playing with toys and chalk! Seeing the kids so happy to play with a few toys or a ball makes all of our common worries seem so trivial when something so simple can make someone so happy. Our trip was already starting on a positive note.

 Cutest baby!

Some fabulous kids working it!

Our next stop was the Junaluska Museum where we met TJ, the manager of the museum. We learned more about the Cherokee people and their traditions, such as the 7 clans, and the history behind certain individuals, such as Junaluska (the man who saved future President Andrew Jackson, who later was the man who caused the Trail of Tears).

 The 7 clans

On our way back from Junaluska, we went to the Snowbird Youth Recreation Center and helped other children with their homework on the way back from school. However, we didn’t need to help much since they nearly finished it by the time we got there! It was almost night by the time we got to our home for the night— Church of the Lamb.

Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side at all during this trip (but as Arleen said, who remembers anything when it goes flawlessly!) so the fish game, which I’ll get to later, had to be postponed. Luckily, we got to talk to another member of the Cherokee community, Shorty Kirkland. Although we didn’t get to play the fish game yet, he told us why it all began… as a marriage tradition to prove that men are gentlemen before they can marry the girl. Here’s the breakdown: the fish game involves two teams, split by gender and a pole with a fish on top of it. Using a little ball, the goal of the game is to hit the fish as many times as you can. Oh and quick side note, men must use sticks to pass the ball and hit the fish pole and must not hit any of the girls, BUT the girls are allowed to do anything to the guys (punch, bite, kick, etc.) and use their hands to throw the ball at the fish pole. There have been few instances that the men have won, and you’ll find out in the later blogs if we were one of those instances! J After a packed day of fun and exciting times, we all got together and talked, and then fell asleep. On to the next day!