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Writer's pictureSarah Campbell

Native American Heritage month honors history and keeps tradition alive


While many may associate November with changing leaves, sweaters and pumpkins, it also marks a month-long celebration of heritage - Native American History Month. One individual is proud to keep her culture alive.


            “Cultural beliefs are knowledge that may have to be used one day in daily living,” said Nancy Carnley, a Creek/Yuchi Native American. “It is important to celebrate and preserve that.”


            Carnley is 98% Native American on both sides of her family. She was born in New Brockton, Alabama and currently resides in Elba, Alabama. Growing up, her heritage was something very close to her.


            “As a child, we would attend family reunions and get-togethers where we would celebrate our heritage with festivals and holidays,” Carnley said. “We had a 13-month calendar where the first month started on the first day of summer solstice.


            The calendar Carnley describes accounts for all major Creek/Yuchi holidays and celebrations, which play a monumental role in keeping traditional culture alive.


            Celebrations, Carnley said, are generally split into two categories – high holidays and social holidays. A couple of examples of high holidays are the Green Corn, which is celebrated on the new moon nearest the summer solstice, Harvest Busk, which is celebrated in November, and the Berry Festival, which is celebrated during the spring solstice in March.


            “The Green Corn is our New Year, when everything is forgiven,” Carnley said. “This is a great time of celebration for the ripening of the first corn and thanksgiving that we are still alive.


            “Harvest Busk is the celebration of honoring the fall crops and hunts. We also request protection from the dreary, cold days coming. The Berry Festival is a time to celebrate that the cold, dark days are over and prepare for the new year.”


            Social holidays include High Onion, which takes place in April, and Fish Day, which happens during the Fall equinox.


            Dancing is another medium used to carry on tradition and culture. It is used in celebration of both life and death.


            “We were taught the Creek stomp dance,” Carnley said. “The men did the calling, and all we did was take our turtle shells or cans filled with rocks and dance around a circle at night.


“If someone died, we held a wake where people would come and stay with the dead, have a funeral fire and do a stomp dance to honor the dead.”


            Along with the pride and fond memories associated with Native American heritage, Carnley said it comes with drawbacks and prejudices, as well.


            “I was always made to feel like an outsider,” Carnley said. “I recall that the KKK would regularly have burned the cross in the ‘bottoms,’ which is what they referred to us as.


“My first day of school in first grade, my teacher tied my left hand to the desk and told me that my kind didn't never amount to anything. A few years back, I was working at a small community hospital, where a white female employee pulled a hunk out of my head. She wanted to see what it felt like to pull an Indian's hair.”


Prejudice is a horrible thing many Native Americans face even today. Carnley believes one way to fight against it is by being open-minded and truly learning the culture. She said her heritage survives today on storytelling and by being passed down and remembered.


“It’s about keeping the old ways alive and teaching the next generation,” Carnley said.


Carnley is part of the Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe of Alabama. As someone who holds their heritage very near to her heart, she encourages everyone to immerse themselves in the culture. Native American History month is helping to do that, keeping the heart of culture and tradition alive.

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