The Choctaw tribe, native to the southeast region of the United States, have a rich tapestry of traditions and celebrations that have preserved their ancestral heritage for generations. They plant corn, beans, pumpkins, fish, gather nuts and wild fruits, and hunt deer and bear. Their most important community ritual is the Busk, or Green Corn, festival, celebrated at midsummer.
The Choctaw people believe in a supreme being known as Aba Binili (or Grandfather) and the existence of spirits that could help or harm them depending on how they are treated. The Choctaw people have carried forward this tradition through generations, weaving together a vibrant culture.
The most important spiritual event in the Choctaw culture is the Green Corn Ceremony, held when the corn begins to ripen. This event involves fasting, thanksgiving, personal reflection, and stomp dancing. Traditional arts such as pottery, dance, basketry, dress, beadwork, and stickball are also part of the Choctaw culture.
Extensive funeral rites were performed among the Choctaw, with spiritual men and women removing bones from the deceased. The Choctaw people have both a Shilvp (spirit) and Shilombish (shadow), with their Shilvp traveling west on the Ofi when an individual passes on.
The Choctaw people are regarded by many as some of the most influential Native Americans in the United States. Most Choctaw funerals are held in a church with services similar to other American services, except for some songs and preaching. By sharing the wisdom, skills, and values that define Choctaw life across generations, the Choctaw people continue to preserve their cultural heritage and continue to thrive in their unique way.
📹 Who are the Choctaw?
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What is the Choctaw tribe most known for?
The Choctaw people, originally from central and southern Mississippi, were fierce warriors, skilled farmers, and traders. They formed two federally recognized tribes: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The Choctaw were not nomadic, allowing them to become accomplished agriculturalists. They often grew surpluses of crops to trade with other American Indian tribes and later Europeans and Americans.
Sports, such as stickball, have always played a significant role in their culture, as it was used to settle rivalries and disputes between tribes and families, as well as create friendly competition among clans and tribes.
What are the Choctaw facial features?
The Choctaw people are renowned for their distinctive practice of head-flattening, which commences following childbirth and persists for several years.
What is sacred to the Choctaw tribe?
The Choctaws, a group of ancient Indians, believed in a good and evil spirit and worshipped the sun, or Hushtahli, as a deity with the power of life and death. They believed that the sun was seen as looking down upon the earth and that fire, as a striking representation of the sun, was intelligent and in constant intercourse with it. The word nanpisa (the one who sees) expresses the reverence the Choctaw had for the sun. Anthropologists suggest that the Mississippian ancestors of the Choctaw placed the Sun at the center of their cosmological system.
In the mid-eighteenth century, Choctaw diplomats spoke only on sunny days, and if a conference was delayed, they would delay it until the sun returned, ensuring honest discussions. The Sun’s symbolism of great power and reverence is a significant component of southeastern Indian cultures.
What is the symbol of the Choctaw tribe?
The Choctaw Indians’ history and tradition are symbolized by an unstrung bow, three arrows, and a smoking pipe-hatchet. The bow represents the three great Choctaw Chiefs, Apuckshunnubbe, Pushmataha, and Moshulatubbee, who signed the Treaty of Doaks Stand, which granted them a vast domain west of Southern Oklahoma. When the Choctaws moved west, they divided the new land into three districts, each named after one of these chiefs. Despite their peace-loving nature, the Choctaws would swiftly use their bows to defend themselves if provoked.
What do the Choctaw call God?
From a traditional Choctaw perspective, a solar eclipse is a reflection of the Choctaw people’s belief in a supreme God and creator. The name Hvshtahili, a contraction of Hvshi Atahli, means the Sun’s Completed Order. The sun brought life and illuminated Hina Hanta, the Bright Path to victory. Choctaw diplomats preferred to address foreign leaders when the sun was shining brightly. Fire, also known as Luak Hvshtahli Itichapa, was believed to be allied with the sun and communicated with God.
Each Choctaw community maintained its own sacred fire, which was only allowed to go out when ceremonially extinguished. The most important spiritual and social function was the Luak Mosholi, or Fires Extinguished, event, which involved extinguishing fires, cleansing the community, forgiving each other for past wrongs, and lighting new fires. When alliances were made with another community, burning coals from each fire was exchanged.
What rituals did the Choctaw have?
The Choctaw people valued community life, with dances and funeral rites being significant events. The Busk festival was also significant. The Choctaw Nation has a rich history of pottery, with two main types: Shuti and Ampo. Shuti vessels are used for cooking food and have intricate designs, similar to cast iron. Ampo dishes are traditionally used for serving food and represent nature’s patterns. Despite colonization efforts to suppress this art form, it has remained strong and even experienced a resurgence since 2009. Choctaw communities have started classes and events to teach pottery and promote the tradition.
What are the practices of the Choctaw?
The Choctaw people maintain cultural traditions through social dance, stickball, basket making, traditional clothing, and foodways. These events allow generations to intersect, pass down language, patterns, recipes, and dance steps, and build community. A man crafts a stickball stick using traditional Choctaw methods. The Flag represents the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians’ Tribal Government, organized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and approved by the Federal government in 1945.
The flag symbolizes the Tribe’s history of survival amidst adversity, with red representing the blood shed in past battles, white representing the purity of tribal culture, and blue representing future prosperity.
What animals are sacred to the Choctaw?
The American bison, referred to as “yvnnash” in the Choctaw language, is intimately associated with the Choctaw people through a pan-Indian identity that underscores its distinctiveness and significance.
What animal represents Choctaw?
The bison, through a pan-Indian identity that emphasizes its connection with the Choctaw people, is now more strongly connected than ever before, representing a significant advancement in the historical relationship between the Choctaw and the bison.
How do I know if I’m a Choctaw?
In order to claim tribal heritage with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, it is necessary to be a descendant of a Choctaw or Mississippi Choctaw with a blood quantum listed on the Final Rolls of Citizens of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory.
What is the blood type of the Choctaw tribe?
In 1997, the Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI) identified a distinctive blood type, ENAV(MNS42), among certain members of the Choctaw Tribe in Oklahoma. This minor blood group is not found in other populations.
📹 The Choctaw Nation: An Untold Journey Through Time
The Choctaws are indigenous Native Americans who were part of the “Five Civilized Tribes” which included the Chickasaws, …
Two minutes isn’t nearly enough time to tell their incredible story. I am Chickasaw with Choctaw and Creek ancestry. The Choctaw are our brothers. We were once united as one tribe that originated from the Northwest and Mexico. Our tribes share land beside each other In Oklahoma. The generosity and compassion of the Choctaw people are legendary.
I grew up with my mom who’s mostly Dutch, but from her father’s side French/Italian. I just found out my dad is a mix between African American and Choctaw, I love having a Native American heritage ❤ America is soo beautiful, it’s just sad that they ruin the beautiful nature of the landscape by poisoning it with agriculture and farming 😢
I’ve always been impressed with the Five Civilized tribes. They could have, and should have, been integrated into the United States, but greedy people wanted their land for cotton production. The trail of tears is one of the worst chapters in American history. However, like the Germans after the 2nd world war, they rose from the ashes to create a nation.
I am so proud to be part Choctaw. It is so awesome. I love my Native American heritage always keep your culture never let your culture go even if you didn’t grow up on your culture find out where you came from of culture is very, very important. A lot of Native American tribes have Wasser culture but if they can somehow get their hands on it and learn about it, always keep it and always learn about it. Teacher kids about it teach me they came from because being Native American is a blessing and I can also be a bad thing, but the good part about being Native American we have so many different beautiful styles of life It is awesome being Native American if you are Native American learn about your heritage if you’re a part of any culture wearing about it because of you it’s a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful beautiful thing
Trail Where They Cried. The Trail of Tears. I do not know what the Cha ta Sia called it but not the Trial of Tears. None of the tribes received any “Trial.” And the Choctws knew what Hernando De soto was before he got there. There are Natchez descendants among the Cherokee to this day. Didn’t wipe them all out. And the Irish people will never forget what the poorest people in the Nation at the time did for them. My Irish grandmother and her family loved and thought allot of her native husband in a time when people did not.
My Great Grandmother was a Choctaw Indian who lived to be 96+yrs. Moving to Ohio with her Daughter (s) my Grandmother and 5 Sisters. My Grandfather( my Grandmother’s ex husband ) had 3 Sons born and raised in Weir Mississippi before moving to Ohio she raised them in Ohio one of the Sons being my Biological Father until his passing in 2016 & the Eldest Son recently passing Sept. 1, 2024 at the age of 94❤RIP . My Grandfather owned his own land as a Sharecropper where there was a Street named after him. He remained there & remarried and had other children that some have since passed on & have lived past their 90’s. My Grandmother lived a Great Life along with her Sisters and lived past her 90’s. I have one left that is the youngest of the three Sons. My Grandfather continued to live in Weir Mississippi until he passed away in the mid nineties. I’m still learning about my Heritage and History of my Family’s history in the Choctaw Tribe and also The Heritage of the Cherokee Tribe on my Mother’s Side. There’s still some history to be learned from my heritage that I only learned while those that have gone on bestowed the knowledge of history to me. It’s great knowing where your ancestors came from. Start your journey and learn about your ancestor’s history and where your Bloodline begins & ends. You’d be surprised where the Journey will take you. Be Blessed 🙏🏾
I love this, it’s very helpful as I just decided to locate my great great great grandfather who I have roughly been told about my whole life, living in Oklahoma after so many years I FINALLY decided to look into him, upon further research I learned his daughter my great great grandmother is on the Dawes roll, the only family I’m aware of on it so I’m waiting to here back from Choctaw nation so I can get my CDIB. So many generations from my family missed out on being connected to the tribe, I look forward to being the first in my family to get back into it, learning and being apart of such a beautiful culture.
My wife is Choctaw and she knows about the Wagas who were already in North America when the Asiatics crossed the Bering Strait. The Solutreans crossed Atlantic ice sheet 20,000 years prior to the Asiatics, and still survive in the oral traditions of many tribes!!! This is precisely who the Spanish encountered so many Caucasians who were already here upon their delusional Christian fervor. When they wouldn’t convert to Christianity California the Sephardic murano and converso conquistadors basically just genocided them along with the Asiatics. it’s a fascinating history that almost no one knows about because it covers up the Zio crimes even then
I have a great-great grandmother who was Choctaw. I inherited my mtDNA from her. While working on a Lakota Sioux reservation I was asked if I was white, which greatly honored me, for where I grew up none looked quite like me. Being without much body hair was a give away, as were facial features and tall, straight body. Yet 23 & Me found no Native American. Told me all I needed to know about their services.
I have a question, while perusal this and several similar articles, a purple strip pops up that says best I can see “unauthorized article”. In this article, it popped up about 10 times. One it is annoying, 2), it affects the power on my TV causing it to display the website. Who is putting this pop-up in the article? Is it the article creator? Is it YouTube? Why? Apparently, the article is authorized as I watched it. Is it some type of protection from someone selling or copying the article? Is everybody seeing the purple pop-up or just some people?
Wow; you really need to study the history of the civil war, as well as understand that the reason the United States Government took away the rights of the Indigenous Nations to have tribally owned land territory, was because whites were also wanting the Indian Territory lands, and if each Choctaw were forced to accept a single land allotment, the People of the Choctaw Nation would lose most of the land they had owned as a Tribally owned land. The US Government also told members of the Southeastern Tribes of the Southeastern North America that they would not be forced to relocate to Indian Territory if they agreed to give up the ownership of their jointly owned land and accept individual allotment of lands. This was after most of the Indigenous Native Nations had lost the majority of their land in broken treaties, and outright land theft. Just like the Choctaw People, the members of other Indigenous Nations in the Southeast, including Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole and the Creek Confederacy, were told they could remain only if they agreed to give up their Tribal Lands, and settle for some small land allotment and agree to live “as white people lived”. I am descended from these people, and your crazy history her is such a biased, and inaccurate portrayal of the history of the Choctaw and other Nations of the Southeast as to be a travesty to truth, and the very real genocidal acts enabled by the Indian Removal Laws enforced even after John Ross, Chief of the Cherokees, had won a legal suit put before the United States Supreme Court granting the Cherokees the right to remain on their lands in perpetuity.
This article should be deleted. Everything is wrong, I’m Choctaw. I was taught about two-brother who separated due to the guiding post (branch). It never stood straight. The clan was led by both twin brothers. One simply because tired of being nomadic and the other did not. One brother left with brother A (to form the CHICASAW) and the other remains Choctaw and quit being nomadic. The tribe was split about 50/50. It’s the trail of tears not trial. 5-year old know that correctly. Choctaw people did not encourage outer tribal marriage and is one of the most discriminatory tribes currently still recognized by the federal government, despite being the first to accept and adapt to the life of white men.
So the US government was going to give the Durants 640 acres? 😂 that is not even 1/10 of the acreage the Durants already owned in Mississippi. The Durants owned 7,000 acres in Mississippi and were harassed until they were forced to go on the Trail of Tears after divesting their holdings in Mississippi. Durant, Mississippi is named after my 5x great grandfather Captain Louis Durant.
They came from China walking and the way home became flooded 10,000 years before coloumbus, they divided and became the American natives or they came through the kelp Beds which was more likely and just decided to stay it was so beautiful here. That’s how all Indians got started they came from China about 10,000 years ago now we found evidence that even 20,000 years ago there were people
It’s spreading all over YouTube that this is a Africa American tribe, and so are most others, if I recall history correctly Tulsa oklahoma was once a creek tribes village, and the army massacred and removed the creek, and what happened is a black Wallstreet covered the tribes land, probably graves and spiritual spots but the mother is just keeping them safe till we reset again.
I know about North America, Central America, South America. I never was aware there was a South-Eastern America. The narrative confounds the territory of the US of America and the Americas. It sounds like a collage of tales read in books and illustrations are erratic and miscellaneous. Nothing much to do with a serious documentary 🦉
Terrible, disrespectful pseudo-documentary based on poorly researched information, misinformation and lies. The depictions of the indigenous people are whitewashed and racist. Only a small few of the pictures and artwork depicting the indigenous people used were accurate. Webster’s Dictionary 1828 defines the “Native American” as “Amer’ican, noun A native of America; originally applied to the aboriginals, or copper-colored races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America.