| Unlike
many events showcasing Native American culture, Cherokee
Heritage Weekend offers the opportunity to actually learn
Cherokee arts and crafts from authentic tradition-bearers from
the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. On Friday after supper,
we will gather for an introductory presentation on Cherokee culture.
On Saturday, participants can choose from a variety of workshops
including Storytelling, Language, Flute, Flute Making, Dance,
Medicine and Woodcarving, offered at several times during the
day. There will also be day-long classes in Pottery and Basketmaking,
and continuous demonstrations of such crafts as woodcarving, white-oak
basketry, flint-knapping (making arrowheads), fingerweaving, beadwork,
and blowgun-making. There is a materials fee of $15 for the Pottery
class and $25 for the Basket-making class and space is limited.
Workshops in archaeology will be also be available throughout
the day at our on-campus archaeological site in a bend of the
Swannanoa River, where one can view evidence of Native American
occupations and see many of the excavated artifacts dating from
as early as 4,000 B.C. That evening there will be a performance,
open to the public, showcasing Cherokee cultural arts including
dancing, Cherokee songs with drum and rattles, Cherokee gospel
singing, flute music, and even guitar and banjo. Sunday morning
will feature gospel singing, an important part of Cherokee musical
traditions for over 200 years. Performed in the Cherokee language
and in English by trios and quartets, these hymns are often based
on shape-note harmonies, and sung in both major and minor keys.
The festivities will conclude with a farewell lunch. The weekend
is coordinated by Dr. Barbara Duncan, in partnership
with the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and occurs in conjunction
with Warren Wilson College’s Cherokee Archaeology Field
School, our annual archaeological training program and site excavation.
The site has been studied since 1965, and is best known as the
location of an early Cherokee village that dates to circa A.D.
1200-1400. You can view photos and learn about the Field School
online at www.warren-wilson.edu/~arch.
You
can view classes here as well as
staff bios.
|
