Muscogee Creek Nation
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Since the arrival of Americans, the Muscogee Creek Nation has changed tremendously. We no longer dress up in head dresses and make sacrifices, but we do try our best to preserve and teach our culture and heritage. Today the Creek Nation is still an organized community with a leader, meetings, rituals, and a language.
Creek Indians can be found in many places today, and there is no definite way to tell that one is of the creek descent except by their blood. To declare yourself as a creek citizen you must first be able to “trace back to a direct ancestor listed on the 1906 Dawes Roll” (“Muscogee”). As the creek heritage passes from generation to generation a degree of blood is also passed down. To be considered a member of the Creek Nation you must have a certain degree of blood. This is proven with a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood Card (CDIB Card). From my observations I would say that you could tell a creek citizen by their dark complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes, but these characteristics could also be true for any other American Indian. Cheri Lollman a member of the Creek Nation says you can tell that someone is Native American by their “high cheek bones”. She also says that their “skin looks very rough leatherlike, from the stress of their hard life” (Lollman). To me the clothing of this community does not individualize them either, like it may have years ago. You might see some wearing native jewelry but they dress no differently than any other average citizen of the United States in blue jeans and a tee shirt.
A way that Creeks have kept their culture alive is by teaching and using the creek language. This is also a good way to tell that someone is a Creek citizen is by the use of the creek language. The language is not very prevalent among its members, but some do still speak it fluently. It seemed as though mainly the older members of the community knew it and the younger members recognized words but did not comprehend or speak the language. There are nineteen letters in the creek alphabet that combine to form the language (Lollman). From looking at the creek language, one word in creek seems to include multiple words of the English language. The language is most commonly heard in Oklahoma and Florida (Lollman). Most creeks, that know the language, are fluent in English also, so they usually only speak Creek when speaking to other creeks, or singing a hymn.
Today the main focus of the Creek Community is to preserve the history and traditions of the past. Most members do not want to loose touch with their past so they try their best to remember and pass down their ancestors rituals. The Muscogee Creek Nation does many things to preserve their heritage such as providing a huge library for reference for members and non-members, translation services, and language classes (“Muscogee”). The Muscogee Creek Nations headquarters are in Okmulgee, Oklahoma where many creeks can go to become registered with the Creek Tribe or receive benefits. The tribe gives benefits to its members such as health services, housing, and education to help the members survive in times of need. These services go to members that are living in poverty because they want to keep their heritage alive so badly that they are unwilling to get jobs and live in an economical world (“Muscogee”). The Muscogee Creek Nation has also began the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to preserve Native American Graves (Lollman). Besides what the Nation does, the Creek families preserve their heritage by passing down their stories and memories to their children and grand-children.
The best way that the Creek heritage is passed on, is through the closeness of the families. In my own family, many of the traditions we continue to celebrate and do would not have been passed on if it was not for the closeness of our family. My mother can make many native foods from growing up around her grandmother such as traditional Creek Fry bread; things that I know I will one day pass on to my children. I can still remember my great grandmother teaching my sister and I how to do traditional basket weaving, a tradition still taught in classes at the Creek Nation today. “Basket-weaving is one of the oldest known Native American crafts” and shows the diversity of tribes as the different styles of basket-weaving are still present today (Lollman). If families did not pass on our heritage, many of our native songs and dances performed at powwows would not be around to see or reenact today. Ultimately all of the traditions we have today would not be here if it was not for the families passing their knowledge and memories down.
Another way that many creek families have kept their culture alive is by still having traditional Indian burials and funerals. I recently had the chance to observe this type of funeral for the first time. From this experience I noticed many traditions that I had not known or even seen before. In the creek community according to Cheri Lollman, a death is seen as a “great accomplishment” in life, because they are now in a better place. Viewing of the body for my great- grandmother, like in many other communities, occurred two days before the funeral, in a funeral home. The next day the body was taken to the church where the wake and other private ceremonies were held. My great grandmother was taken to our family church, Randall Indian Baptist Church, on my familys land that was given to us by the Creek Nation. When the body arrived at the church a horn that sounded like a cows mooing was blown outside to announce the bodys arrival. This was also done when the body left the church and when a ceremony was about to begin. At the church there was a small service held for the family where the preacher lead us, the immediate family, in prayer. The church members provided the family with a traditional Indian feast with traditional foods such as Fry bread and dumplings. After dinner the family stayed at the church, greeting friends and other family members until it was time for the wake to begin.
The horn was blown again to signal the beginning of the wake. As we filed into the pews, the men went to the left