This is my world, and as I change and grow into the person that I want to be, I'm documenting my life, just in case something magical happens, and I can share it with others.
I fucking love this movie so much you have no idea.
My great grandmother. I wish I could have met her. Black and Choctaw.
We were never taught about the Choctaw culture or the language, I wish we were. :/ Sometimes
I get sad and feel like I’m at a cultural loss on that side because I really wish I was connected to it instead of struggling to find and pick up the broken pieces of my bloodline.
Perhaps the most characteristic feature of present-day Choctaw traditional dress, both male and female, is the cutout appliqué’ work noted above in connection with the men’s shirts and the women’s dresses and aprons. There seems to be a limited number of designs employed in this type of ornamentation. Buster Ned supplied the following interpretation of some of these appliqué’ designs.
1. The diamond design, is derived from the markings of a diamondback rattlesnake. (note added) “Because of the medicine derived from them”.
2. The Saint Andrew’s cross design, X, according to Buster Ned, derives from the Choctaw stickball game (kebutsha): “In years past [the player] when the game was over… Would hang the sticks on the walls of the house, and put [them] in the shape of an X. the design means “May our paths cross again and again.” The Saint Andrew’s cross design is also commonly seen in beadwork.
3. The half-diamond design, according to Buster Ned, “is derived from, [the] life of the people. The Choctaw people believed in the Great Spirit (God) in that their life followed an imaginary road. [The design symbolizes] that when they give aid to someone sick, they come off this imaginary road, and when the sick was well, he returned to this road and continued,. [Likewise] when he did something bad, he again left the road, only he was on the opposite side, thus the half diamond design.”
Or
4. The road design, according to Buster Ned, represents the “road of life” which one travels in his or her span on earth, as mentioned in connection with the half diamond design above.
5. The circle design, O, represents the Choctaw tribe. Buster Ned comments: “The Choctaws believed, and still do, that we live in a circle (imaginary) and that, in this circle, a man or woman cannot talk about (gossip) or tell bad tales on another Choctaw. If this happens then this is…Passed on until [within] a short period of time the person who did the talking finds himself or herself being shunned by his fellow tribesman and he then “out of the circle” and he’ll be wondering why.”
6. The ball design, filled in circle, represents the ball used in the Choctaw stickball game. According to Buster this design was worn only on the garments of the male stickball players. This design is apparently obsolete, as I have never seen it in use in either Mississippi or Oklahoma. It is nevertheless clearly identifiable as a representation of the Choctaws in neatly covered with interwoven rawhide or a leather strip, which explains the interior line work in this design.
7. The reversal spiral or “coiled snake” design. This design represents the giant horned serpent of southeastern mythology coiling and uncoiling. It is definitely prehistoric in origin, as it appears as a pottery design on vessels from the Mississippian archaeological culture. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was in wide spared use as a beadwork design on baldrics. I have observed it on baldrics collected form the Cherokees, Creeks, Alabamans, and Coushatta’s as well as from the Choctaws. at present it continues in use only among the Choctaws. In 1965 I collected a baldric from Wilson Morris, of the Bogue Chitto Community in Mississippi, which employs the reversed spiral motif together with design 2, the Saint Andrew’s cross. The reversed spiral design is sometimes split into two parts or otherwise modified.
8. Another common beadwork design is the “friendship” design, identified by Wilson Morris.
9. The sunburst and sunburst enclosing a star are also common beadwork designs, but I did not secure any interpretations of their symbolism.
Ribbons - we were ribbons on the back of our dresses, most wear the 6 sacred colors
Pushmataha: Choctaw Warrior, Diplomat, and Chief
Choctaw chief, b. in what is now Mississippi, in 1765; d. in Washington, D. C., 24 Dec., 1824. He had distinguished himself on the war-path before he was twenty years old. He joined an expedition against the Osages west of the Mississippi, and was laughed at by the older members of the party because of his youth and a propensity for talking. The Osages were defeated in a desperate conflict that lasted an entire day. The boy disappeared early in the fight, and when he returned at midnight he was jeered at and openly accused of cowardice. “Let those laugh,” was his reply, “who can show more scalps than I can”; whereupon he took five from his pouch and threw them on the ground. They were the result of an onslaught he had made single-handed on the enemy’s rear. This feat gained for him the title of “The Eagle.”
After spending several years in Mexico, he went alone in the night to a Torauqua village, killed seven men with his own hand, set fire to several tents, and made good his retreat uninjured. During the next two years he made three additional expeditions into the Torauqua country, and added eight fresh scalps to his war costume. For fifteen years nothing is known of his history, but in 1810 he was living on Tombigbee river, and enjoyed the reputation of being an expert at Indian ball-playing. He also boasted that his name was Pushmatahaw, which means “The-warrior’s-seat-is-finished.” During the war of 1812 he promptly took sides with the United States. The council that decided the course of the Choctaws lasted ten days. All the warriors counselled neutrality, excepting John Pitchlynn, the interpreter, and Pushmatahaw. Until the last day he kept silence, but then, rising, said: “The Creeks were once our friends. They have joined the English, and we must now follow different trails. When our fathers took the hand of Washington, they told him the Choctaws would always be the friends of his nation, and Pushmatahaw cannot be false to their promises. I am now ready to fight against both the English and the Creeks… . I and my warriors are going to Tuscaloosa, and when you hear from us again the Creek fort will be in ashes.”This prophecy was duly fulfilled. The Creeks and Seminoles allied themselves with the British, and Pushmatahaw made war on both tribes with such energy and success that the whites called him “The Indian General.”
In 1824 he went to Washington in order, according to his own phraseology, to brighten the chain of peace between the Americans and the Choctaws. He was treated with great consideration by President Monroe and John C. Calhoun, secretary of war, and a record of his communications is to be found in the state archives. After a visit to Gen. Lafayette he was taken seriously ill. Finding that he was near his end, he expressed the wish that he might be buried with military honors and that “big guns” might be fired over his grave. These requests were complied with, and a procession more than a mile in length followed him to his resting-place in the Congressional cemetery. Andrew Jackson frequently expressed the opinion that Pushmatahaw was “the greatest and the bravest Indian he had ever known”; while John Randolph, of Roanoke, in pronouncing a eulogy on him in the U. S. senate, declared that he was “wise in counsel, eloquent in an extraordinary degree and on all occasions, and under all circumstances the white man’s friend.”
Choctaw people
Sorry for the out of character post, but I wanted to share this to a fellow Native:
For Natives (or non-Natives) out there looking for indigenous language resources, take a look at these and help preserve and renew our native tongues! I know how difficult it is to try getting involved when you live far away from any tribal contact, I live across the country from my tribes. Just keep your eyes peeled though, every year more outreach programs and resources are made available. Only specifically listed Choctaw and Chickasaw online resources because that’s all I’ve spent time researching. Also, these are only a few, there are more out there.
Native Languages - includes pages on many different North American languages and cultures
School of the Choctaw Language (Chahta Anumpa Aiikhvna) - Online lessons, classes, printed books and resources, word of the day, etc.
Choctaw Nation Language Page - Overview, sounds, common phrases
Choctaw Language Wikipedia Page - Surprisingly in depth basic grammar section
Chickasaw Language Videos - Children’s/introductory phrases and vocab videos, and videos about the Language Revitalization Programs and Master/Apprentice program
“Chickasaw Language Basic” App for iPhone/iPad/iOS devices - Phrases/vocab for many different contexts with audio of fluent speakers, highly recommended
On iTunes there’s also a free podcast on diabetes entirely in Chickasaw… if you wanted to listen to that… for reasons….
Chief Greg Pyle and Assistant Chief Gary Batton with the 2013-14 Little Miss Okla Chahta Skylar Carmack (via Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)
Andrew Garfield’s superhero moment at Comic-Con..
Guys…someone finally did it! They dressed up in a shitty version of their character…AND THEN REVEALED THAT THEY ARE THAT CHARACTER! ITS FINALLY HAPPENED
THIS MAN
THIRD TIME REBLOGGING
WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG WARTHOG
WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WARTHOOOOOOOOGVery nice
Thanks
y’all can say daeneyrs targaren but not quevanzhane.
fuck you, y’all asses been seent
“Patience” is all you need in order to make it through your natural hair journey don’t give up. Hang in there and before long you will start to see results.
Using castor oil has helped us achieve some of our hair goals and we will continue to do the challenge until we have achieved all our hair goals.
A Beautiful Disaster - Why I Embrace Natural Hair and Reject Weave | Poetry
