Kwe Thomas Trying to Learn,
I will try to share of my small knowledge. I am from the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma and was raised there in youth. Earliest memories include the yearly Green Corn.
No longer am I in the place of my birth and have not been to Green Corn in Oklahoma for many years. So you can see that I am not expert, but I will share. Green Corn is not exclusive to the Wyandotte. It is a Ceremony of the harvest time. Each year, all tribes in Oklahoma who wanted to participate in the celebration of harvest came together. I especially remember the Cherokee, as many of my friends were of that Nation. It lasted one week and all families "camped out". We laughed, danced in the evenings and sang late into the night. It was like a great family reunion and many families did use that time as the time of their reunions.
People came to sale jewelry, frybread, beaded items and feathers for the dance regalia. We would trade, purchase, or just give away items that we had made such as necklaces, headbands, bracelets, things made from the heart and soul. In the afternoons and evenings, the younger boys always lit firecrackers such as sparklers, bottle rockets or the black snakes that mysteriously grew into long black swirling ash. Sometmes the older boys had cherry bombs and if they could, would lite them and throw them into the water. The grandparents always scolded, but secretly smiled among themselves.
I loved to walk through the village of tents and tepees, watching the people put on their regalia for the evening dance. It was mesmerizing to see them fix their hair and put on the transforming feathers. The women braiding the hair of men sitting so straight on a log stump and the older women carefully laying out the evening clothes. Smoothing out the wrinkles of the clothing with their hands with a far away, loving look. Perhaps they were thinking about the days when they danced.
We were just being ourselves. No one required you to wear certain clothes. We were a village for a small season and we shared food, laughter and our hearts. It was a time to share, to sing, to dance.
your sister, A Wyandotte Woman |
