The Green Corn Ceremony is an important Native American gathering. This passage will pertain solely to the Floridian Seminole ideas with some mention of Oklahoma Seminoles. Each tribe has their own rituals and traditions but are fairly all connected. To the Seminoles, the Green Corn Ceremony represents the first corn of July or August. Therefore, the special event is held every year to celebrate the growing season and a new year or new beginnings. The ceremony also depicts the community’s social and spiritual life as a whole. Which is symbolically linked with the return of summer and the ripening of the new corn.
The Green Corn Ceremony dates back as far as when the Seminole were a part of the Creek people. As stated the Green Corn Ceremony …show more content…
The Seminoles’ ceremony tends to last four to eight days. Some of the events that take place during the ceremony include stomp dances, games, adulthood rites for young boys who were of age during the year, and even marriage ceremonies. The specific spiritual and religious aspects of the ceremony include the stomp dancing (Green Corn Dance), fasting and purification, and a feast of thanks. As mentioned posketv also refers to the fasting, which is translated to "Green Corn" in English. As the ceremony commences so does the fast, for the time frame that the ceremony takes place the tribe members will not eat. Fasting was one of the principle ways of attaining spiritual purity. Instead, they also took part in drinking purgatives to rid their bodies of any impurities and negative energies that lingered in their bodies. A ritual most often performed by the Oklahoma Seminoles today. After the four to eight days of fasting the tribe will prepare a large meal to start off the new year and of course to give thanks for the corn they have received. A very important aspect of any Green Corn Ceremony is the Green Corn Dance, performed today by Floridian Seminoles. This very activity is performed for as long as hours at a time. Stomp dance, however, is not an indigenous term though it refers to the stomping pattern of the dance. In the Creek language, the dance is called opvnkv hacogee, which means spirited dance. The …show more content…
This includes even the village. Often old fires were put out, the villages were cleansed, and worn out pottery was thrown out. In light of renewal, a new fire would be ignited. A pure fire would represent the balancing of purity. The fast usually started on the first day of the ceremony and lasted until the second sunrise. Following the fast was the purging of the body of all impurities. Another form Seminoles would rid their bodies of impurities would be with the usage of snake fangs inserted into a wooden holder that would inflict deep scratches on their bodies, mostly their backs, the process was called scratching. It was also a time of court when people were to forgive others of all their crimes except murder. Also, sacred objects, such as brass and copper utensils and the medicine bundles, were renewed and widely demonstrated to the whole village. The medicine bundle plays an important role in the stomp dancing. The medicine man, or woman, is an important elder member of the Seminole tribe, seeing as before the Seminole people saw as disease being caused by evil spirits. The medicine man or another superior male member will often lead the stomp dance. The lead man is then followed by other male members both young and old. The lead will sing and the other men will answer his call in sing as well. The women will trail behind keeping rhythm with shaker instruments attached to their legs.
The Green Corn Ceremony dates back as far as when the Seminole were a part of the Creek people. As stated the Green Corn Ceremony …show more content…
The Seminoles’ ceremony tends to last four to eight days. Some of the events that take place during the ceremony include stomp dances, games, adulthood rites for young boys who were of age during the year, and even marriage ceremonies. The specific spiritual and religious aspects of the ceremony include the stomp dancing (Green Corn Dance), fasting and purification, and a feast of thanks. As mentioned posketv also refers to the fasting, which is translated to "Green Corn" in English. As the ceremony commences so does the fast, for the time frame that the ceremony takes place the tribe members will not eat. Fasting was one of the principle ways of attaining spiritual purity. Instead, they also took part in drinking purgatives to rid their bodies of any impurities and negative energies that lingered in their bodies. A ritual most often performed by the Oklahoma Seminoles today. After the four to eight days of fasting the tribe will prepare a large meal to start off the new year and of course to give thanks for the corn they have received. A very important aspect of any Green Corn Ceremony is the Green Corn Dance, performed today by Floridian Seminoles. This very activity is performed for as long as hours at a time. Stomp dance, however, is not an indigenous term though it refers to the stomping pattern of the dance. In the Creek language, the dance is called opvnkv hacogee, which means spirited dance. The …show more content…
This includes even the village. Often old fires were put out, the villages were cleansed, and worn out pottery was thrown out. In light of renewal, a new fire would be ignited. A pure fire would represent the balancing of purity. The fast usually started on the first day of the ceremony and lasted until the second sunrise. Following the fast was the purging of the body of all impurities. Another form Seminoles would rid their bodies of impurities would be with the usage of snake fangs inserted into a wooden holder that would inflict deep scratches on their bodies, mostly their backs, the process was called scratching. It was also a time of court when people were to forgive others of all their crimes except murder. Also, sacred objects, such as brass and copper utensils and the medicine bundles, were renewed and widely demonstrated to the whole village. The medicine bundle plays an important role in the stomp dancing. The medicine man, or woman, is an important elder member of the Seminole tribe, seeing as before the Seminole people saw as disease being caused by evil spirits. The medicine man or another superior male member will often lead the stomp dance. The lead man is then followed by other male members both young and old. The lead will sing and the other men will answer his call in sing as well. The women will trail behind keeping rhythm with shaker instruments attached to their legs.