Cherokee Indians Traditional Beliefs

The Traditional Belief System- Lifestyle Cherokee Indians are a small portion of Native Americans, however their culture is slowly declining as time goes on. There are many Cherokee ancestry all around the world, including myself, but there are only around 288,500 federally recognized citizens that still belong to a Cherokee tribe. As this culture can seem difficult to understand from its complexity, it is actually quite simple. There are still many elements used today that are from the original system. Some of these elements have changed over time or been modified, this belief system is still a major part of day-to-day life for many people. The language that was used by past Cherokee Indians had many soft sounds, but also had a difficult writing system that contained many symbols. Present day Cherokee people speak English, however there are still some that use the traditional Cherokee language. Over the years, shelter for the Cherokee people has drastically changed. Olden time Cherokee Indians lived in traditional houses in settled villages, …show more content…
A majority of the Cherokee people were forced to give up lands east of the Mississippi River and move to Oklahoma in the 1800’s along the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. “Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died” (PBS.org). The Cherokee people who have ancestors that survived the death march still live in Oklahoma today. The Cherokees that were able to escape the Trail of Tears hid in the Appalachian Hills or took shelter with sympathetic white neighbors. The descendants of those people now live sporadically throughout the original Cherokee Indian