CHEROKEES OF NORTH CAROLINA — GILBERT 541 



3. The Green Corn Feast of September when the corn crop was harvested ; still 



celebrated. 



4. The Great New Moon of October, which was called the Great Medicine Feast 



since at that time the leaves of many curative plants fell into the streams 

 and imparted their properties to the water. 



5. The Cementation of Reconciliation Festival at the end of October which 



involved cleaning of all houses, the use of new utensils, forgetting of 

 differences between people and cases of blood revenge, donning of new 

 clothes and exchange of clothes, pledging of eternal friendship and soli- 

 darity, and making of new fire (probably represented today by the 

 "Woman Gathering Wood" Dance) . 



6. The Exalted or Bounding Bush Feast, held in December, characterized by 



the waving of pine boughs; thought to survive in the Pigeon Dance of 

 later times. 



THE DANCE OF LIFE 



Dancing is of primary importance in the traditional Cherokee cul- 

 ture. It is difficult to gather up all its varied meanings into one sen- 

 tence, but it is possible to say that in the dance rhythms all the essen- 

 tial life activities are memorialized and the continuity of the race is 

 maintained. The so-called Friendship Dance, for example, gives one 

 the impression that for the Cherokee all the world is a ballroom and 

 all the men and women merely dancers, each with his exits and his 

 entrances. This is in a way a community opera in which the drama 

 and the music induce a state of emotional exaltation which commemo- 

 rates the ancestors and assures them of the loyalty of the present gen- 

 eration to the principles of the race. In the cheerfulness of the occa- 

 sion those who mourn find comfort. In the participation in com- 

 munity of demonstration the young as well as the old find a primary 

 life satisfaction. In the dance the familiarity with joking clan rela- 

 tives is carried on freely so that on such occasions the young people 

 may find their mates in the proper clans. 



Three musical instruments are employed: the skin drum, the tor- 

 toise-shell legging rattle, and the gourd hand rattle. The drum con- 

 sists of a barrel fastened with wooden hoops and with a groundhog 

 skin stretched across the top. The skin must be moistened at times 

 from the inside for proper tonal effects. Usually a little warming 

 at the fire will lessen the tautness of the skin. The diameter at the 

 top of the drum is 6 inches and at the bottom 8 inches, and the length 

 is about 12 inches. The beater is of carved wood and about 8 inches 

 long. 



In making a tortoise-shell legging rattle five terrapins of approxi- 

 mately the same size are caught and boiled and the flesh scraped out 

 four days later. Small gravel or pebbles are put in each shell and 

 the ends of the hinged parts are tied up with strings and set before 

 the fire until they harden shut. The tops are perforated with small 

 holes and strings put through them. Four terrapin shells are then 



