Keetoowah Nighthawk Society

The Keetoowah Society (ki-tu'-wa in Cherokee) were the spiritual core of the Cherokee people during their early years in Oklahoma Cherokee Culture, namely the early 1900's. This is not to be confused with the ancient Cherokee mother city of Keetoowah, North Carolina which existed during ancient times.

For current information on a religious movement called the Original Keetoowah Society by Keetoowah Nighthawk Ah-ni-gi-lo-hi (long hair clan) Elder John "Red Hat" Duke, and to view the The 1984 KJRH-TV documentary, "Spirit of the Fire", see John Red Hat Duke (Keetoowah Leader).

Etymology

The word "Keetoowah" is the name of an ancient Cherokee Township in the Eastern Homeland of the Cherokee, where all Cherokee originated after the migration and integration of various groups from the Great Lakes and Ozark Plateau Regions of the United States 3,000 years ago, based upon cultural and archeaological evidence. There is also evidence in the modern culture to suggest that the Keetoowah evolved an ancient hereditary preisthood called the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni who were a religious ruling class of the Keetoowah people and Cherokee Society for thousands of years.

According to Cherokee legend, when the population grew too large to sustain the Mother city, groups moved to new areas and created new Cherokee Communities and Mound Cities. The residents of the city of Keetoowah called themselves "the Keetoowah People". The ancient site of the Mother City of Keetoowah is still visible in Eastern North Carolina in the same general area as the Qualla Boundary. Keetoowah was an ancient "Mound" city and the mound is still visible at the ancient townsite. Moundbuilding was not confined to the Cherokee, but was a common defensive construction method of various Mississipian Cultures throughout the Mississippi Basin.

Some Cherokee traditionalists refer to themselves as Ah-ni-ki-tu-wa-gi (spelled variously in local Oklahoma dialects as Ki-tu-wa or Gi-du-wa), Keetoowah People. The addition of the verb stem modifier "gi" indicates the word Ki-tu'-wa-gi actually means, "a gathering or putting together of the Ki-tu'-wa people", since "gi" means "to combine" in the Cherokee Language. Most modern Cherokee speakers can no longer translate the word "Ki-tu-wa" as the meaning of the word has been lost. Ki-tu-wa means "the mother city" or "the center (spiritual center)" in the ancient Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni dialect. The word Ki-tu'-wa-gi, therefore, implies a religious or social gathering of the people. Honoring the mother city was analogous to honoring Selu, the Cherokee Corn Mother of the ancient Green Corn Ceremony, a concept that pervades Cherokee Culture.

During the Green Corn Ceremony practiced by the Cherokee, one of the two social dances performed is of ancient origin, and originated from the mother city of Keetoowah. The dance is caled "ye-lu-le" which means "to the center". During this dance, all of the dancers shout "ye-lu-le" and move towards the fire in the center of the sacred dance circle . This dance symbolizes the dispersal of the sacred fire given to the Keetoowah people by the Creator and the Thunder Beings in their ancient legends. During Green Corn ceremonies in traditional Cherokee Society, the coals of the central fire in the City of Keetoowah were carried to all the Cherokee communities and used to kindle the ceremonial fires for the dances in each Cherokee City or township. The home fires in outlying Cherokee communities were then extiguished before the ceremonies and re-lit from the coals of the fire kindled during the Green Corn Dances.

Culture

The 1984 KJRH-TV documentary, "Spirit of the Fire" documented the history of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society and their preservation of the traditional ceremonies and rituals practiced and maintained by the early Oklahoma Cherokee Society.

History

The Cherokee Nation was divided by the Dawes Commission in the early 1900's. The Dawes commission was tasked to force assimilation and breakup of tribal governments within Oklahoma by instilling the concept of land ownership with individual members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The commission divided large sections of land into tribal allotments in an effort to eliminate the traditional governments of the Cherokee, which at that time were based on a socialist form of government with the lands being controlled by the tribal government. As a consequence of the Dawes Commission programs and policies, the Cherokee culture and society was destabilized and strictly controlled, with presidentially appointed "Chiefs" of the tribe, who were reduced to tribal administrators and who imposed the will of the United States on individual Cherokee citizens in support of the Federal Governments attempts to force assimilation of the Cherokee.

Cherokee children were prohibited from speaking their own language in communal schools set up by the Federal government during the late 1800s and early 1900's. Over time, much of the Cherokee culture was lost. The remaining Cherokee during this period in history begin to adopt and integrate cultural practices of other tribes who were being forcibly removed into Oklahoma Territory.

Many Cherokee leaders and elders, in response to the cultural erosion that was occurring, formed a secret society, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, and practiced the ceremonies and gatherings of the people in secret, in order to avoid censure or reprisal by the United States. This group preserved much of the pre-removal culture, ceremonies, and beliefs of the Cherokee. In modern times, the society is fractured and is not affiliated with any particular Cherokee Nation, Band, or Tribe. Members of the fragments of the original society are affiliated with many Cherokee Groups in Oklahoma. Many of the modern groups claiming to represent the original Keetoowah culture have integrated Christianity and other new age beliefs into their religious practices.

Redbird Smith

Redbird Smith was an influential Nighthawk member and revitalized traditional spirituality among Cherokees, beginning in the mid 19th century. Today there are seven ceremonial dance grounds in Oklahoma and these either belong to the Keetoowah tradition or the Four Mothers Society. In Redbird Smith's time, there with well over twenty Cherokee Stomp Grounds.

Redbird Smith (Great Grandfather to Chadwick "Corntassel" Smith, current Principle Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) stated in the early 1900s:

"I have always believed that the Great Creator had a great design for my people, the Cherokees. I have been taught that from my childhood up and now in my mature manhood I recognize it as a great truth. Our forces have been dissipated by the external forces, perhaps it has been just a training, but we must now get together as a race and render our contribution to mankind. We are endowed with intelligence, we are industrious, we are loyal and we are spiritual but we are overlooking the Cherokee mission on earth, for no man nor race is endowed with these qualifications without a designed purpose... Our pride in our ancestral heritage is our great incentive for handing something worth while to our posterity. It is this pride in ancestry that makes men strong and loyal for their principal in life. It is this same pride that makes men give up their all for their Government."

Keetoowah Society Historical Trivia

One hundred and forty years ago a number of traditionalists came together and formed the Keetoowah Society. The organization still exists known as the Nighthawk Keetoowahs and they meet at Stokes Stomp Grounds near Vian. The Nighthawk Keetoowahs on the eve of the American Civil War came together and in their bylaws reflected eloquently the issue that faced the Cherokee People. In 1860, the Keetoowah Society wrote:

" We must not surrender under any circumstances until we shall "fall to the ground united." We must lead one another by the hand with all our strength. Our government is being destroyed. We must resort to our bravery to stop it.

...Few members of men of the society met secretly and discussed the condition of the country where they lived. The name Cherokee was in danger. The Cherokee Nation was about to disintegrate. It seemed intended to drown our Cherokee Nation and destroy it. For that reason we resolved to stop from scattering or forever lose the name of Cherokee. We must love each other and abide by treaties made with the Federal government. We must cherish them in our hearts. Second, we must also abide by the treaties made with other races of people. Third, we must abide by our constitution and laws and uphold the name of the Cherokee Nation."

In 1861 the Keetoowah Society enacted a provision, which stated:

"...if any urgent and important message from the Chief of the Cherokee Nation should be received by Head Captains to be looked into, it shall be the duty of the head captains to send up the message to all parts of the Cherokee Nation. If anyone, or any one of us Keetoowah is called upon or chosen to take a message for them he shall willingly without hesitancy respond to the responsibility."

Many Cherokee groups still refer to themselves as "Keetoowah (ki-tu'-wa) people." The original name used to describe all of the Cherokee People was ah-ni-yv-wi-ya, which means the human people .

"Back in Georgia from whence the Cherokees originally migrated to the Indian Territory in 1838 and 1839, the old Keetoowah group (City of Keetoowah) was dying out as early as 1835," (Tulsa Tribune, Dec. 28, 1928) stated John L. Springston Tulsa Tribune, Dec. 28, 1928).

Springston had served as a clerk and court reporter in the Saline District before Oklahoma statehood and was a Keetoowah Society Member.

In the early 1900's, anthropologists noted that on ceremonial occasions, Cherokees frequently speak of themselves as Ki-tu-wa-gi," (James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokees, 19th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington Government Printing Office, 1900, pg. 15)

Legends of the ki-tu'-wa people say that the name was given after seven of the wisest men (the seven priests of the ah-ni-ku-ta-ni) of the ancient Cherokees went to the highest peak and fasted for seven days and nights, asking the Creator for guidance. This peak is known today as "Clingman's Dome." On the seventh night of their fast, the Creator told them, "You shall be ki-tu'-wa (the spiritual center of the Cherokee People)."

(Benny Smith, The Keetoowah Society of Cherokee Indians, Masters Dissertation, Northwestern State College, Alva, OK, 1967)

Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Dugan confirms this, "One name for the tribe is 'people of ''ki-tu'-wa'." ("Where Myth Meets Reality," Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2004)

References

Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center, Tahlequah, Okalhoma.
Cherokee, ISBN 1-55868-603-7, Graphic Arts Center Publishing
Writings and History of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni, central archives, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Ah-ni-ya-wi-ya Religious Organization. HCR 64 Box 816, Grassy MO 63751
Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya Newsletters, Ah-ni-ya-wi-ya Religious Organization. HCR 64 Box 816, Grassy MO 63751
13 Moons On the Turtles Back. A Native American Year of Moons, ISBN 0-698-11584-8, Putnam and Grossnet Group, 1997

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