Green Corn Ceremony Research Paper

In my research about the Choctaw Indians, I found that they had many cultural practices, but the most significant ceremonial practice to them was the Green Corn Ceremony. The reason that this ceremony was extremely meaningful to them is because corn (maize) was their single most important food. “The Green Corn Ceremony,” was held within the south-eastern region of North America which is known in present time, as Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana in which they dwelled (Ojibwa 1). I chose this topic about the Choctaw Indians, since it is a part of my lineage, and the importance of them practicing this particular ceremony interested me, as I relate parts of my spirituality to my ancestors the more I learn about them. Native Americans have

always had a spiritual connection with the Creator and belief systems long before the Europeans came with their teachings about God and Christianity. The Green Corn Ceremony is of the utmost importance to the Choctaw Indians due to its social and spiritual relevance.
The Green Corn Ceremonies (dance) dates back to “unknown centuries,” (The Green Corn Ceremony: School of Choctaw Language 1). However, in a book titled “Choctaw Women in a Chaotic World,” the author Michelene Peasantubbee, writes that “the roots of the Green Corn Ceremony among the Choctaws extend back to the origin of the corn” (no date is specified with the origin of the corn), when they first received corn from Ohoyo Osh Chisba, “The Unknown Woman, a beloved being” (118-119). While there is much to be said about this unknown woman and her impact on them, receiving good corn was their motivation for celebrating the ripening of the corn, especially when the kernels of the corn crop filled out and could be “roasted and eaten” (Choctaw Religion 1). Before European invasion, the Choctaws Green Corn Ceremony was “the heart of their social and ceremonial world.” It was a time of renewal and
2
forgiveness, sharing and thankfulness, and an expression of gratitude towards God for the corn. It also was about welcoming the New Year through purification and regeneration of the sacred fire (Peasantubbee 117).
Purification was a ritual cleansing of the “whole world of the Choctaws.” All fires were put out, including the main village fire, and the participants would fast and drink a black tea made from “yaupon shrub” that would cause them to release any toxins from their bodies (Akers 65).

The Green Corn Ceremony was originally performed during different parts of the year starting in late July and August, or early September as a religious practice. The ceremony was a means of “strengthening social bonds” by uniting towns and recognizing the contributions and significance of everyone; men and women, children and elders. During the ceremony, the most significant part was the lighting of the fire (Akers 65). The Choctaw sacrificed corn to the fire as an offering of “thanks to the spirit of the sun.” The Choctaw viewed fire as an “informant” to the sun, who possessed the power of life and death (Peasantubbee 128).They were a society that believed in harmony and balance. For example, if mankind overhunts game, they “impair the balance” between man and other creatures. The only means to restore harmony and balance was by going to the water, and bathing in it every day as it was their custom (Akers 66). Therefore, the ceremony was a time of giving and exchange. In other words, each clan came together and reviewed each person’s consensus for the year. Those who were found in good standing were complimented, and others who were found in wrong doing had to clear

their

3
offences and any hard feelings that they had committed against another person. Once the issues were settled at the Green Corn Ceremony, they were considered erased eternally.
As it is not exactly clear when the Ceremony began for religious purposes, except for speculation that it started with the origin of the corn, it is believed to have started declining as early as the mid seventeen hundreds, as observed by historian and medical doctor, James Adair (The Green Corn Dance: School of Choctaw Language 1).

The reason for its decline had nothing to do with being banned or forbidden by the French colonization, as it did with the population loss and stress that the Indians were facing as a result of being pulled into an ongoing military conflict between the French and English (Peasantubbee 126-127). However, the Green Corn Ceremony with regards to its religious practice, continued among some Choctaw communities, and in the “eighteen thirties,” it was carried from Mississippi, over the Trail of Tears and reestablished in Oklahoma (The Green Corn Dance: School of Choctaw Language 1). Certain parts of the ceremony today, as in the past, is not for public observance as the corn was considered a sacred gift from the beloved unknown woman, Ohio Osh Chiesa as mentioned above. Also, in order to keep their cultures thriving, many Choctaws who did not want to assimilate into “surrounding Euro-American society” held on tightly to their traditional ways (Lucy

Cherry).
The Choctaws Green Corn Ceremony usually began with a week’s preparation of the men hunting different kinds of animals that roamed the earth as we see today, squirrels, deer, bears, etc., and of course, green corn harvested from the fields according to Choctaw participant
4
Cherry Lucy’s documented account, held at “Cavanal in the Sugar Loaf Mountains, possibly in the late eighteen hundreds (The Green Corn Dance: School of Choctaw Language 1). Before the food was prepared by the women, everybody gathered together in their “square,” and the top spiritual leader would light the new village fire which “symbolized the beginning of a new year” (Choctaw Religion 1). Afterwards, the women would go home and light their own fires, then prepare the food for the feast. The ceremony lasted between two to eight days, as there tends to be a variance in my research material. It is fair to say that based on firsthand knowledge from Choctaw Participant Lucy Cherry, the ceremony lasted for four days, and was conducted on a Dance ground free of any debris.
The first day of the event was spent setting up camp and socializing with friends who had come for the celebration. On the second day, they fasted and purged their bodies, and then the men and women were bathed separately in a cleansing herbal solution. The third day, the fast was broken with the feast, and in the evening the important part of the “Stomp Dance” began. It is announced by a beating drum, and then a man takes place on the dance ground near a center fire and begins to pray in their language, thanking God for the blessings that have been bestowed upon the communities. Afterwards, a male caller would lead the vocal portion of the dance, and other male dancers would echo his lead. The women would dance with a creative double step, keeping beat with the turtle shells fastened to her lower legs, while the men wore turtle shells fastened to their upper legs according to Cherry. The men and women dressed in their finest regalia that were fashioned after the southern Caucasians in the nineteenth
5
Century. However, it would be unfair not to mention that certain component parts of the men and women’s apparel are made exclusively and articulately in a Choctaw style (Howard and Levine 30). The ceremony would last to sunrise, and on the fourth day of the ceremony, before leaving camp, time was spent with friends and relatives.
In concluding, originally when the Green Corn Dance was practiced among the Choctaw Indians, it was done in reverence to God and the “unknown woman” for the corn and blessings upon the community throughout the year. As Europeans colonized their land, continuing their ceremony was a way of staying connected to their cultural identity and each other socially, since they were made to feel that being “Choctaw was shameful” (Dancing to Reconnect 1: School of Choctaw Language). Although the Green Corn Dance slowly ceased as a religious ceremony approximately by the end of the eighteenth century, they started having annual fairs during harvest time in which many modern day Choctaw consider to be a revised form of the ceremonial practice (Dancing to Reconnect: School of Choctaw Language 1). The author of “Choctaw women in a Chaotic World,” Michelene Peasantubbee, notes in her book that the first documented fair among the Mississippi Choctaw took place in the fall of 1935, at Tucker Community in Mississippi. In 2007, it is documented in the School of Choctaw Language, an authorized web site of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, that after a seventy year break, a new Dance Ground was opened on the “Tuskahuma Council House Ground” (2). This is a meeting place for the Choctaw people and members of other tribes, to frequently come together for

6
Stomp Dances, feasts, and traditional fellowship. In essence, it is a time of participation not performance, in remembering and reconnecting with the times before their world was shaken with indescribable violence from men that came with guns and bibles in the name of Christianity! When they dance, their hearts beat as one, and their ancestors smile as they feel their children’s heartbeat with every stomp; as they are determined to keep their cultural identity alive.