More Heritage Discovered - Day 3

July 13th- 7:00am – Breakfast
Morning- Cherokee Farm and Traditional Games
Noon- Meal in Cherokee
1:00pm – Depart for Charlottesville, Virginia (Meal on road )

10:00pm –Arrive Charlottesville

A Poem: Wake Up In a Land Of Dreams

Wake up in a land of dreams;

Enchanted with mountains hollows and streams;
Where morning sun becomes your friend;

And the gentle breezes of the four winds whisper for the day to begin;
An eagle and a hawk soon soar above;
While well below are the calls of robins and doves;
A whitetail deer heads home on an early morning trail;

While young squirrels spend the day hiding behind trees as they chase each others tails;

On a lazy afternoon in the mountains a black bear takes a nap;

After a delicious meal of ants and termites and a dessert of honey sap;

For a moment evening sun sits on a mountain top before he descends down;

And pretty soon native night creatures will be the only sounds;

Then the mountains become covered with a smoky mist;

As nature gives the land a good-night kiss;

Every star is lit as they sparkle throughout the night;

And treetops dance in the water with shadows by the moon light;

And soon the land of Cherokee becomes quiet;

Until morning, nature says goodnight.

Frank Goss, 2006

Possible Cherokee Games we might be playing, but not for sure:

A-ne-jo-di, or the Stickball Game, is a very rough game played by not only the Cherokee, but many other Southeastern Woodland tribes and it is also popular with many Canadian First Nations. The game resembles the modern European game of lacrosse. This game is a pre-requisite before a Cherokee Stomp Dance can begin, but it is also played socially or competitively without the Stomp Dance occurring in conjunction with it.

Di-ga-da-yo-s-di or Marbles is another popular Cherokee game, which is played in tournaments. The marble game dates back to approximately 800 a.d., and is a complex game of skill and strategy played by adults on a five-hole outdoor course. The "marbles" aren't the small shooters used by kids today. They were carved from stone until the early 20th century. There are still a few traditional marble makers, but today most people use billiard balls to play this game.

Find out more about Charlottsville at http://www.charlottesville.org/