Article XXI - National Holidays and Celebrations
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHEROKEE AFFIRM THE RIGHT OF OUR MEMBERS TO WORSHIP CREATOR AS CREATOR COMMANDED US TO WORSHIP.
The Constitutional Cherokee shall celebrate the sacred historic festivals of our people and shall declare these days to be national holidays.
These national holidays are not meant to replace any religious observances based on the lunar calendar, however they are established in order to allow a larger number of our people to plan and to unite in celebration and are to be regarded as highly important religious festivals.
A Calendar or schedule of the times for these national holidays is to be published or announced every 7th year after approval by the National Council of Chiefs.
The Dates and circumstances of these Festivals are dealt with in the RITUAL section of the HANDBOOK.
The business meetings of our leadership shall not be conducted during the celebration of these ceremonies:
1. The New Moon of Spring,
2. The First Corn aka New Corn or sprouting corn,
3. The Ripe Corn,
4. The New Year Moon,
5. The Clan Festival aka the Friendship Ceremony or sometimes referred to as the Brush Arbor Celebrations
6. The Bounding Bush Ceremony,
7. The Chief Dance when the Ambassador is chosen.
We are Cherokee. We are descendants of Cherokee. However, if we do not endeavor to live in a manner consistent with Cherokee culture, then we will cease to be Cherokee.
The Constitutional Cherokee shall, when they host a festival, celebrate always and only in keeping with southeastern style culture and tradition and therefore no level of government shall ever host a pow wow or pan Indian festival. There shall be no sponsorship by any leader or level of government nor by any members of the Constitutional Cherokee of any tradition that was not celebrated by the Cherokee people prior to the removal period of the 1840s.
Churches did exist among our people prior to that date and therefore, we do not prohibit churches; however no Church denomination or Church organization may operate or conduct services among our people or within our historic homeland unless that church or organization is solely led by our members and all its leaders in every level are our own nations people and members. In addition, no Church organization or denomination may operate or conduct services among our members or within our historic homeland unless its entire membership is primarily comprised of our people. Furthermore, no minister or speaker shall conduct services within a church or church type organization unless that speaker or minister is also a member of the Constitutional Cherokee or else that speaker is a welcome guest of one of our enrolled members and that guest speaker is herself an enrolled member of any other recognized American Indian nation, tribe or band who has come to us in friendship and by invitation for a short and limited period of time.
We strongly encourage any indigenously led Church type organizations to meet in a manner that is in keeping with our style of culture and ritual.
At no time shall any member, whether that person be a member by documentation or by blood or by DNA or any other method, at no time shall any member of the Constitutional Cherokee engage in, host, particpate in, or otherwise endorse or encourage any native american indian ceremony that is not indigenous to the southeastern homeland. This includes the prohibition of the festival known as pow wow and any pow wow type event within the historic homeland.
Members shall certainly be allowed and free to participate in pow wow that is held outside of the historic homeland of the southeast or outside of the western homeland of the former IT of the Cherokee as a way of joining with others for whom the pow wow is their tradition and ceremony but the pow wow is not the tradition of the southeast and is not to be commemorated within the southeast by any member of the Constitutional Cherokee.
This is not because we feel pow wow is wrong. It is only improper for the southeastern homeland because the southeastern tradition is stomp, and not pow wow and we honor our heritage by doing OUR dances and our songs, not the dances and songs of others.
We may travel outside of our historic homeland boundaries and participate in a pow wow with friendly nations as gesture of goodwill, but this should not be construed as to mean that we view pow wow as traditional for the Cherokee people.
