At
one time, the Senecas celebrated a "Strawberry Festival," which
proceeded the Green Corn Dance. Just as corn was nature's first
vegetable, the strawberry was the year's first fruit. Some of
the early visitors to the Cherokees commented on the abundance
of strawberries and the festive atmosphere of the spring gathering.
Take William Bartram, for example.
****************
When
William Bartram traveled through the Nantahalas of western North
Carolina in the 1760's, people told him horror stories. It was
not a good time to be prowling the dark coves and mountain valleys
of the Cherokees. "Find someone to accompany you," they told
him. "Someone who can explain what a botanist is." The little
Quaker tried, but even the seasoned mountaineers turned him
down. "You are on a fool's mission," they told him. "Go home."
So, Bartram went alone.
In
the beginning, when Bartram looked up from his sketches to find
himself surrounded by silent Cherokees, he smiled and told them
that the Governor of South Carolina "sent his greetings," and
Bartram would inquire, "How is my friend, Chief Attakullakulla?"
It seemed to work, and then he would explain what he was doing.
A translater would explain that Bartram felt that plants contained
the means to heal human suffering. The Cherokees would smile
and nod. "Yes, we know," they would say.
Gradually,
the suspicion of the Cherokees faded, and they followed Bartram,
watching his sketch flowers and pluck specimens Within a few
months, the word spread from village to village. Do not harm
"Poc Poggy," the flower hunter. See that no harm comes to him.
The botanist moved from Nikwasi to Hiwassee, and found Cherokee
elders and crowds of children coming to greet him on the path
to the next village. "Are you Poc Poggy?" they would say. "Come,
you will be our guest tonight."
In
the woods, the Cherokees watched Bartram rush to and fro, alway
excited, asking, "What do you call this plant?" The Cherokees
would tell him. "What do you use it for? In Pennsylvania, we
call this a cucumber tree and that.....is a Venus fly trap!
Do you think a plant is aware as human beings are? I think God
lives in this plant!" The Cherokees said that they thought so,
too.
One
afternoon in 1773, a group of Cherokee youths told Bartram of
a great valley where all the women of the village had gone to
pick the "fruit from heaven." The young men offered to act as
Bartram's guide, and in a short time, he found himself in the
midst of a magnificent strawberry field near the Little Tennessee
River. In the company of his guides, Bartram hid in the undergrowth
and watched a large number of scantily clad Cherokee maidens
fill their baskets with the wild fruit. The maidens, unaware
of Bartram and his companions, frolicked, swam, and ate strawberries
while others happily chased their companions, "staining their
lips and cheeks" with juice. It was a sultry day, Bartram noted,
and many of the innocent maidens were "disclosing their beauties
to the fluttering breeze." The young men grew "warm and excited,"
and Bartram explained it, "passion got the better of reason,"
and they gave chase to the women who became frightened and hid
in the undergrowth.
A
group of older matrons who had accompanied the younger women
to the strawberry field began to loudly berate Bartram and the
young Cherokees. You should be ashamed, they said. And you,
Poc Poggy! Why are you frightening these girls? Chastened, Bartram
and the young men gave up the chase. Then, beneath the watchful
eyes of the matrons, the girls ventured from hiding, proffering
their little baskets of ripe fruit. Bartram's account of this
event is rich in detail, and he remembered it for the rest of
his life. That "elysian field" where "sylvan nymphs" disported
themselves....and the taste of strawberries.
Since
the Seneca and the Cherokee share a common cosmology, as well
as corresponding festivals and rituals, it seems likely that
Bartram observed an event much like the lost "Strawberry Festival"
of the Senecas. Further, many of the ancient fragments of stories
among the Cherokees are identical to Seneca myths, with the
missing parts of each complimenting the other. So it is with
this story which is part-Seneca and part-Cherokee. In all likelihood,
before the cultures of the two tribes were shattered, this story
existed in a form somewhat like this. Let us pick up the shattered
pieces, like the beads of a broken necklace and re-string them.
Perhaps some beads are out of place; perhaps not, but see, it
is all a single piece!
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In
the beginning, there were two worlds: The celestial, or heavenly
world that floated like a great island in the sky, and the lower,
dark world where the forces of evil lived. The celestial world
was populated with beings in animal, human and plant forms All
had the power of speech and lived together in harmony. The earth
did not exist, or rather it was covered by a great ocean in
which gigantic fish and reptiles lived. The universe of the
Cherokees depended on harmony and balance. Light was balanced
by dark; celestial beings of goodness by "evil-thinking" creatures
who hid from the light of day beneath the dark waters.
In
the beginning there was no sun, but a great tree of light grew
in the center of the heavenly island. It lit the world of celestial
beings and cast its light down on the dark waters of the lower
world. So it was that the Grandfather of All Creation lived
by the Tree of Light where he tended the plants and cared for
the animals. Sometimes, the water fowl, the hawks and eagles
flew down to the dark waters of the lower world; heavenly turtles
and muskrats swam on its surface bathed in the pale light of
the heavenly tree. The Grandfather lead a solitary existence.
When his work was done, he sat like a sentinel by the Tree,
surveying his world around him and below. Sometimes he yearned
for company, perhaps a wife who would sit beside him in the
evening, watching the great birds flying beneath them.
Then,
the Grandfather of All Creation fell in love with a young woman
whose grace and beauty charmed him. Despite the difference in
their ages, he yearned for her. He uttered a great sigh which
blew like a summer breeze into the young woman's ear and she
became pregnant. He, then, told the young woman that she was
to have his child and he took her home to be his wife. But like
many old men before and since, the Grandfather of All Creation
found that he had made a mistake. The young woman laughed and
sang too much; and she talked incessantly. She asked too many
questions. Why do the leaves of the Tree of Light shine? Who
created the Upper World? Who named the plants? Grandfather was
still charmed by her beauty, but this incessant noise, this
constant laughter and questions!
The
young wife's chatter became so irritating, the Grandfather of
All Creation began to avoid her. Each time that he returned
home, he found everything out of its place. She talked to the
animals, uprooted the plants and disrupted the old man's orderly
life. If only he had married her when he was young and foolish,
also!
One
day when he returned home, he found that she had uprooted the
Tree of Light and was peering through the great hole down to
the rolling waters of the dark world. Many of the celestial
animals had gathered to watch and she talked excitedly about
what she saw.
It
was then that the old man lost his temper. While the young woman
was still on her knees looking through the great hole in the
floor of the heavenly island, he kicked her in the rump. Down
she went, falling straight through the hole. In her efforts
to stop her descent, she grasped frantically at the plants and
animals around the hole. Many things fell with her: heavenly
deer, rabbits and squirrels. Corn, beans and squash.......and
strawberries!
When
the birds of the upper world that were flying over the waters
of the lower world saw the young woman falling through the air,
they rushed to save her. They created a great, interlocking
blanket with their wings on which they caught her. But, where
should they put her? As they hung uncertainly above the deep
waters, a great turtle surfaced. "Here, place her on my back,"
he said. The Muskrat dived to the bottom of the ocean and brought
up mud which he placed on the turtle's back. The birds descended
with the young wife, henceforth known as "Sky-Woman," and placed
her on the surface of her new home, the Middle-World, or the
Earth. Here Sky-Woman lived surrounded by the plants and animals
that fell with her. When she touched the earth that Muskrat
had brought, it grew in all directions, becoming the bountiful
earth that we know.
Eventually,
she gave birth to a daughter who became the wife of a celestial
being and gave birth to twins, "Good Thinking" and "Evil Thinking."
The daughter died in childbirth because "Evil Thinking" refused
to be born in the normal fashion and emerged from her armpit.
When the daughter was buried, corn grew from her breast, squash
from her stomach, beans from her fingers and potatoes from her
toes. (Some Senecas object to this story, saying that corn,
beans and squash were originally three beautiful women who fell
to Earth with Sky-Woman. The trio went everywhere together,
singing and laughing. Eventually, they lost their human form,
but exist down to this day as vegetables. However, they still
enjoy each other's company and seem to thrive when planted together.)
The
earth became a lush garden filled with giant vegetables and
animals. However, after the birth of "Good Thinking" and "Bad
thinking," life began to degenerate. For every blessing bestowed
by Good Thinking, a corresponding bad characteristic would be
created by the envious brother. Thus, corn has been touched
by blight and the fish created by the good twin were filled
with bones by the evil brother. Some of the plants that fell
from the Upper World chose to remain on earth. Consequently,
the celestial inhabitants are envious of a few earthly plants
which no longer grow in the Upper World, such as tobacco, and.....
strawberries.
There
is an old Cherokee myth about the first man and woman. After
living happily together for some time, they had a quarrel. Harsh
words were said on both sides, and finally the wife announced
that she was leaving.. Grabbing a few belongings, she set out
at a rapid pace. "I am going to find another place to live,"
she told her husband, "You are lazy and pay no attention to
me." In a short time, the husband regretted his harsh words
and tried to overtake his wife so he could apologize. Eventually,
he realized that she was too far ahead, and he appealed to the
Great Spirit to help him.
"Slow
her down, Great Spirit," he said.
Touched
by the man's anguish, the Great Spirit intervened. As to whether
he caused various berries to spring up in lush profusion along
the wife's path, or if he merely influenced the wife's choice
of direction, the result was the same. The wife began to encounter
berries: huckleberries, blackberries, blueberries. She was not
tempted. On she hastened, intent on her journey until she came
to a field of strawberries. Here, she stopped, and as she plucked
and ate the "fruit of heaven," she forgot her anger. Finding
a basket among her belongings, she quickly filled it, and retraced
her steps. The man hurrying on his way, was surprised to see
his wife returning, and lo! she was smiling! Her hand dipped
into her basket, and she smeared his face with crushed strawberries.
He smiled foolishly, and muttered his thanks to the Great Spirit.
Taking his hand, his wife led him back down the path to their
home, feeding him strawberries on the way.
