Hickory Nut Tea and How We Used to Make It

Nationality: American
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired Nurse
Residence: Tulsa, OK
Performance Date: March 16th, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant is my grandmother, a Cherokee woman born in 1932. She worked as a nurse for her entire career, though has been retired for some time.

In this piece, my grandmother gives an explanation of how she used to make hickory nut tea during her childhood and talks briefly about who taught her the recipe.

M: I’m going to teach you how to make hickory nut tea.

Me: Okay [laughs]

M: You have to get a stump. You drill a hole into the stump.

Me: How big is the stump?

M: About to your waist.

Me: Okay, so waist high.

M: Yes. You drill a hole into the stump. Not all the way through, though. Then, you go and get hickory nut. You put the hickory nuts into the hole. Then, you take a mallet, which was a stick kind of thing. Then you start smashing the hickory nuts with the mallet.

Me: Okay.

M: Do you have this so far?

Me: Yes, ma’am.

M: Okay. Then you take the hickory nut out of the stump and put it into a cup of water, and then boil the water. You drink hickory nut tea in the fall. It’s a fall drink.

Me: Okay.

M: That’s how you make hickory nut tea.

Me: Where did you learn this?

M: My father. He would make it every year in the fall using this process.

In researching this, I found the small lump my grandmother is talking about is called “kenuche”. You place the kenuche in the water and boil it, according to her. Here is a website that mainly focuses on showing you how to make hickory nut soup, but still shows the process of how to make a “kenuche ball” in a more modern way: http://halfhillfarm.com/2013/10/13/recipe-cherokee-kenuche-ball-hickory-nut-soup/

There’s a lot to do in the process of making hickory nut tree. My grandmother describes it as a hard process: one that takes a lot of strength, patience, and perseverance. This recipe is probably something our great ancestors would make. My grandmother describes hickory nut tea as being a “fall drink”, meaning it relates to today’s “pumpkin spice latte”. It warms you up as the weather is starting to get cold, and was used by my ancestors for this specific reason. I don’t see my grandmother going out and making hickory nut tea through this process, but perhaps even knowing about it makes her feel connected to her past. She passes down the information not in hopes that we make hickory nut tea, but that we keep the knowledge alive, and so we don’t forget something our ancestors considered very important.

Cherokee Death Rituals

Nationality: American
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired Nurses
Residence: Tulsa, OK
Performance Date: March 16th, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant is my grandmother, a Cherokee woman born in 1932. She worked as a nurse for her entire career, though has been retired for some time.

In this piece, my grandmother talks to me about Cherokee death rituals, and what our family does when someone passes away.

M: There’s this ritual we Cherokees do when someone passes away. We did it when your grandpa passed away, and we did it for everyone since then.

Me: Okay, what is it?

M: We usually only do it with the boys in the family. When one of the men in the family die, we go and prepare the hole where they will be buried, but many times they won’t be buried for a day or two. So, all the older boys in the family, like your cousin Eric and Pat, go out and camp next to the grave to protect it from bad spirits.

Me: Oh, really?

M: Yes. Pat and Eric and Randy and them went out during that winter storm a few years back to protect your grandpa’s grave.

Me: So do they do this at every grave?

M: Mostly just those who are buried at the family cemetery.

Me: Who else is buried there?

M: My dad, his brother. My brothers. Your grandpa is the only Barber buried there.

Me: What does the rest of the family do while they’re out there camping.

M: Usually the night before the funeral everybody comes to someone’s house, like my sister’s for your grandpa’s funeral, and we sing songs.

Me: Any kind of specific songs?

M: Some old Indian songs. Songs from a long time ago.

Me: That’s really nice. It’s a sad thing, but it’s nice.

M: Yeah. I think your grandpa would have really loved his.

This ritual features a lot of different actions taken place by various members of the family. I think the reason the men are the ones who sit by the grave site comes from old traditions where men were the protectors. This was there responsibility, and in a way their honor, to protect the open grave so that their relative could have a peaceful rest, undisturbed by evil spirits. It kind of gives me “it was the least I could do” vibe. I also think singing songs is a way for the family to remember their loved one and what they liked. Songs are very important in people’s lives, and can reveal certain things about them: what’s said in the lyrics, what kind of song it is. It makes use feel connected in a way to hear the songs a deceased relative loved, because we know they would be listening to the song too if they could.

Knocking on Wood in Nursing

Nationality: American
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired Nurse
Residence: Tulsa, OK
Performance Date: March 16th
Primary Language: English

The informant is my grandmother, a Cherokee woman born in 1932. She worked as a nurse for her entire career, though has been retired for some time.

In this piece, my grandmother talks about being “jinxed” in the nursing profession and what she does to combat them.

M: We would always teach the younger girls about knocking on wood.

Me: Why would you knock on wood?

M: A lot of times they would be really happy with how their day was going, and would saying something like “today’s a really good day”, and us older nurses would hate that.

Me: Why?

M: Because we felt as if they were jinxing us. So we would make them go “knock on wood” to prevent the jinx.

My grandmother has never seemed like a superstitious woman, but perhaps in her profession, where there is a lot of luck involved, superstition comes naturally. A lot that happens in nursing is unexpected and not avoidable, so having superstitions is a way to make them feel as if they are somewhat in control of the situation.

Cherokee Myth of Fire

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Social Worker
Residence: Tulsa, OK
Performance Date: March 16th, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant for this piece is my aunt, who worked for the Cherokee Government for several years and is still heavily involved in the organization. She grew up in Tulsa, OK, but has also lived extensively in Tahlequah, OK.

In this piece, my aunt discusses the Cherokee myth of where fire came from. The story also explains why certain animals look the way they do.

AJ: Growing up, especially in your grandmother’s day, we didn’t really share stories from the old days. A lot of your ancestors saw those stories as going against the word of God.

Me: Because they had converted to Christianity.

AJ: Right, so those stories didn’t get passed around as much. I remember a couple. One of them was a story on how fire was made.

Me: Can you tell it to me?

AJ: Yes. I looked it up to make sure I was remembering correctly. Okay, so in the beginning there was no fire and the world was dark and cold. Then, the Thunders sent lightning and put fire in the bottom of a sycamore tree. This tree was located on an island in the middle of water, and the animals could not get to it, so they held a council to decide what to do. The White Raven offered to go, but when he landed on the sycamore tree, the heat of the fire scorched his feathers black so he returned without fire… so that’s how ravens became black, too.

Me: Interesting.

AJ: Okay… so the raven came back without fire. Next, the screech owl went, but when he looked down into the tree, a burst of hot air shot up and burned his eyes, which are red to this day. The hoot and horned owls went next, but the smoke blinded them and the ashes caused white rings to form around their eyes.

Me: So this is sort of the story of how we got fire and how animals came to look the way they did.

AJ: Yes! Isn’t it creative?

Me: Very.

AJ: The black racer and the black snake both tried but where both burned black for their efforts. Finally, the little water spider spun a tusti bowl on her back, and crossed the water to the island, and put one coal in her bowl and brought fire back to the animals. Isn’t that cool?

Me: Yeah. You’re right, it was very inventive. So, did Mimi tell you that?

AJ: Yes. I think I asked her about a story one time and that was one of the few she knew. Like I said, she didn’t learn many growing up, but I guess a few slipped out every now and then. We kind of hold on to them tightly since we have so little.

I think the major reason my aunt loves this story is the creativity involved in it. The way the story explains why some animals are the color that they are did not have to be included, but she appreciates that it was. I also think she likes it because it’s part of our heritage, and it makes her feel connected to her past that she tells this story. She might not feel as if she is as connected as she could be due to what she mentioned about how the stories were not passed down at one point, so knowing this story is extremely important to her. Personally, I think the story is very creative and it makes me proud to think that my ancestors were really great at telling stories, because that exactly what I want to do in my life.

Here is a website that also tells the myth: http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheFirstFire-Cherokee.html

Seagulls are Dead Sailors

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Social Worker
Residence: Tulsa, OK
Performance Date: March 16th, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant for this piece is my aunt, who worked for the Cherokee Government for several years and is still heavily involved in the organization. She grew up in Tulsa, OK, but has also lived extensively in Tahlequah, OK.

In this piece, my Aunt talks about how seagulls are dead sailors watching over you.

AJ: Did your mom ever tell you about seagulls?

Me: That’s a crazy way to start a sentence.

AJ: [laughs] I guess that’s true. Well, when I was thinking about folklore I remembered this thing I think your grandpa told me. It was after his brother Dean died, shortly before you were born. We were both really sad, and he had just come back from taking his ashes to California, and we saw a seagull. Now, we don’t see many seagulls in Tulsa, do we?

Me: Nope.

AJ: So I pointed it out to daddy and he told me something he learned in the Navy. He said that when a sailor dies, they come back to life as a seagull.

Me: Oh yeah, mom told me that after he died.

AJ: Yeah. I don’t think your grandfather necessarily believed in reincarnation, but I think he thought in some way maybe he could come back as a seagull.

Me: Is that why you like the idea?

AJ: Yeah, I think so. It’s a comforting thought, right? That he’s watching over us, even if it means he’s a bird. [laughs] Every time I see a seagull I think of him. You probably see them a lot in California.

Me: Yeah, especially after the tailgating.

AJ: [laughs] Well, next time you see one, it might just be your grandpa.

Much like a lot of the folklore I collected from both my mother and my Aunt, this piece relates to those we have lost coming back and being around us. I think my aunt finds comfort in the fact that my grandfather is watching her and is guiding her in life. It’s interesting, because if you asked my aunt if she believed in reincarnation, she would say no. Yet, this folk belief is can be considered reincarnation in a certain way. It’s always interesting trying to figure out where the line is in people’s folk beliefs and their religious beliefs, as some seem to contradict the other, yet it’s totally fine that they do.