TUPELO, Miss. (AP) - Around a towering blue-and-red pole in the middle of Fairpark, a crowd of fourth-graders, wooden stickball sticks in hand, learned about the history and rules of the Chickasaw’s stickball game from a Chickasaw Nation citizen.
Once the red ball was tossed into the air, the students chased after it in a flurry of eager shouts as they took part in the inaugural Chickasaw Celebration on a recent Friday hosted by the Chickasaw Inkana Foundation, the Tupelo-based nonprofit connected with the Chickasaw Nation.
Anna Fleming, fourth-grade special education teacher at Pierce Street Elementary, watched as her kids immersed themselves into what could be the first stickball game played in the Chickasaw Nation Homeland, Tupelo, since the Chickasaw removal in 1837.
“My kids wanted to know more about what the kids in this culture did for fun,” she said. “I think this stickball game gets kids moving and shows the sports other cultures participated in. It’s extremely important to teach them about other cultures because it enhances their learning, not only academically, but it enhances their character.”
Other than stickball, more than 1,200 students rotated through tents where they witnessed live demonstrations on beading bracelets and weaving fabrics while the Native American band, Injunuity, played music by the entrance of Fairpark.
In front of City Hall, students lined up, holding hands, as they followed a Chickasaw Nation citizen in a ceremonial stomp dance.
Before Averi Coleman, fourth-grader at Lawhon Elementary School, stomp danced, she made a cornhusk doll from scratch.
“It was pretty easy to make,” she said. “You take the cornhusk, fold it, add cornhusk arms and tied knots to put it all together. (The Chickasaw Nation citizens) told me that when they make things, they don’t try to do it for looks. They do it to be humble.”
Across Fairpark, Terri Haney, Chickasaw Nation citizen, prepared pashofa, the national food of the Chickasaw people.
“Pashofa is pearl hominy, dried corn and cubed pork, or any kind of meat of your choice,” she said. “It’s boiled in a cast iron pot. It’s used in celebrations and ceremonies.”
To be back in the homeland, Haney felt emotional. Traveling from Ada, Oklahoma, she felt a sense of pride to be back where Chickasaw history and culture began.
The partnership with the city of Tupelo and the Chickasaw Nation, she said, furthers the support.
“I’m glad to be able to educate our fellow citizens about our culture,” she said. “It’s important we be good neighbors to each other so we can all move forward in growth and prosperity.”
The Chickasaw Celebration began as a partnership with the Chickasaw Inkana Foundation - the Tupelo-based nonprofit dedicated to preserving the heritage, history and culture of the Chickasaw people - and the Chickasaw Nation.
Gov. Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation, and Brad Prewitt, executive director of the Chickasaw Inkana Foundation, wanted to start the process of expanding cultural knowledge to the children in the homeland.
“Our history is intertwined with this community. I think it’s very important for them to know more than the recent history, to go back and understand who actually was here before the state was formed,” Anoatubby said. “It’s good for us because we like to share. Our people enjoy sharing things with students.”
Prewitt felt exhilarated to see students smiling and playing stick ball outside of City Hall amidst the Piomingo statue.
“We have energy from the school kids to the uplifted spirits of the Chickasaw citizens who are demonstrating their culture and talking about their history and speaking in their language,” he said. “It’s really been more than we expected.”
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Information from: Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, https://djournal.com
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