Two Cherokee festivals were held in honor of the mainstay of corn.
Before their removal from the southeastern United States to what is now Oklahoma, the Cherokee participated in six annual festivals. These festivals were largely held in Cherokee capital cities like Chota (now Georgia), Ustanali (South Carolina) and, eventually, New Echota (Georgia). Many of the festivals revolved around the numbers four and seven; ceremonies lasted for four days, and groups of seven sacred men and seven women were usually tapped to plan and administer important gatherings not more than seven days before the ceremonies were to begin.
The First New Moon of Spring
In March, a large feast celebrating the moons of spring would be organized, and the hunting and preparation of white deer would begin. Over a series of four nights, a sacred fire would be lit, women performed a dance of amity, members of the tribe engaged in purification rituals and the Cherokee fasted and then joined together again for group participation in the dance of friendship. Finally, the seven principal counselors of the tribe (known as the Uku) would offer their own religious dance. Sacred fire, scratching and medicine ceremonies would take place, and the skins of the white deer would be given to the festival's priests.
The Green Corn
Around the time of the corn crops' ripening (late June or early July), the first harvest ceremony of the year would be held on ceremonial grounds. The Cherokee would participate in the stomp, feather and buffalo dances, taking time also to fast, imbibe medicine, pray and even play stickball. The tribe would gather for another great feast and welcome the promises of a "new life" by washing away old impurities and sins with river water.
The Mature Green Corn
About 45 days after the festival of The New Green Corn, esteemed women of the tribe would perform a religious dance and choose when the The Mature Green Corn ceremonies would be held. An arbor of branches would be built over the tribe's ceremonial grounds, only to be dismantled at noon the following day as, one by one, each of the seven clans took a branch from the arch. Cherokees would purify themselves with a tea known as "The Black Drink," dance and enjoy meals of deer and harvest vegetables.
The Great New Moon
The Cherokee New Year would be celebrated most often in the month of October, and, like the festival of The First New Moon, The Great New Moon ceremonies consisted of very similar dances, purification rituals and feasts. Different types of squash and beans would be added in more abundance to the menu, and the Cherokee would celebrate the autumnal spirit in which they believe the world was created.
Propitiation and Cementation
This festival was categorized by the ritualistic repair, renewal and development of friendship. Members of various clans would be brought together to plan the events, clean, cook and arrange sacred gatherings and dances. Many fasted and purified themselves in the river in order to pay homage to the fresh start sought in relationships that might have otherwise soured or died.
Winter
Sometime during the winter, tobacco, spruce and pine would be gathered. An intricate, co-ed dance would be held, with both women and men incorporating the spruce and pine twigs into their movements. Women donned turtle shells and moved counter-clockwise in a single circle alongside their partners, lifting their twigs and branches as if they were wings. On the fourth night of the winter ceremonies, a sacrifice would be made to the sacred fire.
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