Cherokee Firefighters Perform Sacred Ceremonial Stomp Dance To Worship The Creator

The “stomp dance” is the traditional dance and song of the original people of the Southeastern United States, such as the Euchee, Cherokee, Seminole, and Muscogee (Creek).

 While this dance and song occurs traditionally around the fire, at night, and during the ceremonial season in the summer, some traditional people will go inside for social and demonstration dances for educational, commemorative, celebratory, or other fellowship purposes.

Several types of “stomp dance” songs exist, depending on their place in the ceremonial cycle. One explanation details the songs as prayers by the leader, which are then carried up to the creator by the smoke from the sacred fire; other songs commemorate the peoples’ reverence for nature and its blessings; some songs’ meanings have been lost over time, but are carried on in the ceremonial context in what one Keetoowah Cherokee elder “the original language of the Creator”.

The stomp dance is considered to be a holy event for worshiping Unetlanv ( The Creator). There is to be no littering, no consumption of liquor and no rowdy behavior of any kind. The rules are written in the Cherokee language and posted on a board hung up for the public to see.

There are seven arbors encircling the sacred fire. Each arbor represents one of these seven clans: Wolf (a-ni-wa-ya); Wild Potato (a-ni-go-da-ge-wi) also known as the Bear Clan; Paint (a-ni-wo-di); Bird Clan (a-ni-tsi-s-qua); Long Hair (a-ni-gi-lo-hi) also known as Twister or Wind; and Blind Savannah also known as Blue (a-ni-sa-ho-ni).

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