By Christina Good Voice

Staff Writer

 

MARBLE CITY, Okla. – Taking a break from usual summer activities, Cherokee kids from four areas around the Cherokee Nation attended the tribe’s annual cultural camps to learn about tribal history, language, games and arts and crafts.

 

The one-week cultural camps, now in their eighth year, were held in Marble City, Vinita, Tahlequah and Bell.

 

The purpose of the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade camps are for Cherokee students to learn about their language, history, crafts and traditional games while making new friends, Dr. Gloria Sly, CN Cultural Resource Center director, said.

 

Earl Gonzales, CN citizen and Cherokee history teacher at the camps, said he’s been fortunate enough to work at every camp since its inception. He also serves as the camps’ director.

 

“It started at Sequoyah (High School). Then from there went to different schools in Tahlequah,” Gonzales said. “This year is the first year we get to go to different sites and offer the different cultural activities to Cherokee students or just students in general.”

 

After completing the camp, students are expected to walk away with knowledge and pride in the fact they are Cherokee. He added that students are able to experience something their parents and adult Cherokees didn’t.

 

“When I was growing up I wasn’t fortunate enough to be in this kind of program where I can learn the different Cherokee aspects of Cherokee life, the history of the Cherokee nation,” Gonzales said.

 

He also said the camps are an important part of carrying on Cherokee traditions.

 

“If we forget who we are as a people, what we do and where we came from, then we won’t have any idea what our future holds,” he said. “That’s the hope of carrying on this camp – let the children know it’s important to remember who you are as a Cherokee.”

After the camp, students were able to greet each other in Cherokee and take home the skills and physical activities taught to them during the games portion.

 

The 18 students at the June 9-13 Marble City camp were broken up into three age groups that went to a different class for an hour. As the younger students sat quietly inside and listened to Gonzales speak about Cherokee history and government, an older group recited animals and words in Cherokee, while the oldest group refined their stickball skills by playing the game.

 

Lula Elk, a CN language instructor, taught campers how to make the arts and crafts, which she said not many Cherokees know how to do.

 

“I feel like they need to know about the culture and history and know how to make all this stuff so that they can carry it on,” Elk said. “To me, it seems like its dying out.”

 

Campers also made corn husk dolls, miniature stickball sticks and baskets to take home.

 

 “If you are a Cherokee citizen, it is your responsibility to learn about your Nation,” Sly said. “The information provided in the cultural camp is not provided to the students in the schools, and sometimes not in the homes, so the camp is a viable way to learn.”