36th annual Moundville Native American Festival connects past to present

MOUNDVILLE, Ala. ( WIAT ) – Native American tribes native to Alabama are celebrating and educating people on their culture at the 36th annual Moundville Native American Festival.

The University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park hosted the event, which initially started to educate students in Alabama’s school systems, from Thursday through Saturday.

“This is a great time for kids to come out, meet decedent community members who they read about in books, and they can learn and see these people are still here,” said UA Moundville Native American Festival Director and Outreach Coordinator Marsha Holley.

Moundville was once the largest Native American city in Alabama during the Mississippian period, with thousands of Native Americans living in the area, Holley said.

The Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, Coushatta, Muscogee and Alabama were the tribes that originated from the area. Those tribes are no longer present in the state today, except for when they come back for the Moundville Native American Festival.

“It’s really important for us to find ways to bring them here to this community,” Holley said. “The festival plays a role in “connect[ing] the community that’s here now to the community’s past.”

“A lot of people tend to think were extinct,” said Emman Spain of the Muscogee Nation.

The Muscogee Nation is native to Alabama but in the 1830s, the Indian Removal Act forced the tribe to leave, Spain said. While the tribe had to relocate to Oklahoma, its back in Alabama, and it’s the first time the Muscogee Nation came to the festival.

“We view this as our homelands and try to return as much as we can,” Spain said.

Tribes returning to their native land brought their culture with them to teach people that their culture is still alive.

“A lot of people still don’t understand our culture,” said Lyndon Alec with the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.

The Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas originated in Montgomery near the Alabama River, where they lived for many years throughout the 1700s, Alec said.

“There was probably [30,000] to 40,000 of our people,” Alec said. “We traveled across Mississippi into Louisiana, and now we’ve made our home in Livingston, Texas.”

Several people who were at the festival representing their tribe explained that stereotypes used throughout the years has negatively portrayed Native Americans, which can create a lot of misunderstanding about who Native Americans really are.

“Someone asked me once if I lived in a tipi,” said Ace Greenwood with the Chickasaw and Cherokee tribes.

Native Americans used tipis, which are like tents and designed in a way that allowed tribes to move around and follow different herds of animals, Greenwood said.

It was slightly humorous for Greenwood that someone in the 20th century would ask him if he lived in a tipi.

“Yes, we did live that way,” Greenwood said. “But today, we live just like everybody else.”

“A lot of kids watch TV shows, like Indians and Cowboys, and they think Native Indians are scary,” Alec said.

While movies or TV cannot be sole reason for one fourth grader’s perspective of Native Americans, the Moundville Native American Festival can be a factor as to why it changed.

“I just didn’t know they’d be this friendly and welcoming,” fourth grader Sam Slatton said.

Slatton’s school field trip on Friday was the first time she’s attended the festival. She learned about different dances, clothing, traditions and what makes each tribe unique.

“Every culture is different,” Alec said.

Alec is a hoop dancer. The attire he wears is referred to as regalia.

“We don’t call it costumes,” Alec said.

Regalia was traditionally made from leather. Regalia is now made from modern materials. The symbolism, however, remains the same.

“I make different designs on them symbolism the beautiful creating god gives us such as the butterfly, the eagle, tumbleweed, the sun and the earth,” Alec said.

A tribe’s dances are also unique to their culture.

“When people think of dancing today, they think of the Powwow style with all the bright feathers and the colors,” Greenwood said.

The Chickasaw and Cherokee showed festival attendees a different type of dance.

“Ours are the social dances specific to our nation,” Greenwood said.

Just as Alec’s regalia is symbolic for their specific tribe, the sounds of the drums is symbolic for Greenwood’s specific tribe.

“Our people were taught that heartbeat. that drum, it sounds much like a heartbeat of our mother before we were ever born,” Greenwood said. “Those rattles that we use, the shakers the women wear on their feet, it’s the same sound as the blood rushing through the mother’s veins.”

The festival showcased the sounds of wind instruments and the beat of drums, the colors of regalia, the movement of dance and the sound of a tribe’s native tongue. Ultimately, the festival demonstrated what Native American culture was thousands of years ago and still is today.

“This is to bring outreach to children about the rich Native American heritage and history of our state,” Holley said.

The Moundville Archaeological Park has more Native American events planned for October. Those events are a great way for people to learn more about Alabama’s history if they missed the festival, Holley said.

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