The Yuchis are one of the least known yet most distinctive of the Native groups in the American southeast. The famous naturalist William Bartram visited a Yuchi town in 1775, at a time when the Yuchis had moved near and become allied with Creek communities in Georgia. This title examines the significance of community ceremonies for the Yuchis.
In this carefully researched work, Jason Baird Jackson examines the significance of community ceremonies for the Yuchi people today. For many Yuchis, traditional rituals remain important to their identity, and they feel an obligation to perform and renew them each year at one of three ceremonial grounds, called Big Houses. The Big House acts as a periodic gathering place for the Yuchis, their Creator, and their ancestors. Drawing on a decade of collaborative study with tribal elders and using insights gained from ethnopoetics, Jackson captures in vivid detail the performance, impact, and motivation behind such rituals as the Stomp Dance, the Green Corn Ceremony, and the Soup Dance and discusses their continuing importance to the community. He provides an afterword for this paperback edition.
