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1 A Brief History of the Choctaw People to 1817 he old Choctaw man closed his rheumy eyes, retreating to a place and time that no one else could see. Asked to tell of the origin of the Choctaw people, he cleared his throat, and in an aged, shaky voice began to speak: Long ago, in a place near the setting sun, the Choctaw Nation was in turmoil . Threats from enemies caused the people to have to flee their homeland. Gathering the bones of the ancestors and placing them in packs on their backs, the Okla Chahta moved out in long columns of old and young, well and unwell. Young mothers with suckling babes keened the mourning cries; solemn, quiet warriors urged everyone forward, silencing misbehaving children with a single glance. Days turned into weeks, then months of walking, walking. Trudging forward, the aged grew bone-weary, the sick began to die. But still they walked. Each night the Leader planted the great stake in the ground; each dawn he arose to find it leaning in the direction they were to travel that day. The years passed; the People walked on. Babies were born, the young grew old, the aged passed away. Their bones were added to the packs. The burdens of the ancestral bones increased with each passing year. Forty-three long years passed in this manner, with thousands of living Choctaws bearing their ever-increasing sacred burdens. Finally, a day came when a few began to murmur that they could go no further. T ■ 1 Many had spent their entire lives on the migration, bearing the relics of the dead they had never known. One of the Isht ahullos, an old man and secret-teacher, feared for the people when he heard the complaints, and reminded them that the Spirits required the living to take care of the bones of the departed. Were the People to fail in this sacred compact, the hunters would kill no more meat, hunger and disease would walk with the Choctaws, then confusion and death would come, and wild dogs would feast on the carcasses of a nation that remembered not the dead. The vengeance of the spirits would be poured out upon the nation. The next dawn at the moment of sunrise, the Leader’s pole danced and punched itself deeper into the ground, settling in a perpendicular position, without having nodded or bowed in any direction. The Leader called all the people together and announced with joy the end of their long migration, saying, “We are now in the land of tall trees and running waters, of fruit, of game of many kinds and fish and fowl, which was spoken of by our good chief, who is missing, in the far off country towards the setting sun. His words have come to pass. Our journey is at an end, and we shall grow to be a nation of happy people in this fruitful land.”1 The place of journey’s end was called Nanih Waiya, and it was to be the permanent home of the Choctaw Nation. There the sacred bones of the dead were respectfully brought together in a great pile, then thickly covered with cypress bark. Then, to manifest their respect for the spirits of the dead, everyone carried earth to cover the bones until a great mound was built. From that day to this, the Choctaw people, when asked from whence they came, answer “Nanih Waiya,” as it is the home for all time. The old man’s head sunk on his chest, and for a moment everyone stared, silently wondering if death had taken the Storyteller. But then, as though waking from a momentary dream, the old man’s eyes opened wide. He looked around at the gathered crowd of people, then slowly he arose and walked away. Choctaw elders have thus passed down the traditions and history of the Nation from time immemorial. Choctaw children grew up hearing these stories, knowing them by heart. Choctaws believed that they were led out of a place in the far west, a place of death, on a forty-three-year journey toward the rising sun. Eventually, they reached the land of Nanih Waiya, the Great Mother Mound, in what is now the state of Mississippi. 2 ■ Living in the Land of Death This place is sacred; it is the place that was destined to be their homeland. There, from ancient times, they made their homes, believing that the Great...

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