ᎣᏏᏲ ᏂᎦᏛ osiyo nigad! (hello, everyone!)
Happy ᎪᎳ gola (winter) and Native American Heritage Month!
What an incredible year we’re having with you all, filled with Cherokee fellowship, history, culture, crafts, language, and our wonderful community. We are proud of an especially impactful, memorable year!
We have some exciting events coming up this year and want to see you at them. While our entire calendar can be viewed from our Events page, here are the next few events you won’t want to miss:
Saturday, January 16 Tsi-s-qua (Bird) Watching with the CNCV: We invite you to come on a wildlife viewing auto tour with us. Please RSVP so we can expect you (and coordinate with you if we need to postpone due to heavy rain).
Saturday, February 27: Please join us at our membership gathering for a special presentation on nixtamalization by Chef Taelor Barton, heirloom seed exchange, and potluck lunch.
March 2027 Cherokee language intensive. Commit to learning and preserving our language as a cornerstone of culture. Sign-up information available now! Must RSVP.
Sunday, April 18 Annual Meeting and Chief's Picnic: Calling all Cherokees! This event is not to be missed! Mark your calendars for April 18. We will update with the location when it is confirmed.
Saturday, May 22: Help out with our Annual John Rollin Ridge Family Plot Cleanup project! After some light yard work and visiting, we’ll have a healthy lunch in Grass Valley together.
Attention Crafters! Want to craft in community? We are planning a craft group that would meet periodically where we can come together in a casual setting, and work on traditional Cherokee crafts, such as beadwork and weaving, as well as contemporary projects, such fiber and textile arts.
Complete this CNCV Craft Group Interest Survey to help us determine the best time, dates, and locations as well as which supplies may be needed. ᏩᏙ Wado.
Which presentations/activities do you want in 2027?
Tell us by filling out this Cultural Presentation/Workshop Survey by 11/22.
We reflect on our recent community events. We had some truly engaging and fulfilling events this Fall, including:
You-Picked, We Paid for Farm-fresh Produce: On September 19, CNCV put our Wellness Grant funding to work as members gathered to pick 450 lbs of farm-fresh produce together.
October Membership Meeting: Booger Masks and Gorgets: At our October membership meeting, talented artist Mike Webb presented on booger masks and gorgets. We held our annual election, made gorgets using rainbow scratch paper, had an active kids craft table, and held an extensive giveaway of unique items. Enjoy pictures and read more about booger masks and gorgets here!
CNCV walked in community on Saturday, November 7: CNCV was honored to represent Cherokee Nation and our at-large community here as part of the third annual Native American Heritage Month Parade.
The CNCV Annual Report is out and reflects on our memorable, impactful year.
Throughout the year, we welcomed new members, expanded our outreach, strengthened our partnerships, and created meaningful opportunities for Cherokee Nation citizens living at-large to reconnect with one another and with our shared heritage. From record-breaking attendance at community gatherings to new language and history learning opportunities, expanded events, traditional arts workshops, food sovereignty initiatives, and youth and wellness programming, we continued to build a vibrant community rooted in Cherokee values.
Also, in Cherokee Nation web news:
Cherokee Nation has a brand-new looking website.
The Cherokee Nation has launched a new Cherokee Nation Language Hub website, a central place for Cherokee language resources and a New Testament audio feature in the Cherokee Nation Dictionary app. Within the language hub is a project called Saving the Voices (ᏛᎵᏏᏅᏗᏍᎬ ᎠᏂᏁᎬᎢ), which is the tribe’s largest effort to preserve recordings of fluent Cherokee speakers. By the end of 2027, the collection will include speaker interviews from 1,040 first-language, fluent speakers.
My Cherokee heirloom garden is winding down for the season. So far, I’ve harvested many pounds of Cherokee squash, Trail of Tears and Turkey Gizzard beans, Cherokee Colored Flour Corn, and native tobacco. My Corn Beads (“Job’s Tears”) are starting to produce after growing to a WHOPPING 6 foot height. My basket gourds produced some and are waiting to be harvested soon. I’m patiently waiting on my Cherokee Tan Pumpkins to mature. My pumpkins in past years have done well but this has not been their year. My rattlesnake master is growing well. I’m starting some New Jersey Tea soon after an extended cold stratification in the refrigerator (one of our seven sacred plants along native tobacco, rattlesnake master, Eastern red cedar, red root, ginseng, and goldenseal).
As a reminder, the CNCV has a resource webpage for you with many informative links for citizenship, language, culture, history, health, education, veterans, and more. Let us know if you'd like to see something specifically there.
We’re looking forward to visiting together at these events throughout the year and enjoying community, culture, history, and language with you!
ᏙᏓᏓᎪᎲᎢ dodadagohvi (‘til we meet again),
-- Sabrina McKinney