After the White Man Came...
With the white man also came missionaries of the Christian belief. These missionaries did not understand the beliefs of the Cherokee and thought of it as witchcraft and evil due to the religious ceremonies that included dancing and chanting. Later the Catholic Church made attempts to work as missionaries among the Cherokee people. Their efforts to convert and educate were unsuccessful until more contemporary times. Once the Christian missionaries got a deeper understanding for what the Cherokees believed, they began to understand that they needed a different strategy to help save them. They realized the Cherokee peoples beliefs were not that far off from what they want them to believe.
Over a period of time the Cherokees slowly began to forget the fragments of their ancient religious beliefs. There were many accounts and revisions to the Mortality Story (the ancient Creation Story) . The Cherokees’ memory became poor and much of their ancient beliefs were lost. Modifications to the stories over the years have lead to doubt and confusion. Ye ho waah made it clear to the Cherokee that changes or modifications of the ancient beliefs were only profitable if they were progressing and continuing in their beliefs. However, if the modifications were attempts to fall into popular belief by other people, they would experience disastrous results in their religion and government.
As time went on, white people convinced the Cherokee that Ye ho waah was God and that they needed to know the full truth of Ye ho waah and his salvation. Eventually the Cherokee were outnumbered and outgunned, and they did not have any other choice but to accept what came their way, including religion due to the fact that the old religion was practiced by only a forty percent minority; a larger number would have equaled power to resist negative changes. They became a people of uncertainty and doubt. In this doubt and confusion, some of the clans began to let the whites guide as if the Cherokee people were their children. Cherokees did not permit their clans to marry outsiders.But over time, Cherokees would marry the white people making mixed bloods. This was not permitted in the ancient religion.
Ye ho waah was now the same God as the Christians were telling them about. The majority of Cherokee people believed and converted to Christianity thinking it was the same believe they grew up with in ancient times just with different understandings. During the Trail of Tears, the Cherokees that still believed in the ancient religion blamed the conversion of their people into Christianity and their friendliness with the white men for their deaths and hardships.
Over a period of time the Cherokees slowly began to forget the fragments of their ancient religious beliefs. There were many accounts and revisions to the Mortality Story (the ancient Creation Story) . The Cherokees’ memory became poor and much of their ancient beliefs were lost. Modifications to the stories over the years have lead to doubt and confusion. Ye ho waah made it clear to the Cherokee that changes or modifications of the ancient beliefs were only profitable if they were progressing and continuing in their beliefs. However, if the modifications were attempts to fall into popular belief by other people, they would experience disastrous results in their religion and government.
As time went on, white people convinced the Cherokee that Ye ho waah was God and that they needed to know the full truth of Ye ho waah and his salvation. Eventually the Cherokee were outnumbered and outgunned, and they did not have any other choice but to accept what came their way, including religion due to the fact that the old religion was practiced by only a forty percent minority; a larger number would have equaled power to resist negative changes. They became a people of uncertainty and doubt. In this doubt and confusion, some of the clans began to let the whites guide as if the Cherokee people were their children. Cherokees did not permit their clans to marry outsiders.But over time, Cherokees would marry the white people making mixed bloods. This was not permitted in the ancient religion.
Ye ho waah was now the same God as the Christians were telling them about. The majority of Cherokee people believed and converted to Christianity thinking it was the same believe they grew up with in ancient times just with different understandings. During the Trail of Tears, the Cherokees that still believed in the ancient religion blamed the conversion of their people into Christianity and their friendliness with the white men for their deaths and hardships.
