Native American Festival 2013

I visited the Ormand Beach Native American Festival this year, and as usual, I had an absolutely awesome time. The festival was so well-put-together; it was so beautiful and festive and straight-up happy. I met some lovely people there that I had a long conversation with about Native American culture. I also helped take some pictures while I was there, too. I only managed to save one of them, though; my favorite.

It was such a treat to witness something so full of Native culture all in one place. You rarely get to see something like that nowadays. Though, something felt off there for a minute. For a single moment, I thought I caught a glimpse of the Winter. Thinking back, it probably wasn't. It was most likely just a man in a business suit. There's been a few of those crawling around town recently. 

Anyway, I've finally moved into my new house, and I'm almost done moving all of my things. I'll keep this blog updated, and I'll get back to posting more of my research later.

A Tiny Update

I've been searching for citizens around my city and county who have Cherokee/Seminole background. I've checked the phone book, public records, everything, and there's no record of them anywhere. But that doesn't make sense, because the Solace of Birds occurred just weeks ago, indicating and celebrating the death of a tribe member. There has to be more tribespeople around here, and if there is, why isn't there a single recent record of them?

In other news, I'll be posting more of my research in the near future, which involves more information on artifacts, locations, and smaller entities. But first, I'm moving into a new house and will have to move all of my files to the new house. It won't be too far away from my last house, but far enough to be away from the comotion that was going on in my last neighborhood.

As for the teaching job that I was hoping to get at a local high school, I'm still waiting for a call back. Apparently there were a lot of people that were looking for a history teacher job around here. I have a good feeling about this job. There's just something calling me to it.

The 5 Days of Suffering

The Five Days of Suffering is known to be the aftermath of a bodily attack by the Winter, if the victim survived, causing the victim to undergo 5 consecutive days of physical/mental/emotional anguish. There is no known reason behind this occurrence.

What is know is the events that take place during those 5 days. While these events don't always happen in order, they do always happen, each having its own day:

1. Paranoia - The victim becomes anxious, tense, and very fearful and aware of their surroundings, claiming to hear noises and moving objects, and sometimes voices, even if they didn't actually occur.
2. Aching of the limbs - The victim's limbs begin to ache with a sort of stabbing pain, making it hard for them to move. The aching can start and stop at any given time. Some victims recall a sort of crawling sensation in their limbs, others a throbbing pain.
3. Bleeding of the face - Bleeding commences from the victim's nose, ears, gums, eyes, or any combination of the four. Once again, this starts and stops at any given time.
4. Fatigue - The victim becomes very physically and mentally tired, sometimes causing them to sleep numerous hours at a time. 
5. Insomnia - A loss of sleep causes the victim to become easily agitated and angry, along with making the victim delirious. The victim isn't able to gain any more sleep until that day ends.

The Solace of Birds

Today I stumbled upon something amazing.

About an hour ago, I was going to a job interview at a local high school for an American History teacher position. As I was leaving, I saw a large collection of white birds congregating in the sky. They were flying in one collective circle together. By the time I took out my phone to record it, they had already dispersed.

This congregation is called the Solace of Birds in the Seminole and Cherokee tribes. This only happens when a member of one of the tribes have died, but only if they are being taken to a "better place", whatever you may call it. This could mean that there are remaining tribespeople nearby. I must investigate this further.

The Sleeping Leaf

The Sleeping Leaf ("U-ga-lo-gv A-hu-lu" in Cherokee) is a leaf that is grown only once every decade from a tree in the central Florida area; it doesn't matter which tree it is. However, the tree that it is most grown from is an evergreen tree. The leaf usually resembles the type of leaf shown below:

The only real difference between the leaf above and the Sleeping Leaf is that the vessels of the leaf are colored blue and seem to sparkle brightly.

The leaf's effects do not vary; they are exactly the same each time. When the leaf is consumed, the consumer will immediately begin to doze and become weak. Within seconds, the leaf's full effects kick in and the consumer falls asleep almost instantly. The consumer is always asleep for 12 consecutive hours with absolutely no interruption. During the time they are asleep, they always have a good dream, never a nightmare. After the consumer wakes up, they always feel refreshed, full of energy, very hungry, and not fatigued in any way. 

Consuming one leaf is completely safe, but consuming more than one can be dangerous. Consuming two is known to cause 24-hour sleep, which causes harmful side effects when the consumer wakes up, such as headaches, dehydration, and blurred/tunnel vision. Consuming three or more will cause even stronger effects, causing the consumer to sleep restlessly, waking up constantly to vomit. The consumer will also experience terrifying nightmares that seem to last for hours. Other effects after the consumer wakes up are vomiting, shakiness, restlessness, temporary colorblindness, profuse sweating, and hallucinations.




As far as I know, none of these leaves are still preserved, but they are still growing. My theory is that the leaves that are grown every decade are destroyed my natural disaster, corrosion, insects, animals, etc. I'm not sure when the next one will grow, because I'm not sure if the growing cycle starts at the very beginning of each decade or during it. Maybe if I'm lucky it'll be soon.

The Go-gi

The Go-gi (The Summer): The Summer is known to have no physical embodiment, but is known to live as an essence in the trees of the forests in a location of Florida that is now a community park. We will call him a "he" due to reasons I'll later explain.

The Summer was discovered by a Seminole tribesman who was in his teenage years. He had been searching for a tree that grew a leaf called U-ga-lo-gv A-hu-lu, or Sleeping Leaf, because he had been having trouble sleeping. During his search, he had come across a small collection of trees, one of which had Sleeping Leaves growing from them. He began to scale the tree, and when he got to the top, he picked one of the Sleeping Leaves from the tree, but as he started down the tree, he saw that a pack of wild wolves had formed around the tree, growling and barking. The boy was scared for his life as he was trapped, hugging the tree. He then heard a voice calling to him in his mind, telling him that he should not fear the wolves, but to face them and defeat them. The voice was a deep, echoing, yet calming male voice that seemed to emanate from nowhere, but that is when the boy realized that the voice had come from the trees, the symbol of life. Soon after, the boy jumped from the tree and began to fight the wolves with his bare hands, killing each one and escaping back to the village with the Leaf, telling his fellow tribespeople of his adventure.

To this day, it is unclear how the Summer got his name.

The Summer's known abilities are a very little amount. He is known to speak to human beings through telepathy, both individually and to multiple humans at once. When he does this, it is usually to tell the human something that will give them courage, whether it be in face of danger or in a situation where they need to be lightened of burdens. There has never been a time where the Summer's words have not saved the ones they are spoken to.

The Summer represents the values of courage and morale.

The U-la-go-hv-s-di

The U-la-go-hv-s-di (The Autumn): The Autumn is a moderately tall, man-like figure that is usually scene wearing a brown cloak over his body and head, brown leather gloves, and boots. He is known to have two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. They are known to spin around his head according to his feelings. He is known to only show two emotions with his faces; happiness and anger.



       The Autumn was discovered in the early 1800's by the Seminole Native American tribe in central Florida. At that time, the Seminole tribe had been recovering from a violent storm that had happened just days before. Many of the forest's trees had fallen and destroyed a number of their homes, and also blocked the flow of the river nearby. The trees had been too heavy for the tribe members to move, and they would be running too low on water by the time they would be finished. They had begun searching for neighboring tribes to help them when they met the Autumn on a dirt path not too far away from the rest of the Seminole tribe. The tribesmen asked the Autumn of where other tribesmen may be and told him their situation. Instead of telling them where they were, the Autumn offered to help them single-handedly. As they heard his offer, they laughed, but agreed. When they arrived back to the camp, the tribesmen directed the Autumn to the place where the trees fell. The Autumn reached out his hand in the direction of the trees, and the trees vanished, vanished into thin air. The tribespeople found it as a miracle.



       The Autumn got his name because of his ability to change things around him. Some say that he can alter reality itself by taking things out and putting things in. Since Autumn is the season of change, the name was most appropriate. The things that he takes out of reality are rumored to simply become non-existent instead of being transported somewhere. This also includes people and animals. He can also will them back into existence in the same way that he took them out.

     

       The Seminoles called upon the Autumn whenever they were in need of assistance with getting rid of things, just like the fallen trees. They also called upon him during a battle with a rival tribe, where he fought the rivals with his reality-altering abilities. The Autumn represents the values of change and thanksgiving of life.