Chickasaw Festival

Old Chickasaw Capitol in Tishomingo

I had never been to the annual Chickasaw Festival before this year. I was either away from the state, or too busy with my work, but this year I was invited to participate in a book signing there on the release of the book, Wenonah’s Story, that I wrote with my mother.

When I was a child there was no festival. We went to the annual Indian Exposition in Anadarko instead. It’s only been in later years, after the Native American tribes won their sovereignty, the right to organize their own governments, and the right to provide for their own people, that the Chickasaw Festival has come about.

My mother Wenonah lived to see it, and she and my father used to be regulars at the annual meeting and festival. Being there myself was a moving experience, and made me proud of our tribe, and what we’ve accomplished. I say that as if I had something to do with it, but that’s what tradition and heritage can do for you. It can make you feel part of something bigger than yourself.

The celebration was held September 25 through October 3 with events held all over the nation, from Ada, the current site of the Chickasaw government, to “Tish,” or Tishomingo where the old capitol is located, to the Culture Center in Sulphur, to the old Chickasaw community of Kullihoma, to Emet, the home of Douglas Johnston, the last Chickasaw governor before statehood. There were stickball games, a 5-K run, tours of the many Chickasaw facilities around the state, storytelling, craft demonstrations, an art show, a rodeo, cooking classes, the annual princess pageant.

My daughter now has both Chickasaw cook books, and she is an expert in cooking pashofa and corn bread.

Thursday night there was a ceremony recognizing the achievements of outstanding citizens, and the release of the new books published by the Chickasaw Press, the only native American press in the country.

Saturday began with a speech by Governor Anaotubby on the state of the nation. The list of programs and accomplishments was long but the governor has an easy going, engaging way of speaking that kept it from being boring. After the governor’s speech there was a parade – my cousin Homer, as one of the new Hall of Fame inductees, got to ride in it, and then an art show, food, stick ball, book signings, and other activities too numerous to mention.

It’s really awe inspiring what the nation has become: the health programs, the educational programs, the projects to discover and preserve our history, from the archives in Sulphur to archeological projects in Mississippi. Classes to learn to grow traditional plants, cook traditional dishes, to make baskets, stick ball sticks, arrows, to learn Chickasaw legends and tradition, and to even speak our own language. The legal struggle to obtain compensation from the US government for the debts owed the tribe from the time of the removal and statehood is continuing. The tribe is a billion dollar business now, and employs 14,000 people in the state of Oklahoma.

I’m not very well versed on the many government projects and programs, but I know they benefit all of us. My cousin stayed in the nation’s retirement center in his last year, and died in the old Carl Albert hospital. Another cousin has gotten hearing aides and glasses through the tribe, and my grandchildren have received excellent medical care at the new Chickasaw hospital in Ada, and scholarships for college. One of my cousins is able to get meals from the local Chickasaw community center, and the tribe is even going to pay to pave the driveway out to her house.

Chickasaw social services sent a visiting nurse out to see my mother and provided her with some of her medicines during her last years, and some of her friends in Ada even cooked her some pashofa when she became ill for the last time.

You ought to go to the festival next year. It will make you feel proud