Gather around the fire at Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and hear storytellers share centuries-old stories about Native people and the natural world on Saturday, January 29, 4:30–5:30 p.m. Admission is free, and refreshments will be provided. For more information, visit the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians Facebook page.
Gather around the fire at Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and hear storytellers share centuries-old stories about Native people and the natural world on Saturday, January 29, 4:30–5:30 p.m.
This outdoor storytelling program will feature Eli Langley, member of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, and Dan Isaac, member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, along with local storytellers Marianne Raley and Brandon McCranie, emceed by Becky Anderson.
“We are excited to bring Eleventh Moon Storytelling back to the Grand Village,” said Lance Harris, director of the site. “This program has entertained families for decades with some of the biggest attendance seen the last several times. This year’s event will be special due to our excellent guest storytellers.”
The Natchez Indians followed a lunar calendar that was measured by thirteen moons, or months. The month of January was referred to as Eleventh Moon or Cold Meal Moon.
Admission is free, and refreshments will be provided. For more information call 601-446-6502 or email info@natchezgrandvillage.com.
The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians will also offer a storytelling workshop earlier that day from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Storytellers Eli Langley and Dan Isaac will discuss and demonstrate the art of storytelling. Registration is limited to twenty people. The deadline is January 21, 2022. For more information or to register, call 601-446-6502, or email info@natchezgrandvillage.com.
Eli Langley is a storyteller who grew up in southern Louisiana surrounded by Coushatta culture and language. In 2021 he was the first Coushatta Tribe member to graduate from Harvard University, where he received credit for knowledge of his own tribal language—Koasati, the Coushatta language.
Dan Isaac is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and a veteran of the United States Air Force. He works with young people teaching the Chahta Social Dances as well as other aspects of Choctaw culture including language, spiritual practices, traditions, and values.
The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians was the main ceremonial mound center of the Natchez people from 1682 until 1730. The 128-acre National Historic Landmark features three mounds, a plaza, nature trail, museum, and store. Administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Grand Village is located at 400 Jefferson Davis Boulevard and is open free of charge to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sundays 1:30 to 5 p.m.
In observance of New Year’s Day, The Two Mississippi Museums, Eudora Welty House & Garden, and Grand Village of the Natchez Indians will close early at 3 p.m. on Friday, December 31, and be closed on Saturday, January 1. The Nissan Cafe by Nick Wallace Culinary at the Two Mississippi Museums will be closed through Sunday, January 2.
The archives library will be closed Friday, December 31–Saturday, January 1.
Visit www.mdah.ms.gov/explore-mississippi for more information about each site.
Join us for an open house and sale on Saturday, December 4. Choctaw craftsperson Eleanor Chickaway will demonstrate basketry techniques, her daughter Shaya Hicks will demonstrate beadwork techniques, and her grandson Jake Steve will demonstrate how to make stickball sets. All demonstrations will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. A free children's grab-and-go area will focus on Native American style arts and crafts. Refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public. Pottery and baskets will be 15% off and all other merchandise will be 10% off.
On Saturday, July 24, at 10 a.m., the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians will present its first in-person program since the COVID-19 pandemic with a lecture and outdoor foraging demonstration led by special guest Tammy Greer of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). In recognition of the Natchez Indians’ July harvest moon celebrating the cultivation of peaches and wild grapes, visitors will learn about the indigenous plants such as blackberries, muscadines, and walnuts that made up the diets and cultures of Native Americans before the modernization of common farm crops.
On Saturday, July 24, at 10 a.m., the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians will present its first in-person program since the COVID-19 pandemic with a lecture and outdoor foraging demonstration led by special guest Tammy Greer of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). In recognition of the Natchez Indians’ July harvest moon celebrating the cultivation of peaches and wild grapes, visitors will learn about the indigenous plants such as blackberries, muscadines, and walnuts that made up the diets and cultures of Native Americans before the modernization of common farm crops. Greer will also lead a guided walk on the Grand Village nature trail in search of these historic edible plants.
“We need to recognize our native plants for what they were to our ancestors, and we need to recognize them for what they are today,” said Tammy Greer. “Many of these plants still provide strong building materials (hickory, osage orange), healthy foods (muscadines, blackberries, blueberries, persimmons), beautiful basket materials (cane, palmetto, long leaf pine, coral honeysuckle), awesome drinks (yaupon holly, elder flower, sumac lemonade), amazing dyes (poke berries, black walnut, goldenrod, dock root), and medicines (yarrow, elderberry, purple coneflower). These plants will stay with us forever if we harvest sustainably and tend them as they, for thousands of years, have tended us.”
The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians is considered part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC), a historic term for the region extending from across the present-day Mississippi River valley area where Native Americans cultivated thousands of native species of herbs, seeds, grasses, berries, flowers, vegetables, and other crops for food, clothing, medicines and various other uses. The EAC began to decline among Native Americans in the region after the mass production of conventional crops such as corn began to rise. Most plants that thrived in the EAC are rarely cultivated and others are considered as ordinary garden weeds. Sunflowers and squashes are modern-day examples of EAC plants that were heavily cultivated by Native Americans and are still widely grown today.
Tammy Greer serves as the director of the Center for American Indian Research and Studies and an associate professor of psychology at USM. She has collaborated on numerous endeavors with tribal nations and members, including the 2005 creation of the Medicine Wheel heritage garden at USM. Greer has presented several talks and workshops on Southeastern American Indians and is currently working with the Mississippi IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence and the USM Telenutrition Center to address health disparities among Southeastern American Indians.
The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians was the main ceremonial mound center of the Natchez people from 1682 until 1730. The 128-acre National Historic Landmark features three mounds, a plaza, nature trail, museum, and store. Administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Grand Village is located at 400 Jefferson Davis Boulevard and is open free of charge to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sundays 1:30 to 5 p.m. Call 601-446-6502 or email info@natchezgrandvillage.com for more information.