Literary Mileage
“A Cherokee Feast of Days”

Photograph taken by Carolyn Fletcher on Lake Eufaula in Eastern Oklahoma.

(“A Cherokee Feast of Days” is the title of a book of daily meditations by Joyce Sequichie Hifler)

I’ve lived in Washington, DC for 17 years. I moved here after a 20-year stint in Tulsa, OK, where I raised my two sons (culture shock is a topic for another time). I mentioned in an earlier blog that I miss the brilliant red sunsets and thrilling thunderstorms in Oklahoma. Another bit of the Boomer state I miss is its Indian heritage, reflected in Oklahoma’s license plates that say “Native America”.

Before it became a state, Oklahoma was called Indian Territory. It is home to five Native American nations: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. They are called the Five Civilized Tribes because of a forced process of cultural transformation originated under George Washington in which they adopted many of the colonists’ customs and had generally good relations with their neighbors. The Five Civilized Tribes lived in the southeastern United States before their (again forced) relocation to other parts of the country. The Trail of Tears brought many of them to what is today the state of Oklahoma.

Photograph taken by Carolyn Fletcher on Lake Eufaula in Eastern Oklahoma.

The Cherokee Nation is based in northeastern Oklahoma, near Tulsa. My favorite meditation book is “A Cherokee Feast of Days” by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. Time and again, I’ll read a ‘day’ and it will resonate with me on so many levels I think it can’t be an accident. 

Here’s a perfect example: “Summer heat has brought a lull to the meadows. Tiny titmice and bright yellow warblers stay close to watering places, and only the locust sings on in its raspy tones. It sings to remind us that it is summer and time to slow our pace … it is the nature of the Cherokee to go to a flowing stream with any problem he may have. And he comes away with the best harvest of all, a quiet eye and the peaceful harmony of summer.”

Something to ponder as we sweat and swelter during this record-breaking summer.

You can order Hifler’s books and other fine literary offerings at http://www.counciloakbooks.com. Click on BESTSELLERS.