What is the Pine Straw Dance?
Pine Straw Dance First we must understand the importance of the Pine Tree, which grows, in our Earth Mother. In Cherokee tradition the story goes like this: “Long ago, when the world was new, there were seven boys who used to spend all their time down by the townhouse playing the gatayu’sti game, rolling a stone wheel along the ground and sliding a curved stick after it to strike it. Their mothers scolded, but it did no good, so one day they collected some gatayu’sti stones and boiled them in the pot with the corn for dinner. When the boys came home hungry their mothers dipped out the stones and said, “Since you like the gatayu’sti better than the cornfield, take the stones now for your dinner.” The boys were very angry, and went down to the townhouse, saying, “As our mothers treat us this way, let us go where we shall never trouble them any more.” They began a dance-some say it was the Feather dance-and went round and round the townhouse, praying to the spirits to help them. At last t
