Green Corn

Well, Green Corn is well on it's way. The peach seed game begins today. Probably in about an hour, to be exact. Tonight, Tuesday night, is my favorite night of Green Corn. They leave the lights on and have all kinds of fun dances to watch or to dance in. Any time I invite someone to Green Corn, I always invite them for Tuesday night. Once you get past the boring ceremonial where the women stand in front of the singers and sway back and forth for what seems like hours, things get a little more exciting. There's the lady's choice, kind of self explanatory, the one where at the end the singer yells and slams down the turtle rattle and the dancers yell and run out the ends of the Long House (that use to be my favorite, even when I foolishly was standing at the end of the Long House and got plowed) and my personal favorite is the one where two women link arms and walk backwards to the beat of the rattle until the song changes and the rattle goes fast then you run forward and run under the arms of the men who have their arms linked. It's kind of a challenge because sometimes you get right up to the men when the song and the beat changes and the men put their arms down and the women have to start going backwards again. My sister and I danced this one together a couple years ago and it was so fun. You can hear the people laughing all through the camp.

We left at 11:00 when the stomp dancing was in full swing. Mike goes with me every night, so when he gets home in the evenings, he always tries to squeeze in a nap so he's not dog tired. I don't get that luxury, but then again, I can sleep in until 8:00 whereas he has to leave the house by 6:00. So, I guess you could call that my nap, sleeping nearly 3 hours longer than he can.

I bought me a pair of silver earrings last night and when I got home, I discovered they were just like the ones I already had. Go figure. They are somewhat different, the ones I already had are hoops with a turtle charm dangling off it, and the ones I got last night are just the turtle charm. But the charm is identical. I knew I should have bought the stainless steel ones, they were a different turtle altogether. Or even the carved rock turtles, they were even more different. Only at Green Corn can you see a sign that reads "Clan earrings" and know that it doesn't mean KKK. I'm from the Turtle clan, hence all the turtle earrings I now own. I have four pair now. And by the end of tonight, I might own even more. It's also why I have a small collection of turtles, it's very small, only three strong, but one of them came from my Grandma Stovall, one of the few items of hers that I have in my possession. And, it's also why I have a tattoo of a turtle on my heel. I just can't get enough of them, can I? Any time I see a turtle on anything, I'm always attracted to it. Mike's riding buddy, Mitchell, who happens to be my first cousin and also a member of the Turtle clan, has turtles all over his bike. When I saw this really neat, really pretty clay turtle necklace last night, Mike said "Hey we should get that and put it on the bike". I just looked at him and smiled. As far as I'm concerned, he's an honorary member of not only the Turtle clan, but of the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma.