![]() Choctaw ShadowsA Story by Abishai100![]() A Choctow Pow-Wow is haunted by the presence of strange 'shadow-beings' and prompts the elders and children to create new age ghost-stories about the invading forces of ABCD.![]() I've always been fascinated by Native-American experience and stories, especially after taking a course on Native mythology at Dartmouth College. This Choctaw 'fan-fiction' was inspired by offbeat Choctaw myths/folklore about 'shadow-beings' and was loosely-inspired by the Michael Mann re-make film The Last of the Mohicans. Since I'm retiring from short-story writing altogether, I wanted to present a cultural look at the candid qualities of modern views on pluralism and our perspectives on populist 'intersections' in America(!). Thanks for reading! ==== The Choctaw people of Native-America had been through much and seen much throughout the development of the United States. They were involved in the Revolutionary War in some fashion as well as the War of 1812. The Choctaw continued to maintain their own cultural identity/integrity and continue to practice their unique and special ritual-specific annual 'Pow-Wows' (great displays of mysticism and social rituals in fancy authentic tribal dress signifying communal beliefs in shared imagination!). The 2018 Choctaw Pow-Wow was expected to be exciting, and there would be Choctaw scholars/professors who now taught at prestigious schools across America and would present their perspectives on the gritty experience of the Choctaw people in America. The 2018 Pow-Wow was therefore expected to be quite symbolic, so everyone was quite excited. Daniela whose Choctaw name was 'Kinta' (meaning woodland creature or perhaps a beaver!) was prepared to do a fancy and traditional tribal dance at the 2018 Pow-Wow and was eager to impress her tribal elders, her schoolteacher, and her friends and mother at the event, since she was a highly-skilled dancer! Daniela/Kinta was also excited, since there would be some fair press and media coverage for the Pow-Wow, so she'd see the goings-on in the TV local news as well as the broadcast-group's coverage at her high-school! Kinta wanted to see the 2018 Pow-Wow go real well, so that there would be more general communal and social spirit towards Choctaw community developments and optimism towards being 'integrated' into the modern (21st Century) world of great capitalism traffic and commercial flurry (e.g., Facebook, MTV, WikiTravel, Wall Street). Kinta wanted her Choctaw people to continue to celebrate their identity! Kinta's elder told her of the Choctaw superstition of being completely haunted and plagued by eerie 'shadow-beings' who might show up at any time and create social confusion and even fear towards socialization or community gatherings. These 'shadow-beings' were an integral part of Choctaw folklore and were dated back to the days of her Native peoples' experience during the American Revolutionary War and the great and complicated War of 1812. Kinta's elder told her to be excited for this 2018 Pow-Wow but to take great care and meditative caution at the notion/possibility that ominous haunting 'shadow-beings' would show up at the media-covered tribal event to create general social fears. Kinta took the strange omen as spooky but nevertheless considered the words of her brooding Choctaw elder as thoughtful. Kinta knew that the Christian Coalition (a prominent orthodox religious organization) was sending a media-delegation to the 2018 Pow-Wow and wondered if the Choctaw were ready for such 'exposure' (and mainstream chatter!). As the 2018 Pow-Wow kicked off, Kinta noted all the wonderful dancers and elders and musicians and sages and various journalists, tourists, and event investors who flocked to the auditorium, outdoor tents, gathering-places in the nearby forest, and the park to dance and converse. This was truly a colored Pow-Wow, so Kinta wanted there to be no real terror and was therefore very pensive about the eerie 'shadow-beings' folk-tale her Choctaw elder told her about and warned her about and decided to keep a 'close eye' on the flurry of peoples at the Pow-Wow (to see if anyone was being 'tracked' by strange 'messaging shadow forces'). That's just what Kinta saw. While Kinta was dancing, she noticed a shadowy presence wander towards a campfire while blowing smoke, but Kinta thought she was the only one who could see this 'shadow-being' and began to panic. She decided to walk up to the apparent shadow-being and asked it, "Are you a messenger I'm seeing?" The strange shadow-being seemed to turn to her like a dancer and lyrically replied (in a faint whisper), "Tell the Choctaw children of the dioramic shadows created by their exposure to civilization." Kinta realized the 2018 Pow-Wow was something like an 'asylum revelation.' ==== ![]() © 2019 Abishai100 |
StatsAuthorAbishai100NJAboutStudent/Minister; Hobbies: Comic Books, Culinary Arts, Music; Religion: Catholic; Education: Dartmouth College more..Writing
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