The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Royalty Report
Shelby Botone/MCNPR
As the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Royalty Coordinator, it is a privilege to work closely with the Miss and Jr. Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation and witness these young Mvskoke women take part in the Nation’s events and embrace the Mvskoke culture.
My name is Shelby Botone and this past weekend, MCN Miss Nina Fox and Jr. Miss Louisa Harjo traveled to Macon, Ga., for the Ocmulgee Indian Celebration. This is a brief look at the MCN Royalty fulfilling their duties as ambassadors of the Nation. The three-day event took place at the Ocmulgee National Monument from Sept. 14 – 16, 2018. The celebration included cultural demonstrations from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, as well as other tribal nations.
Miss and Jr. Miss MCN enjoyed the first day visiting with children from local school districts. After the princesses participated in the Stomp Dance demonstration, they were able to visit the various booths and tables that were set up for cultural presentations and the selling of Native American merchandise. The make-and-take tables consisted of cornhusk dolls, jewelry, basket weaving and warclubs. They took numerous pictures with the school children, who were very excited to meet them. Later in the day, Nina and Louisa were able to partake in a tour along with fellow Muscogee (Creek) citizens who also made the trip. While on the tour,
they were able to experience and learn the history of the Ocmulgee Mounds and their Mvskoke ancestors that once inhabited the mounds.
The MCN Honor Guard started off each day of the event with the presentation of the flags and the playing of the Nation’s flag song.
And on the second day, the ladies took part in the Stomp Dance exhibition along with other citizens, including MCN Principal Chief James R. Floyd. Audience members were also welcomed to join in on the demonstration and many did just that. Nina and Louisa then enjoyed the other tribal demonstrations from the Mississippi Choctaws and some Cherokees, such as stickball and various dances. They then took time to explore the Ocmulgee National Monument Museum where they spoke with visitors and shared with them their knowledge of the Mvskoke culture and history.
During their downtime, the princesses were able to take in their first Major League Baseball game. The ladies watched as the Atlanta Braves took on the Washington Nationals at Suntrust Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. They even participated in the ‘wave’ with the home crowd and did the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ dance in and around the stadium. Jr. Miss even had her first Japanese Hibachi experience. The girls also indulged in the other great eats
that Macon and Atlanta had to offer!
On the final day, they participated in the morning session Stomp Dance demonstration and spoke with more visitors before they had to head to Atlanta to catch their flight back to Oklahoma.
With this journey, Nina and Louisa were able to learn a lot more about the history of their ancestral homelands and become more familiar with where they come from. I am hopeful this experience can be something they take with them that will help them continue on the path of being strong Mvskoke women.
This is also something that we hope all of our future Mvskoke Royalty will be able to experience for years to come!
Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation: My Experience
Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation Nina Fox
My experience at the Ocmulgee Celebration was beyond words. When we first arrived at the event I didn’t know what to expect, let alone how I would feel.
The first day, some local schools came out for an educational field trip. That day, Jr. Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation Louisa Harjo and I participated in the Stomp Dance demonstration and had the chance to talk to some of the kids. All of them were so excited and looked eager to learn about the mounds and the people who lived there.
Towards the end of the event we were leaving to have a little break to clean up and cool down. While walking to the car a little girl came up to me and asked me if I was a princess, I replied ‘yes’, and she got so excited. I gave the girl one of my cards with my picture on it and as soon as I looked up, I was surrounded by a bunch of kids wanting a card, as well. They all said ‘thank you’ and were asking me questions. That moment made me realize how ecstatic they were to be there and to see us.
While on a guided tour, we had the chance to go to the top of The Great Temple Mound. Being at the top of the mound was just pure beauty because you could see all of the scenery that included the trees and a river. Being out there gave me the sense of home. It was comforting and felt like I belonged there. I had previously asked former misses about their experience out there and they all said similar things. In that moment I knew what they had meant.
When I turned around I could see tall buildings and hotels, this just made me think about how far we have come as Mvskoke people. Even though we have been through so much, we continue to show people that we are still here and that we will always be here.
On the second and third days of the event, we participated in the Stomp Dance demonstration again and had the opportunity to talk to some more people. I got to talk to some individuals about what our titles were about and educate them a little about modern day Mvskoke people.
This trip has shown me how far we have come and what we have been through and how we continue to grow as people. I have learned so much on this trip not only about our people but about myself. Going to Georgia with some of my fellow Muscogee (Creek) citizens, made this trip so much more special to me because it truly made it feel more like home. I encourage anyone who can visit the mounds to go out there to experience it. I hope to one day visit again.
Jr. Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation Louisa Harjo: My Experience
by: Jr. Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation Louisa Harjo
Representing at Georgia was such an astounding experience that I will always have in my heart. It was really cool getting to see so many people come out and visit. We met all kinds of great people out there.
It was so awesome to see our Mvskoke people with booths set up teaching others about our culture. It was amazing to see how the Mvskoke built the things they did with so many creative designs and patterns without the use of as many tools made available to us today. They just had to use what was around them at the time.
Seeing and learning the history of the Ocmulgee Mounds gave me a creative and spiritual feeling that I cannot put into words. Through all the active things I do and am involved in, it made me think about how many great people are in my life and how I am so blessed to be where I am at now.
In some way, we all have a creative skill that we are good at and we get so much of our creative part from our ancestors. Life is pure creative energy. I like to think that once you open that creativity, you’re giving back a
gift to you and the creator.
It’s also sad to think about what they had to go through but yet, this event demonstrated their perseverance.The way I think of it is not only did they use songs and dances, but they also opened up the creative part of
them to help keep them going, which probably made gentle but powerful changes.
Mvto!!! Mahes ce!!! (I’m so grateful) that I got to have those types of feelings during my visit to our homelands in Macon, Ga., it was really something!
