Editing Choctaw (section)

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of the Choctaw}}
[[Image:Tullockchishko.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.8|''Tullockchishko'' (Drinks the Juice of the Stones) was the greatest Choctaw stickball player, 1834.]]
Choctaw culture as it's understood today has its historical roots going back to the 16th century. Prior to this period what is known of the Choctaw culture comes from oral traditions and the obvious participation of the Choctaw people in the wider [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex]]. From at least the 16th century until the present-day a definable Choctaw culture has been expressed through rich traditions of song, dance, dress, beading, pottery, basketry, and stickball.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.choctawnation.com/about/culture/traditions/ | title=Traditions }}</ref> Choctaw people maintain their ancient traditions in their personal and daily lives as well as participating in community events. One example is the mid-summer [[Choctaw Indian Fair]] hosted by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. This event hosts Choctaw people from all over world and includes hospitality and events such as cooking, entertainment, dancing, and stickball.<ref name=choctawFairSummer>{{Cite web| url = http://www.answers.com/topic/choctaw-indian-fair| title = Choctaw Indian Fair| access-date = 1 September 2010| publisher = Information.com}}</ref> The Choctaw culture is an ancient culture that continues to thrive within the nations and communities of the [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma]] in Oklahoma, the [[Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians]] in Mississippi, the [[Jena Band of Choctaw Indians]] in Louisiana, and the [[Yowani Choctaws]] in Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and in Oklahoma as part of the [[Caddo]] Confederacy.

=== Traditional religion ===
{{Main|Choctaw mythology}}
The traditional Choctaw belief system evolved out of the North American Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. The Choctaw believed in a good spirit and an evil spirit. They may have been sun, or ''Hvshtahli'', worshippers. The anthropologist John Swanton wrote,
{{blockquote|[T]he Choctaws anciently regarded the sun as a deity ... the sun was ascribed the power of life and death. He was represented as looking down upon the earth, and as long as he kept his flaming eye fixed on any one, the person was safe ... fire, as the most striking representation of the sun, was considered as possessing intelligence, and as acting in concert with the sun ... [having] constant intercourse with the sun ...<ref name=john_reed />}}

The word ''nanpisa'' (the one who sees) expressed the reverence the Choctaw had for the sun.<ref name=john_reed_religion>{{Cite book| last = Swanton | first = John R.| title = Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians| publisher = The University of Alabama Press| pages = 194–196| isbn = 0-8173-1109-2| year = 2001| orig-year = 1931}}</ref>

{{blockquote| Anthropologists theorize that the Mississippian ancestors of the Choctaw placed the sun at the center of their cosmological system. Mid-eighteenth-century Choctaws did view the sun as a being endowed with life. Choctaw diplomats, for example, spoke only on sunny days. If the day of a conference were cloudy or rainy, Choctaws delayed the meeting until the sun returned, usually on the pretext that they needed more time to discuss particulars. They believed the sun made sure that all talks were honest. The sun as a symbol of great power and reverence is a major component of southeastern Indian cultures.|Greg O'Brien, ''Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750–1830''<ref name=greg_obrien>{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Greg |title =Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750–1830 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press| chapter=Choctaw and Power |year=2005 |orig-year=2002 |pages= 60–61}}</ref>}}

Choctaw prophets were known to have addressed the sun. John Swanton wrote, "an old Choctaw informed Wright that before the arrival of the [[missionaries]], they had no conception of prayer. He added, "I have indeed heard it asserted by some, that anciently their hopaii, or prophets, on some occasions were accustomed to address the sun ..."<ref name=john_reed />

===Traditional tribal structure===
{{Main|Iksas (Choctaw Clans)}}

The traditional Choctaw tribal structure prioritized two distinct [[moiety (kinship)|moieties]]: ''Imoklashas'' (elders) and ''Inhulalatas'' (youth). Each moiety had several iksas or clans and in rare cases a totemic clan. Identity for the Choctaw people was established first by moiety and second as part of the individuals iksa. The Choctaw people existed in a [[matrilineal]] kinship system, with children born into the iksa of their mother and the mother's iksa conferring her children's social status. Another tradition of this maternally oriented system was the role of the maternal uncle as an important figure in the lives of his sister's children. Maternal uncles acted as fathers and caretakers to the children of their sisters. The Choctaw people's adoration of woman and the [[Mother goddess]] was also reflected in their religious and spiritual reverence for the sacred mound of [[Nanih Waiya]] which is known as the "Mother Mound". Nanih Waiya is a great [[earthworks (engineering)|earthwork]] platform mound located in central-east Mississippi. This site remains a place of female pilgrimage for prayer, song, and dance to this day.

[[Anthropologist]] [[John R. Swanton]] wrote about the iksas in his 1931 book ''Source material for the social and ceremonial life of the Choctaw Indians''. The main iksas holding significant sway over all others at the time of his writings were the ''Okla Falaya'' meaning "Long People", the eastern ''Okla Tannap'' meaning "People on the Other Side", and the southern ''Okla Hannali'' meaning "Six Towns People".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/sourcematerialfo0000swan/page/80/mode/2up?q=iksa | title=Source material for the social and ceremonial life of the Choctaw Indians | date=1931 | location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S.Government Printing Office}}</ref>

After the U.S. government had broken several treaties with the Choctaw people, and eventually when the Choctaw were forcibly removed from their traditional lands in [[Mississippi]] during the American tragedy of the [[Trail of Tears]], the Choctaw reestablished themselves in [[Indian Territory]] according to the three most powerful districts in their lost homeland. The Choctaw named these three districts after the leading chiefs from each of those districts. [[Moshulatubbee]] was the name given for the district of the Okla Tannap, [[Apuckshunubbee]] was given for Okla Falaya, and [[Pushmataha]] was given for Okla Hannali.

===Traditional communal economy===
[[File:Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou - Alfred Boisseau (New Orleans Mus of Art 56.34).jpg|thumb|''Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou'' [[Alfred Boisseau]], 1847]]
Early Choctaw communities worked communally and shared their harvest.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKr6a6l_Nw4C&pg=PA57| author=Carolyn Reeves| title=The Choctaw Before Removal| publisher=University of Mississippi Press| date=2014| page=57| isbn=9781604736991}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.choctaw.org/government/development/economicDevHistory.html| title=Economic Development history| publisher=Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians| date=2013}}</ref> They had trouble understanding why English settlers allowed their poor to suffer from hunger.<ref>{{cite book| author=Ronald Takaki| title=A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America| publisher=Little, Brown and Co.| date=1993| page=89}}</ref> In Ireland, the generosity of the Choctaw nation during their Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century is remembered to this day and recently marked by a sculpture, '[[Kindred Spirits (sculpture)|Kindred Spirits]]', in a park at Midleton, Cork.<ref name="2017-06-18-BBC_News">{{cite news |publisher=[[BBC News]] |title=Sculpture marks Choctaw generosity to Irish famine victims
|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40304645 |access-date=2023-06-25 |date=June 18, 2017}}
</ref><ref name="2016-03-30-ChoctawNation">{{cite web |url=https://www.choctawnation.com/news-events/press-media/choctaw-irish-bond-lives |title=The Choctaw-Irish Bond Lives On
|publisher=[[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma]] |website=choctawnation.com |date=March 30, 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406090614/https://www.choctawnation.com/news-events/press-media/choctaw-irish-bond-lives |archive-date=2017-04-06 |url-status=dead}}
</ref>

===Historical architecture===
Both, the [[Chickasaw]] and the Choctaw Indians traditionally made three kinds of buildings, per family, consisting of 1) a summer house (made into an oblong square), 2) a corn house (also made into an oblong square), and 3) a winter house, which latter was made circular, and was also known as the 'hot house'.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida |first=B. |last=Romans |author-link=Bernard Romans |location=New York |publisher=Printed for the author |year=1775 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/concisenaturalhi00roma/page/66/mode/2up 67]; [https://archive.org/details/concisenaturalhi00roma/page/82/mode/2up 83] |language=en |oclc=745317190}}</ref>

===Historical clothing===
[[Image:Choctaw group.png|right|thumb|Mississippi Choctaw group wearing traditional garb, c. 1908.]]
The colorful dresses worn by today's Choctaw are made by hand. They are based on designs of their ancestors, who adapted 19th-century European-American styles to their needs. Today many Choctaw wear such traditional clothing mainly for special events. Choctaw elders, especially the women, dress in their traditional garb every day. Choctaw dresses are trimmed by full diamond, half diamond or circle, and crosses that represent stickball sticks.<ref name=choctaw_dress>{{Cite web| url = http://www.choctaw.org/culture/clothing.html| title = Traditional Choctaw Dress| access-date = 4 May 2008| year = 2004| publisher = Choctaw website}}</ref>

=== Indigenous games===
[[File:Choctaw Stickball Player, Painted by George Catlin, 1834.jpg|thumb|180px|''Tul-lock-chísh-ko, Drinks the Juice of the Stone, in Ball-player's Dress'', portrait by [[George Catlin]], 1834]]
[[History of lacrosse|Choctaw stickball]], the oldest field sport in North America, was also known as the "little brother of war" because of its roughness and substitution for war.<ref name=choctaw_stickball>{{Cite web| url = http://www.indians.org/articles/choctaw-indians.html| title = Choctaw Indians| access-date = 2 May 2008| year = 2006}}</ref> When disputes arose between Choctaw communities, stickball provided a civil way to settle issues. The stickball games would involve as few as twenty or as many as 300 players. The goal posts could be from a few hundred feet apart to a few miles. Goal posts were sometimes located within each opposing team's village. A [[Jesuit]] priest referenced stickball in 1729, and George Catlin painted the subject. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians continue to practice the sport.

[[Chunkey]] was a game using a disk-shaped stone that was about 1–2&nbsp;inches in length.<ref name="john_reed">{{Cite book |last=Swanton |first=John |title=Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-8173-1109-2 |page=5 |chapter=Choctaw Social and Ceremonial Life |orig-year=1931}}</ref>{{rp|155}}
Players would throw the disk down a {{convert|200|ft|m|adj=on}} corridor so that it could roll past the players at great speed. As the disk rolled down the corridor, players would throw wooden shafts at it. The object of the game was to strike the disk or prevent your opponents from hitting it.<ref name=john_reed/>{{rp|155}}

Other games included using corn, cane, and moccasins.<ref name=john_reed_games>{{Cite book| last = Swanton| first = John Reed| title = Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians| publisher = The University of Alabama Press| pages = 158–160| isbn = 0-8173-1109-2| year = 2001| orig-year = 1931}}</ref> The corn game used five to seven kernels of corn. One side was blackened and the other side white. Players won points based on each color. One point was awarded for the black side and 5–7 points for the white side. There were usually only two players.<ref name=john_reed_games />