Naming

Naming is very intertwined with the different clans. Clans were Families that were named after something in nature such as animals, and all people in the clan were named so that others would know what clan they came from. The Seminoles would only allow 2 people to have the same name in a clan, when one passed on the name was given to another member whom was going to turn the age of 12.Woman lose their name upon having their first child and are just referred to as their child's mother. Seminole also used titles to identify men for their achievements earned through battle or leadership. These titles would be used instead of names for the rest of their life.

Necklaces and songs were also used to identify what clan you were in.

Modern day they still use traditional naming but they have incorporated in modern day english names.

• Dept. of Anthropology & Genealogy Seminole Tribe of Florida
  "N.D" Frequently asked questions about Seminole tribe. Electronic Document,http://www.semtribe.com /FAQ/, Accessed April 12, 2013. 
•  Nativeamericans.Mrdonn.org
  "ND"Daily Life in Olden Times for Kids Everglades Seminole Indians. Electronic Document, http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/southeast/seminole/clans-marriage.html, Accessed March 27, 2013.

Gender Issues

Many cultures have a distinction between men and women. The gender of a person determines their clothing and duties among their society. The Seminole tribe is not an exception to this type of culture. The men and women have different traditional roles and clothing. The men typically wore breechcloths which are also known as loincloths. It is a long rectangular piece of tanned fur or animal hide that looped between a belt covering the front and back of the mans lower body. The men also wear a full cut shirt. The Seminole women wore a wraparound skirt and a blouse. Women also wore jewelry to adorn their garments.
Gender Issues went beyond clothing and traditional roles were dependent upon gender. The duties of a man involved hunting and going to war, if necessary to protect the tribe. The women did most of the farming and took care of children and cooking. There was very little deviation from the typical role of your gender.
The Seminole tribe has 8 clans and your clan membership depends on your wife or mother. The husbands were supposed to go and live with the clan of his wife thus changing his clan. You could not marry within your own clan so the survival of the clan was dependent upon the women. This put increased attention onto the success and treatment of the women in the tribe as a whole.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida
       2013 Our Culture: A Women's Garmets, A Well Dressed Seminole Man. Internet Document.  Accessed April 12, 2013 http://www.semtribe.com/Culture/SeminoleClothing.aspx

The Seminole Tribe of Florida
        2013 Our Culture: Clans. Internet Document. Accessed April 2013.http://www.semtribe.com/Culture/Clans.aspx

Brief History

The Seminole people are the descendents of the Creek people. The diversity of the Tribe is reflected in the fact that its members spoke seven languages- Muscogee, Hitchiti, Koasati, Alabama, Natchez, Yuchi and Shawnee.

The early history of the Creek people in Florida is not well understood. The Apalache were a Hitchiti speaking people that may have been related to the Creek Tamathli or Apalachicola. The Apalache, situated along the Apalachicola River, were in Florida at the time of Spanish contact.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Spanish attempted to set up a system of missions across north Florida and southern Georgia. While these efforts to set up missions in the Creek country failed, there were Creeks that were drawn from Georgia down to the Spanish missions in Florida.

The first Creek speaking people, settled at Chocuchattee (Red House) near present day Brooksville, Florida. This was some time around 1760. They were also cattlemen. Soon the vast herds of the growing Seminole Nation drew the attention of their white neighbors to the north. Conflicts that were occurring in Georgia spilled into Florida due to an increased white desire for land and cattle.

The Seminole population in Florida remained fairly small, around 1200, compared to the main body of Creeks in Georgia and Alabama, who numbered possibly 25,000 people. Then came the War of 1812. This period of time has been divided by historians into the War of 1812 (1812-1815); the Creek War (1813-1814); the Creek Civil War (1813); the First Seminole War (1818-1819); the Second Seminole War (1835-1842); the Scare of 1849-50 (1849-1840); and the Third Seminole War (1855-1858). The fallacy in these dates lie in the fact that one history says that the destruction of the British post on the Apalachicola River was the last battle of the War of 1812 and another calls it the first battle of the First Seminole war. It is unlikely that anyone there at the time saw the difference. In reality, all of these conflicts were one long war against the Creeks.

American Anthropology Association

Steel, Willard.
     N.d. Seminole Tribe of Florida - History, Brief History. Electronic Document,
          http://www.semtribe.com/History/BriefSummary.aspx, accessed March 26.

Language

The Seminole Indians use two distinct but similar languages, both traditionally and today; however, they are not written traditionally. These two languages are Muscogee (Creek) and Miccosukee. Many members of the tribes are fluent in both of the languages, but usually only speak it to one another. Many Florida cities, counties, places, and water landmarks are named by the Seminole Languages. The two languages are related, but based on words and pronunciation, they are different. One similarity they possess is that many of the sounds and their use of grammar in the languages do not exist in the English language. Some examples of their similarities and differences to between their languages and the English language include:

Bread would be pronounced "tak-la-eek-i" in the Muscogee dialect and "pa-les-tee" in Miccosukee.

Dog is "ef-fa" in Creek, "ee-fe" in Miccosukee.

Cow is "wa-ka" in Creek, "waa-ke" in Miccosukee. 

Miccosukee	English
Apalachicola	place of the ruling people
Chattahoochee	marked stones
Hialeah	prairie
Immokalee	my camp
Miami	that place
Ocala	spring
Palatka	ferry crossing
Yeehaw	wolf
Pahokee	grassy water
Apopka	potato eating place
Okeechobee	big water
Homosassa	pepper place
Thonotosassa	flint place

Learn a Few Seminole Words

Miccosukee	English
ee-cho	deer
ya-laahe	orange
o-pa	owl
hen-le	squirrel
sho-ke	pig
laa-le	fish
yok-che	turtle
chen-te	snake
ke-hay-ke	hawk
nak-ne	man
coo-wah-chobee	big cat
wannke-cha-be	dragon fly
coo-wah-chobee	big cat
Ee-te Yo-ga-hé	Fire
hah-yo-ke	chickee roof
cha-cee	pumpkin
kowechobe	panther
Numpagalaale laknalon	Flowers are yellow
Ko-wah-yah- lot to chené pahén empom	Three horses are eating hay

 

 

 

American Anthropological Association

  2013 Culture Who We Are: Language. Electronic Document, 

       http://www.semtribe.com/culture/Language.aspx, accessed March 1, 2013.

Kinship

Kinship

   The Seminole Tribe of Florida states that when a child of Seminole descent is born from their mother who is also of Seminole ancestry, he/she will join her clan. Customarily, the mother’s Clan is the extended family unit. As tradition goes, the husbands will join their wives and live in the area where her clan resides. The Tribe considers marriage and incest of members within their own clan to be culturally unacceptable; Seminoles of Florida believe that one should marry outside of their clan while inheriting the mother’s clan as their own. The mother’s clan will continue on for decades to come and will then be considered extinct when the last female in that specific clan is deceased.

     Every clan in the Seminole Tribes has a distinct attribute which characterizes the clans traits. The different clans in the Seminole Tribe of Florida are shown below:

Subsistence

The Florida Indians are not nomads. They have fixed habitations which consist of permanent camps, and wigwams (houses) which, remain in the abiding places of their families. There are several times during the year when various Seminole clans gather into temporary camps for a couple of weeks. During this gathering, the Seminoles share in a great feast and the Green Corn Dance in which purification and manhood ceremonies take place that prepare the participants for the years to come.

The Seminole Indians live in tree houses called I-ful-lo-ha-tco’s that are approximately 40 by 30 feet in an oblong clearing and are made of materials from the palmetto tree. Their thatched roofs made by the palmetto trees are durable and strong and the only thing that could possibly tear it down would be by Florida’s devastating hurricanes. The I-ful-lo-ha-tco’s have platforms on the bottom which serves as a dry sitting when they face flooding during the rainy seasons.

 

 

 

 

The Seminole men are hunters as well as fishermen, bringing home deer, trout, quail, and other various meats. The women typically stay away from the hunting and plant crops including corn, sugar cane, and sweet potatoes. The women also have a specific role in taking care of the children, the house, the cattle, and cooking whatever their husbands brings home from the hunt. When a member of the tribe is ill, the Seminoles rely on their medicine men and women to help them be cured from their sickness.

The education system in the tribe consists of programs that begin teaching the members at the age of five and continues on into their elder lives. The Education Advisory Board is made up of twelve tribal members, two of each are from each reservation in Florida. The Education Advisory Board meets bi-monthly during the academic school year and rotate throughout this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Anthropological Association

2013 Seminole Tribe of Florida: Culture. Electronic Doument, http://www.semtribe.com/Culture/, accessed March 21, 2013

 

 

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