Cherokee Blog

While social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic persists, a social media movement is connecting native powwow dancers, drummers, vendors, and visitors across the world through online powwows as a way to still bring native people together to perform, share their gifts, and be celebrated.

Like many other parts of the country, Cherokee is operating under a stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 crisis. And yet, with spring unfurling here in the mountains, there’s still so much beauty to enjoy. Take a look. 

The Museum of the Cherokee Indian's Many Faces: A Cherokee Mask Exhibit showcases the masks, the people who made them, and the traditions and customs behind their creation and use. Many Faces is designed to provide visitors with accurate, detailed, and insightful information into Cherokee history, traditions, and ceremonies. The exhibit is a compilation of more than 150 masks of different mediums, paintings, and photographs.

Things are changing daily with COVID-19. To keep you informed, we compiled this resource list of what’s open, closed, delayed or cancelled in Cherokee, NC. We will add to it as new updates are released, so please check back often. In the meantime, thank you for understanding, and we apologize for any inconvenience. We encourage everyone to be extra safe and follow all the recommended guidelines to stay healthy during this challenging time.

Before the development of the Cherokee written language, tattoos were used to identify one another in historic societies, and were especially prevalent among warriors, who had to earn their marks. We talked to Mike Crowe, one of the Atsila Anotasgi Cultural Specialists at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, to find out more about traditional tattoos and practices of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.