0:11 [SPEAKER_00]: To my knowledge, only one Native American tribe in history has never surrendered or capitulated to the U.S. government, the Seminole tribe, of Florida, most specifically, one Seminole tribe. 0:28 [SPEAKER_00]: The Mikazuki Indians settled in the Everglades and held out until 1962. 0:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Until they were legally acknowledged as a sovereign domestic dependent nation by the United States government. 0:43 [SPEAKER_00]: In order to learn more about this impressive native people, I travel to the Everglades in South Florida to visit the Mikazuki Reservation. 0:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Among other things, I toured a mocked traditional village for insight into the Mikazuki culture in history. 1:02 [SPEAKER_00]: My tour guide was named Troy Sanders. 1:06 [SPEAKER_01]: In the 1950s and before that, it was a real village, and a real family stayed here, it was my family. 1:12 [SPEAKER_01]: My great grandfather, Jimmy Tiger, who was a little brother, to Buffalo Tiger. 1:17 [SPEAKER_00]: We're standing at the entrance to a mock native encampment, containing all of the buildings and features of a traditional Mikazuki community. 1:26 [SPEAKER_00]: To our right is a wooden open-sided shelter, supported by large posts, 1:35 [SPEAKER_00]: It almost looks like a kind of that cabana. 1:38 [SPEAKER_00]: You might see in the Caribbean. 1:40 [SPEAKER_00]: These structures are called Chikis. 1:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, seminars with the Chikis, they're the only people in America that really have the open-sided Chikin' design because if where you live, it's going to determine what you live in, what you eat, what you believe in. 1:56 [SPEAKER_01]: So, we're really the only tribe that uses these in America. 1:59 [SPEAKER_00]: In the middle of this structure is an open fire, importable cooking surface, covered in what looks to be a kind of bread. 2:08 [SPEAKER_00]: A native woman is needing dough, with her young daughter a sleep beside her, on a long, long bench. 2:16 [SPEAKER_00]: This structure is known simply as the cooking chickie. 2:26 [SPEAKER_01]: The cooking chicken here, it's going to be the only one with these vents that let the smoking escape. 2:32 [SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty much the heart of every camp of every family here. 2:36 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the headquarters. 2:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, besides breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be in May here. 2:40 [SPEAKER_01]: This is also where the big decisions are made, because this is a maturical society here. 2:47 [SPEAKER_01]: That means the eldest lady is the head of every family here. 2:54 [SPEAKER_01]: I would just want or the grandma. 2:56 [SPEAKER_01]: So imagine if from a different camp had something important to speak about, they'll come here first, because it's more than likely the boss is here. 3:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the fire, every camp here, it just signifies the sew of every camp, meaning occupied or not occupied. 3:15 [SPEAKER_01]: Very simple. 3:17 [SPEAKER_01]: So, every fire will always have four logs 3:22 [SPEAKER_01]: It's important because they would face every direction east, west, north, south, it's very important. 3:29 [SPEAKER_01]: So in the 1800s during the similar wars, let's say a mother and her kids had to leave immediately due to encroaching danger be it, the U.S. Army or the Spanish. 3:41 [SPEAKER_01]: They would slightly move whichever logs, depending on which direction they've fled to. 3:47 [SPEAKER_01]: So when the father came back to an empty chicken, he could just look at the fire, see which log had been moved, and he would know that they had flew in that direction, there'd be his way of finding them. 4:00 [SPEAKER_00]: It's details like this that always amaze me when learning about ancient or indigenous peoples 4:07 [SPEAKER_00]: This type of simple solution to a complex problem is a savvy and elegant as anything we come up with today. 4:15 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the roots, the Mikazuki Cookworth, is called Kuntah, which is actually poisonous until properly processed and treated. 4:27 [SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things they would do when being rated by an enemy is leave the untreated version of this plant out on their tables so that when people stole their food, they would be poisoned by it. 4:40 [SPEAKER_01]: And also coming back to the hometown, sometimes they would leave it untreated, unprocessed, so when people who came here would take everything, it would eat that and it could sit. 4:51 [SPEAKER_01]: And you guys are welcome to have this too. 4:54 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a fried bread. 4:57 [SPEAKER_00]: The typical sweetener for the mechazuki would have been honey, which I added to mine. 5:04 [SPEAKER_01]: They all perfect with breakfast, lunch, dinner, even dessert to put fruit filling in the middle. 5:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Alrighty, so that's the kitchen. 5:11 [SPEAKER_01]: This is the dining room slash liver room. 5:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Please take a seat. 5:14 [SPEAKER_00]: We stepped in what was called the eating chickie. 5:17 [SPEAKER_00]: A structure nearly identical to the cooking chickie, a part from the absence of the fire. 5:23 [SPEAKER_01]: If the cooking chicken is the heart of every camp, we're eating chicken. 5:27 [SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of a really entry point for every camp. 5:30 [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be the first place you would go to. 5:32 [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have anything important to speak about. 5:34 [SPEAKER_01]: You just want to socialize. 5:36 [SPEAKER_01]: You'll come here first. 5:37 [SPEAKER_01]: See, he's hanging out. 5:38 [SPEAKER_01]: See, he's not hanging out. 5:39 [SPEAKER_01]: It has a very unspoken social significance. 5:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Just like every other culture in a world basically. 5:47 [SPEAKER_00]: You could always eat at home in your own cheeky, but the eating cheeky was like the local pub or bar where you might go hang out and socialize. 5:58 [SPEAKER_01]: We do have a clan system here. 5:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Lowering your metchee's bird clan. 6:01 [SPEAKER_01]: My clan is double jet. 6:02 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no English word for it. 6:04 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's panther clan, audit clan. 6:07 [SPEAKER_01]: win-clan, big-town clan. 6:11 [SPEAKER_01]: So we have an annual festival. 6:13 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not open to the public. 6:15 [SPEAKER_01]: It's about a week long. 6:16 [SPEAKER_01]: It happens every June, July, it's like our new years. 6:20 [SPEAKER_01]: So, in Micasiki's speech, which I will refer to as helping me. 6:26 [SPEAKER_01]: It's Koshibakshigi. 6:28 [SPEAKER_01]: in an English language translate to a green corndance picture every clan basically every family out there we go out to the Everglades to a designated spot every clan is going to have their own camp 6:39 [SPEAKER_01]: consisting of their own system of chickies. 6:42 [SPEAKER_01]: So picture bird camp, not picture my camp, WJP, Panther clan, auto clan, wind clan, big town clan. 6:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Every clan, their own camps, all these families, on these chickens, make a big circle. 6:56 [SPEAKER_01]: And in the middle of the circle, it's a big, open grass field. 6:59 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what we do everything for the festival, a week long festival. 7:03 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll play ball during the day, we'll dance at night, we'll do the ceremonies there. 7:09 [SPEAKER_01]: the eating chicken of every camp there. 7:12 [SPEAKER_01]: It's positioned in a way where every family's eating chicken has a perfect view of what's going on in the middle of the festival. 7:19 [SPEAKER_01]: So not only do you eat breakfast lunch and dinner here, this is where you can take everything in. 7:24 [SPEAKER_01]: You can watch the ball game during the day. 7:25 [SPEAKER_01]: You can watch everyone dancing at night. 7:28 [SPEAKER_01]: You can watch ceremonies when your son reaches age 12. 7:32 [SPEAKER_01]: You can watch him leave his childhood 7:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Once a boy reaches the age of 12, and the oldest woman in his family gives permission, he participates in the Green Corn Dance. 7:48 [SPEAKER_00]: He undergoes a series of ceremonial challenges, like fasting, sleep deprivation, and dancing. 7:57 [SPEAKER_00]: And if he completes these rituals, he becomes eligible for his adult name. 8:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Each year, at the end of the green corn dance, all the boys who have completed these rights of passage stand at the center of the gathering, in view of all the different family camps, the medicine man approaches each of them, providing them new adult names, and from that point forward, these boys are considered men, by the rest of their tribe. 8:27 [SPEAKER_01]: Up next, we're going to meet Leo Jim. 8:30 [SPEAKER_01]: He's bird clan too, and he's the woodcarver here. 8:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Now here, traditions pass down from Uncle to nephew. 8:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Who's come on in? 8:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Leo Jim is seated at a large U-shaped craft stable, surrounded by some of his work. 8:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Leo. 8:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Leo is a great carver. 8:48 [SPEAKER_01]: He makes everything you see here for children's toys, weapons for war, everyday toys for everyday use. 8:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Before you picture these toys, you should know that the Mikazuki have cable. 9:01 [SPEAKER_00]: They watch Game of Thrones and their Harry Potter fans, just like the rest of us. 9:10 [SPEAKER_01]: goes in Harry Potter once. 9:12 [SPEAKER_01]: He made a pokey boss, somebody bought that. 9:14 [SPEAKER_01]: He made a game of thrones eggs, somebody bought that. 9:17 [SPEAKER_01]: And right here's Cypress knee, I'll get to that later. 9:20 [SPEAKER_01]: But he carved that into a wolf, howling at the knee. 9:23 [SPEAKER_01]: And he makes weapons from other tribes, too, like the command she has a gun stop workload. 9:28 [SPEAKER_00]: A gun stock war club is a style of Native American weapon based on the shape of a rifle or shotgun. 9:36 [SPEAKER_00]: In their battles with European settlers, native warriors would hold captured rifles by their barrels and swing their wooden shoulder stocks as clubs. 9:48 [SPEAKER_00]: This weapon proved so effective, they began manufacturing just the wooden part of that weapon, and outfitting it with stone balls or tomahawk heads. 9:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Everything you see here is made out of cypress trees. 10:01 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure you see a whole bunch of them out there. 10:03 [SPEAKER_01]: Cypress trees are these tall, skinny white trees, and they use a cypress tree. 10:08 [SPEAKER_01]: Not just because of its abundance, but it's virtually waterproof, and it's hard, but stuff enough where it can be manipulated easily to make what you see here. 10:17 [SPEAKER_00]: You might be most familiar with Cedar Road, from Cedar Shake Siding, common in the North East United States. 10:25 [SPEAKER_00]: The waterproof properties of this would make an ideal surface in any place that deals with a lot of rain. 10:32 [SPEAKER_01]: I told you about a ball game we play during the festival. 10:36 [SPEAKER_01]: There is a tall skinny cypress tree right in the center. 10:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Now it still has its bark on except for near to top where it is stripped clean and it's very high up there. 10:46 [SPEAKER_01]: So the game is couple of safety. 10:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Now you take your cup of thank you sticks. 10:50 [SPEAKER_01]: You take the ball. 10:51 [SPEAKER_01]: animal hide, Spanish moss, toss it up there, especially can if you hit that spot. 10:57 [SPEAKER_01]: That's how you get a point. 10:58 [SPEAKER_01]: The game is played twice a day during the festival, and it's played men versus women too. 11:03 [SPEAKER_01]: Every son, dad, grandpa from every clan, and the festival versus every daughter, mom, grandma from every clan, and the festival. 11:14 [SPEAKER_01]: The men use these and the women use their bare hands too. 11:17 [SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty rough and tumble, pushing, shoveling, tackling. 11:20 [SPEAKER_01]: It's hilarious seeing a dude just about to throw it and then about five, six women just like, more haven't thought. 11:26 [SPEAKER_01]: That's very funny. 11:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, this is not something you can find on YouTube. 11:33 [SPEAKER_00]: I asked, and then I looked, either you are a member of the tribe, or you don't get to see it. 11:40 [SPEAKER_00]: The sticks are like small, flat, or cross sticks, and the ball is like a flattened baseball, or a slightly rounded moon pie with one seam running through the middle. 11:52 [SPEAKER_00]: The outside is leather, and the inside is filled with Spanish moss. 11:57 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're not playing, you can watch from your aid and chicken. 12:00 [SPEAKER_01]: A really great game, we're just gonna be about 40 people. 12:03 [SPEAKER_01]: Every just not great game, maybe 12, 15, but still pretty fun to watch. 12:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Troy's uncle was seated in his own open-sided cheeky at a table similar to the one in front of Leo. 12:24 [SPEAKER_00]: I asked if all nephews inherited their trades from their uncles. 12:28 [SPEAKER_01]: For the men, for the women, it's going to be a mom to daughter like I said. 12:32 [SPEAKER_01]: So, is my uncle Thomas? 12:34 [SPEAKER_01]: He makes out a toys in the store. 12:36 [SPEAKER_01]: All the bows and the spears. 12:40 [SPEAKER_01]: A couple of weeks ago, we had 150 kids from Homestead, as soon as the tour was over, they ran inside and bought everything, and ran back out here, and met a whole ruckus is pretty cool. 12:51 [SPEAKER_01]: I told you, every camp is gonna have one cook and chicken, one even cheeky. 12:54 [SPEAKER_01]: But they're gonna have multiple sleeping cheekies. 12:58 [SPEAKER_01]: The average size would be the four pillar, or maybe the six pillar right here. 13:04 [SPEAKER_01]: And this right here, it's a sleeping platform. 13:07 [SPEAKER_01]: People ask, is it the bad now? 13:10 [SPEAKER_00]: The sleeping platform has a flat wooden surface, elevated about halfway up the structure. 13:17 [SPEAKER_00]: The bedding itself would be made of either animal hide or trade cloth and a canopy of bedsheets about three feet tall would be suspended from the roof to keep out mosquitoes. 13:30 [SPEAKER_00]: these hanging bed sheets would also add a sense of privacy to these open-sided structures. 13:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Usually the sleeping platform is of the same length and width of the tricky itself. 13:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Because you got to fit mom and dad's bed here, you got to fit the kids bed here and whatever else you don't want on the floor, you got to put it here too. 13:50 [SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why we use this open-sided house design for hundreds of years and they've been able to withstand hurricanes for hundreds of years. 13:57 [SPEAKER_01]: It's because when there's less things to break, like the more resilient something is. 14:03 [SPEAKER_01]: So after a hurricane, if one's built right, the most you would need to replace is maybe the roofing. 14:10 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I'm not saying they're instructive, but they're known to withstand hurricanes. 14:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, but the roofing was made of tightly woven palm leaves, which were completely watertight. 14:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was like the 1920s or 1930s when we started getting hardware and really narrowed a minute. 14:27 [SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned to Troy that these chickies looked like the perfect place to be during a thunderstorm. 14:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Especially during the festival, like there'll be raining and maybe your friends came over and you'll just be under the thing, you know, just talking and waiting at the storm. 14:41 [SPEAKER_01]: And making sticky boys learn to build these by age 12, not usually uncle or grandpa or whoever comes and takes you to go build one. 14:50 [SPEAKER_01]: They even have a program in our school. 14:52 [SPEAKER_01]: He's uncle or elders. 14:54 [SPEAKER_01]: They would come to the school and take us all out to the baseball field and show us how to make one of these. 15:00 [SPEAKER_00]: I asked how long it takes to make a single chickie. 15:04 [SPEAKER_01]: It depends on the number of people, let's say four guys, or five men could make a two-pillar one or three-pillar, it could take maybe four days. 15:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Connecting all the different chickies is a wooden boardwalk. 15:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Hey Carl, this is Carl. 15:30 [SPEAKER_01]: He's Navajo. 15:31 [SPEAKER_01]: He's from Arizona. 15:32 [SPEAKER_01]: He's been with our tribe for about 30 years, and he's silversmiths here. 15:37 [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a vast big difference between Navajo, jewelry, and the Kassuki, Seminojuri because when the Spanish came to the Navajo, they showed him how to work, really work with metal, manipulating metal. 15:50 [SPEAKER_01]: You know that. 15:51 [SPEAKER_01]: So the big difference between Navajo, Jory and the Kassiki, Seminojory. 15:56 [SPEAKER_01]: They had all this knowledge to really manipulate the metal. 15:59 [SPEAKER_01]: So we didn't get that any of that knowledge in the 1800s. 16:02 [SPEAKER_01]: So we just took our silver coins and we would break them down and incorporate them into our beadwork. 16:11 [SPEAKER_01]: He also doesn't waste anything to be a silver dust on his apron. 16:17 [SPEAKER_01]: He'll take that and he'll use that for the inlay in the background so he makes sure not to waste it. 16:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I told you when we're at Leo's cheeky, I told you about the cypress knees. 16:25 [SPEAKER_01]: These are the roots growing out next to these cypress trees. 16:28 [SPEAKER_00]: A cypress knee, if you're trying to visualize it, is like a bony knob of tree root sticking up out of the ground. 16:37 [SPEAKER_00]: It almost looks like a pointy wooden mushroom, or a stalagmite that you might find on the floor of a cave. 16:44 [SPEAKER_01]: The reason they call it a cypress knee back in 1800s when traveling and waste high water, you can't really see what's in front of you when you're walking and if you're lucky enough, you hit that. 16:56 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's what they call it cypress knee. 16:57 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like the age, ancient equivalent of studying your toe on a coffee table. 17:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Please step right in. 17:02 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to introduce you to somebody. 17:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Inside the main door of the visitor center, is a gigantic tax-adormized alligator. 17:12 [SPEAKER_01]: This guy, his name's Tiny. 17:13 [SPEAKER_01]: 20 years ago when I was about a little boy, maybe 10 years old or something. 17:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Me and my friend used to come here after school just to see Tiny. 17:21 [SPEAKER_01]: This is a biggest alligator that was ever captured and brought to these enclosures. 17:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the average size you're going to see today may be 5, 6 feet, 400 pounds, 500 pounds. 17:31 [SPEAKER_01]: This guy who's twice that, close to a thousand, maybe 15, 16 feet. 17:35 [SPEAKER_01]: These guys, they don't stop growing until they die. 17:38 [SPEAKER_01]: So in captivity, they can live well past 100, but it's seen how violent their lives are in the wild. 17:43 [SPEAKER_01]: They can reach maybe 30 or 50. 17:45 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sure you all know these guys are basically dinosaurs. 17:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Their ancestry goes back 200 million years. 17:51 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not sure if you notice, but those bumps right there under back. 17:55 [SPEAKER_01]: They're like solar panels. 17:56 [SPEAKER_01]: That's why you see them basking in the sun all the time. 17:58 [SPEAKER_01]: That's how they get energy from the sun. 18:00 [SPEAKER_01]: So, when they don't have that energy you're just laying around or super lazy, these guys, they're also conscious breeders. 18:08 [SPEAKER_01]: How mean you, we don't have to think about breathing, we just do it. 18:10 [SPEAKER_01]: These guys, they have to remember to breathe. 18:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, every breath is a conscious decision. 18:15 [SPEAKER_01]: It's very common for animals that breathe air, but primarily live in water. 18:20 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a big advantage because if he gets into a fight, which they do quite often. 18:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's say he goes unconscious in a water, if he goes unconscious in a water, he can't breathe in the water, and he can't drown, and he can't die. 18:33 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a great advantage. 18:35 [SPEAKER_01]: People wonder how they sleep too. 18:37 [SPEAKER_01]: They do something called uni hemispheric sleeping. 18:41 [SPEAKER_01]: So what they sleep, one side of the brain stays on, while the other side sleeps, next which isn't till they have enough sleep. 18:47 [SPEAKER_01]: I think dolphins are the same way too. 18:49 [SPEAKER_01]: So these guys are always semi-conscious and that means you literally can't sneak up on these. 18:55 [SPEAKER_01]: They're loudest reptiles in the world. 18:58 [SPEAKER_01]: People I think can reach about 70 decibels or 60 decibels, alligators reach about 90. 19:04 [SPEAKER_01]: They're also the only reptiles that take care of their young for about two years at a time. 19:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Right behind tiny are a few mannequins and photographs with traditional 19:18 [SPEAKER_00]: which is probably quite different from what you're imagining. 19:23 [SPEAKER_00]: They look almost Middle Eastern, or like a combination of something Native American, and what you might see in a place like Syria, or Turkey. 19:31 [SPEAKER_01]: When people think about most natives today, they think the beautiful Lakota feathers. 19:36 [SPEAKER_01]: But for us, in the 1800s, the men would grab four or five shaws, wrap it around his head tightly, and he had a turbine. 19:45 [SPEAKER_01]: So we wore turbines. 19:45 [SPEAKER_01]: It would use it for everything, traveling, dancing, and war. 19:49 [SPEAKER_00]: The man in the image is wearing a turbine and leather pants. 19:53 [SPEAKER_01]: He's wearing an animal-hide leg, but it was just common just to wear the long shirt itself and no shoes. 19:59 [SPEAKER_01]: And they would wear a belt and a sash, and these coats right here, they would call them a doctor's coat, because it's often the medicine then warm. 20:06 [SPEAKER_00]: As you might guess, this doctor's coat looks nothing like the white lab coats you're most familiar with. 20:13 [SPEAKER_00]: It's beaded and has a more elaborate appearance than the other outfit we saw. 20:19 [SPEAKER_00]: But side that image was an example of Mikizuki women's wear. 20:24 [SPEAKER_01]: This is pretty much what the ladies were. 20:27 [SPEAKER_01]: So dress all the way down at a brown and long sleeve and with a shot. 20:32 [SPEAKER_01]: So imagine wearing all of that was maybe 10, 20 necklaces and all the silverware. 20:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Now we're picturing all of that. 20:39 [SPEAKER_01]: 1800s Everglades. 20:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Now traveling 15, 10 miles from one camp to another camp. 20:46 [SPEAKER_01]: This was daily. 20:50 [SPEAKER_01]: more forgiving dress, little higher relief than the heat and humidity in a regular top. 20:56 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, all of that is still worn, but it's really saved for festivities, especially occasions. 21:01 [SPEAKER_01]: And this show wasn't just for looks to that protect against mosquitoes. 21:12 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that has always impressed me about Native American culture is the way they combine looks with utility. 21:21 [SPEAKER_00]: they seem to have a neck from one tribe to the next. 21:25 [SPEAKER_00]: For really ingenious practical solutions that are also really interesting to look at, the shawls and these images are just one more example of that. 21:35 [SPEAKER_01]: We've always used designs that we saw in nature. 21:38 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to see designs based on fire, and this was supposed to be a man on a horse. 21:45 [SPEAKER_00]: of everything I've seen here today. 21:48 [SPEAKER_00]: This coated language of colorful symbols in these shirts might be my favorite. 21:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Picture a patchwork quilt, but with very small squares. 21:59 [SPEAKER_00]: And with each square containing a symbol that has a deeper meaning within the Mikazuki tradition. 22:06 [SPEAKER_01]: But the most popular design you'll see today is going to be called a double diamond. 22:11 [SPEAKER_01]: The only thing I can really equate it to, maybe a kaleidoscope, because that's if you don't really see that in nature, but like everything else here is under, right here, in rain, turtle, I think, across that. 22:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, we used things we saw in nature, but we also started using things when the world around us was changing, telephone-poked. 22:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Across the room from the clothing is a table of finally woven sweet grass baskets. 22:35 [SPEAKER_01]: These baskets here, of course, are the utilitarian purpose. 22:39 [SPEAKER_01]: We used to store everything in them clothes and we would even line them up with animal hide, to transfer water or food. 22:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Now one of these can take about three weeks to make. 22:49 [SPEAKER_01]: They're made out of sweet grass, 22:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Now today, you would see these in your grandma's house next to the door, maybe as a keyboard, so I'm not like that. 22:59 [SPEAKER_01]: I wish these were brand new because we wouldn't have finished that sweet dress. 23:03 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the most great. 23:05 [SPEAKER_00]: I picked up a few of these bowls and the weave is so tight they feel like they're carved from wood. 23:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Even without a lining of animal hide, they feel like they would hold water. 23:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Beside the baskets on the table, where a row of handmade dolls. 23:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, every culture toys are important. 23:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Every kid needs them, so he's a cod fiber doll. 23:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, we would use these out of the fiber of a palm trees. 23:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the ladies' dolls would consist of one piece, because it's very consistent with the dress and the shelves. 23:38 [SPEAKER_01]: They used to take scraps of patchwork, put it on here. 23:40 [SPEAKER_00]: I asked how much it was cost to buy a traditional quilted 23:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Our seamstress, a mini tiger tail, she's panicked with a jacket like that with the inlay and everything depending on the weather. 23:53 [SPEAKER_01]: She's doing it by herself. 23:54 [SPEAKER_01]: You can take it about a month to finish it because it takes the cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing. 23:58 [SPEAKER_01]: It could be $500 for that jacket. 24:01 [SPEAKER_01]: I've been trying to get a mannequin so I can show people the little intricacies of the man's outfit. 24:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Like the next cards, they would wear, they kept all their money. 24:10 [SPEAKER_01]: And there, wherever money they had, they would just keep it in there. 24:12 [SPEAKER_01]: I learned this from a government census from the 1980s, written by Clay McCollier, something. 24:17 [SPEAKER_01]: And he came to the Everglades from Washington and did a whole census on Simino's and Mikasukis. 24:22 [SPEAKER_01]: And one of the men he was talking to, he had a show. 24:25 [SPEAKER_01]: around his neck and that's where he kept all of his money and and whatever money he had, it was like that kind of system just everything in his neck scarf and he asked him like why don't you guys have pockets like CDs like I have pockets right here and they really just shunned it off on necessary yesterday we had Liberty Academy here and it was it was like in primarily lay black school I was talking to their parents after the tour and I was saying 24:57 [SPEAKER_00]: I asked what kind of black history he was referring to. 25:00 [SPEAKER_01]: So, in the 1800s, when excapes slaves came to Spanish Florida and away from that, they started their own factions and they even integrated into Seminoe, there's black Seminoe's and they fought alongside in the Seminoe Wars. 25:17 [SPEAKER_00]: You'd like to know more about the Seminoe and the Mikazuki peoples, I'd encourage you to 25:28 [SPEAKER_00]: There were three of them, and they lasted more than 40 years. 25:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Today they remembered as the most expensive of all Native American wars. 25:38 [SPEAKER_00]: The Mikizuki at least never surrendered. 25:42 [SPEAKER_00]: If you have any questions or would like to connect with a member of the tribe, please reach out when we can help make that happen.
Show full transcript (289 segments)
