Seminole Mall, Florida. Opened 1983, demolished 2015. - kennykart

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Today is a great day to show support to Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island!

Ima TS Black Seminole artist and Im going to be selling my beadwork and maybe patches on my instagram @/wildwotko, Currently there arent any posts but Im going to be posting later today and after that pretty regularly!

If you wanna support a struggling black two spirit artist pls follow for my beadwork on insta @/wildwotko!

Thank you for supporting Mtvo!!!

Seminole woman, United States of America, Cheyenne Kippenberger

“my body not yours”

photo credit: treehouse media - joshua franzos

Piper Seminole out of KFRG

Deer Woman

Deer Woman, sometimes known as the Deer Lady, is a spirit in Native American mythology whose associations and qualities vary, depending on situation and relationships. Generally, however, to men who have harmed women and children, she is vengeful and murderous and known to lure these men to their deaths. She appears as either a beautiful young woman with deer feet or as a deer.

Deer Woman stories are found in multiple Indigenous American cultures, often told to young children or by young adults and preteens in the communities of the Lakota people (Oceti Sakowin), Ojibwe, Ponca, Omaha, Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Choctaw, Otoe, Osage, Pawnee, and the Haudenosaunee, and those are only the ones that have documented Deer Woman sightings.

Deer Woman is one of the Little People. Though they can be malevolent towards humans, their role in Indigenous culture is to uphold traditional society by keeping humans in line by discouraging harmful actions that have the potential to destroy the community. The legend of Deer Woman in particular pushes them away from actions like promiscuity and infidelity. The Little People also hold otherworldly knowledge that they can pass onto humans which is then transmitted through the generations; however, this power must be obtained, respected, and maintained in traditional, healthy ways. As an example of what happens when these spiritual rules are broken, the people who incur the wrath of Deer Woman and her uncle, Thunder, soon die.

Some stories describe the sighting of Deer Woman as a sign of personal transformation or as a warning. Deer Woman is said to be fond of dancing and will sometimes join a communal dance unnoticed, leaving only when the drum beating ceases.

Among Lakota people, Deer Woman is called Anukite. The daughter of the first man and first woman was a beautiful young woman named Ite (Face). Tate (Wind) fell in love with her. They married and had quadruplets, who were the Four Winds. Tate wished to become a god and enlisted the aid of Inktomi, the trickster spider, who caused the Sun to fall in love with Ite. At a celebration, Ite sat in the place of the Moon, the Sun's wife. To punish her disrespect, the Sky cast Ite down from heaven to the earth. Half of her face became ugly and her name became Anukite (Double Face Woman) or Winyan Numpa (Double Woman).

Anukite appears to men in dreams or visions, either as a single deer or two deer women: a white-tailed deer and a black-tailed deer. Her two different sides symbolize appropriate and inappropriate sexual relations. Men that have sex with her are believed to go insane while women that dream of her will have strong powers or sexual attraction or can gain artistic powers if they make a wise choice in the near future.

Deer Woman and the other Little People share similarities with some European supernatural beings such as the Gaelic Aos Sí and Tuatha Dé Danann, the Germanic elves, and the Slavic víle and rusalki in that they hold otherworldly knowledge that they can pass onto humans if they are treated with respect and said human(s) deemed worthy. Special care is also taken not to anger them and avoid breaking their rules as their vengeance is unpleasant and often deadly.

La Patasola, literally "single footed", is a somewhat similar figure from the Antioquia region of Colombia in that she brings harm to men who harm what she cares about, in this case the forest. She is a shapeshifter who takes the form of a beautiful woman to lure men with her cries of fear. When the men, who are often causing harm in one way or another to the rain forest, come to her, she drops her beautiful mask and slaughters them in an effort to protect the forest.

Portrait of Seminole leader Asi-yahola by George Carlin, 1838

Miami River, ca. 1906

I find it funny how Native Americans and African Americans have an extremely long history of working together against our oppressors without fighting each other for even a second.

There's a mutual understanding between the groups because we all got fucked over.

One was stolen from their land

The other's land was stolen

Both experienced a lot of extremely... Bad shit. Like- mass murder n shit.

Still experiencing it to this day, and not once have we fought about bullshit.

It's a beautiful symbiotic relationship.

Prime example of Gullah Geechee people and Seminoles during the Civil War.

hi. not quite sure how to phrase this, so forgive and correct me if anything is phrased poorly or offensively.

would it be generally frowned upon to attempt to reconnect with my native heritage (cherokee+seminole) when both of my parents identify as white and my known native relatives are deceased? my family has a lot of assimilation in it and i feel that maybe i am overstepping somehow by attempting to reconnect despite the distance. i feel like this sense of "overstepping" is further intensified by the fact i am so white passing and look distinctly more white than even my immediate relatives. i've been mulling this over for years and am still struggling with it. i would like to get some outside opinions on this.

thank you. have a good day/night. :)

hello!

so long as you're reconnecting in a respectful and patient way by consistently consulting your community and following their guidance, there shouldn't be a problem.

connection and reconnection is about community, learning about your community, and being accepted by your community. How you look, how your family identifies personally, etc. is not as important as the truth of your connection which exists regardless of what any one person says or does.

Defer to your elders and people in the Cherokee and Seminole communities on how to reconnect, be patient and respectful, and you will feel your connection more strongly in no time.

Wishing you the best. :)

Boca Ciega Millennium Park, Seminole Florida

I think this park might be more interesting in the summer months.

Despite my preconceptions of Florida, they really do community parks well in this area.

Seminole Mall, Florida. Opened 1983, demolished 2015.

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Southern Diversity

Seminole doll, 1924.

Canis Seminole Frontier

Cockpit of a twin engine Piper PA-44 Seminole