The first dance of the 2025 season at Oconaluftee Indian Village - the Bear Dance 🐻🐻🐻 “Yona” is the Cherokee word for bear. This dance shows the bears moving through the four seasons. It’s also a fun social dance where the “bears” that are dancing get to growl and tussle with each other. Oconaluftee Indian Village is an open air living history museum located in the cultural district of Cherokee, NC. We pride ourselves on sharing authentic Cherokee culture with our guests The Village is open t

Did you know that the Cherokee didn’t have a “rain dance” to ask for rain? Our homelands, The Great Smoky Mountains, are a temperate rainforest. It rains all the time! So we don’t need to ask for rain, but we do give thanks for rain with the Bullfrog Dance The Bullfrog Dance is a social dance that would be done after a rain, since that’s when the bullfrogs come out. You’ll see that the dance is kind of like a game of Simon Says with the singer telling the dancers whah to do as the imitate the bu

A little info about each of the seven clans of the Cherokee. Each clan, Bird, Blue, Deer, Long Hair, Paint, Wild Potato, and Wolf had certain responsibilities and worked together to keep the village running smoothly. This video was recorded in the square grounds at Oconaluftee Indian Village living history museum in Cherokee, North Carolina. Visit the Village to learn more about authentic Cherokee history and culture Oconaluftee Indian Village is open April 22 through November 1, 2025, from 9:30

A brief snippet of the information you’ll learn at Oconaluftee Indian Village. Tour our Cherokee village and learn about traditional ways of life. At the weapons station you’ll learn all about bows, arrows, and war clubs and get to watch arrowheads being made. All in the beautiful Smoky Mountains with the sounds of nature all around you. Tickets at 🔗 in bio #oconalufteeindianvillage #visitcherokeenc #ebci #northcarolina #livinghistory #cherokeenc #indigenous #nativeamerican #openairmuseum #nati